Ram alternator fires

Dodge does not use electric power steering on the HD trucks. My truck is hydraulic. The pump operates the power steering and brakes hydro boost i believe.

Yes an alternator fire could cause the drive belt to come off and that would cause increased steering and braking effort.

I misspoke, I was thinking how my old 7.3 Diesel has the power steering pump that is for the brakes as well. Did not realize Dodge uses electric. Deleted my previous post.

Electric power steering.. no pump or fluid... loose 12 volts. its dead...

ABS system. dead... loss of ABS computer makes some cars very difficult to stop quickly.

NO idea of the vehicle has one or both.

Bean Counters at Work Again.....

Deleted

rexlion wrote:
The article says, in part: "Diehl felt lucky to be moving slowly in town when the fire started. She knows enough about alternators to understand steering and brakes can become affected when it suddenly stops working." That's news to me. I've never heard of steering and brakes suddenly quitting when an alternator goes out. The battery runs low, the wipers gradually slow down, the lights slowly dim, and if the driver is too oblivious to notice all of this, finally the engine quits for lack of spark. Sometimes it takes several hours of driving to reach the end point (no spark).

So you never heard of belts coming off and losing power steering and now that some brake systems work the same way that would be affected also.

The article says, in part: "Diehl felt lucky to be moving slowly in town when the fire started. She knows enough about alternators to understand steering and brakes can become affected when it suddenly stops working." That's news to me. I've never heard of steering and brakes suddenly quitting when an alternator goes out. The battery runs low, the wipers gradually slow down, the lights slowly dim, and if the driver is too oblivious to notice all of this, finally the engine quits for lack of spark. Sometimes it takes several hours of driving to reach the end point (no spark).

Won't be an issue soon...regulatory agencies are being de-funded/neutered and pure business exec's being assigned to replace the old guard...who were not that great

Just add the alternator issue to the very long list of attaboys and mandated buy backs they have been bestowed with and earned so well.

The woman in the article has the last name Diehl. The Diehl family owns several dealerships in western PA, including a Dodge dealership. You think they would have least told her.....

couldn't resist.

Hopefully the Chrysler Corporation will do the right thing.

You would think the auto makers wouldn't be stupid enough to try to sweep stuff like this under the rug anymore. GM has learned their lesson. Their scumbag ways (ignition switch fiasco) cost them - now everything with them is a recall.

I got several recall notices for my son's 2000 Impala all of a sudden after GM was smacked with fines for their past shady behavior.

FCA looks to be ignoring the smack GM took from the Feds. It'll bite them sooner or later.