Major issue with Ram Truck!!!

[AlleyCat]

My friend bought a new Ram in Phoenix, AZ. He lives in Tucson. The truck is only one month old. So this past week they, him, his wife and twelve and fourteen year old boys, took a trip to Flagstaff. They stopped off in Phoenix to grab a bite to eat. As he pulled up in line his freaking front driver's wheel fell off!!! When the tow truck driver looked at it they discovered the bolt from the upper control arm was missing!!! A week before my friend noticed the steering wheel was off. He brought it in to a local dealership here to get it fixed. They did an alignment. But apparently they did not see the bolt was loose or missing. Thank God this did not happen at speed!!! I have never heard of this on a new truck! What is going on with quality control??? I will post a couple of pictures. He gave me a ton of them.

 

[AlleyCat]

 

[Prange]

Wow. Lucky it happened there.

 

[vortecd]

My friend bought a new Ram in Phoenix, AZ. He lives in Tucson. The truck is only one month old. So this past week they, him, his wife and twelve and fourteen year old boys, took a trip to Flagstaff. They stopped off in Phoenix to grab a bite to eat. As he pulled up in line his freaking front driver's wheel fell off!!! When the tow truck driver looked at it they discovered the bolt from the upper control arm was missing!!! A week before my friend noticed the steering wheel was off. He brought it in to a local dealership here to get it fixed. They did an alignment. But apparently they did not see the bolt was loose or missing. Thank God this did not happen at speed!!! I have never heard of this on a new truck! What is going on with quality control??? I will post a couple of pictures. He gave me a ton of them.

There is also the chance they loosen it to do the alignment and didn't tighten it

 

[vortecd]

@jonx96 can tell you that happened to him

 

[jonx96]

Mine went loose at 140 mph 😬
Alignment shop forgot to tighten my control arm down. It felt fine at first but as soon as I did a hard launch it must have loosed even more causing the aad drag pack arm to pop out. It was holding on by one thread.
alignment shop messed up. Glad it wasn’t at speed. It was scary feeling when that tab popped out.
That suspension won’t have the tab.

 

[jgilj]

Ok now Ford 2021 F-150 emergency steering recall they come to the house to get it ! Next was the driveshaft recall. All this Covid Bull shit is making for shit products.

 

[Stormtrooper1320]

Ok now Ford 2021 F-150 emergency steering recall they come to the house to get it ! Next was the driveshaft recall. All this Covid Bull shit is making for shit products.

Uh oh....I recently got a 21 F150.......I'd better check on these things

Just checked.....no recalls on mine.

 

[Magnified]

View attachment 48294 View attachment 48295

Does he have the time travel option?

 

[Magnified]

Ok now Ford 2021 F-150 emergency steering recall they come to the house to get it ! Next was the driveshaft recall. All this Covid Bull shit is making for shit products.

I disagree w covid being solely to blame. Buying 75 % or more of all parts from China or Latin america, etc... to further squeeze out record profits started this downward spiral. QC and CS are piss poor.

 

[AlleyCat]

Does he have the time travel option?

Not sure what that is. They did give him a free rental as they are in flagstaff now.

 

[SilverBillet]

Maybe sabotage? Does he have any mortal enemies? Wonder if there was an inspector’s paint mark on it? These things are usually checked and marked as checked at the factory.

 

[AlleyCat]

Hope not. We would be talking about an extremely serious crime. He is a likable giving person. I met him at the Tucson track 11 yrs. ago when we both had g8s. Probably just negligence at the factory.

 

[Whatknot]

When the tire fell off my jeep, it was because someone was trying to steal the tires, not a factory fault.
Not saying that is the case here, just saying who knows what happened.
You mentioned that for a week the steering felt loose, to bad day 1 he didn't inspect it.

 

[Magnified]

Not sure what that is. They did give him a free rental as they are in flagstaff now.

The wheels on the anti-grav DeLorean time machine fold out the same way.

 

[AlleyCat]

He said it was off. Picture attached. Then he brought her in for an alignment. If I said loose I misspoke.

 

[Magnified]

Maybe sabotage? Does he have any mortal enemies? Wonder if there was an inspector’s paint mark on it? These things are usually checked and marked as checked at the factory.

This. The paint mark. In the old days they'd dab it so you can tell it had been inspected and if the nut / bolt had moved (or been moved) since...

 

[Magnified]

When the tire fell off my jeep, it was because someone was trying to steal the tires, not a factory fault.
Not saying that is the case here, just saying who knows what happened.
You mentioned that for a week the steering felt loose, to bad day 1 he didn't inspect it.

Years ago on my old S-class I felt the steering feeling "odd" to me. Went by my mechanic (an ex-doctor who loved cars so much he gave up medicine and opened his own high end shop). He drove it around and said he though it felt normal. Told him put it on the rack. The tie rod ends were just about gone. I always pay attention to the slightest change and that was the one that was the biggest pay off. I blasted that big mother on the toll roads. I think he felt bad he couldn't tell it was out, because he paid about half the cost for the part (for which I was appreciative bc not cheap).

But I'm sure he felt he'd done the right thing with the service department visit.

 

[1971demon]

My friend bought a new Ram in Phoenix, AZ. He lives in Tucson. The truck is only one month old. So this past week they, him, his wife and twelve and fourteen year old boys, took a trip to Flagstaff. They stopped off in Phoenix to grab a bite to eat. As he pulled up in line his freaking front driver's wheel fell off!!! When the tow truck driver looked at it they discovered the bolt from the upper control arm was missing!!! A week before my friend noticed the steering wheel was off. He brought it in to a local dealership here to get it fixed. They did an alignment. But apparently they did not see the bolt was loose or missing. Thank God this did not happen at speed!!! I have never heard of this on a new truck! What is going on with quality control??? I will post a couple of pictures. He gave me a ton of them.

That's almost unbelievable...

 

[Jimmy N.]

I am betting it wasn't tight from the factory, and just worked its way off

You mentioned that for a week the steering felt loose, to bad day 1 he didn't inspect it.

I trailer my new (or new to me) vehicles home. Partially because correct break-in would be hard to do when the dealer is 450 miles away, but I'd do it even if the dealer was only 20 miles from home.

Why? Because by taking the vehicle off the trailer and then putting it on the lift I can check all fluid levels, look for loose or missing fasteners, etc. before driving it. Plus, it allows me to learn what's down there on a particular vehicle.

So far I've only found low fluid levels (and some missing interior pieces on 1500s), but that doesn't stop me from checking each one anyway. Don't have a lift? Creepers and ramps (if needed) are cheap.
And yes, it is a bit of an inconvenience. Although nowhere near as inconvenient as having failures somewhere down the road, especially when they could've easily been caught with a simple inspection.