Big electrical problem with my new 2025 3500

[Farmer 5500]

Phwew!
You all have been through hell & back.
I am almost afraid to buy any new truck. I can’t understand what is going on? You’d think quality control would improve as time goes on, but it doesn’t appear to be so.

 

[mkresser]

Phwew!
You all have been through hell & back.
I am almost afraid to buy any new truck. I can’t understand what is going on? You’d think quality control would improve as time goes on, but it doesn’t appear to be so.

I think every manufacturer has issues at the assembly plant and these trucks are so complex, there are always electrical gremlins. The somewhat good news is that over time, things do seem to get sorted out. It kind of comes down to service after the sale, including the factory recognizing and addressing issues AND a good dealer who stays on top of fixes and gets you in and out so you can keep your truck on the road and workin!

 

[Farmer 5500]

I think every manufacturer has issues at the assembly plant and these trucks are so complex, there are always electrical gremlins. The somewhat good news is that over time, things do seem to get sorted out. It kind of comes down to service after the sale, including the factory recognizing and addressing issues AND a good dealer who stays on top of fixes and gets you in and out so you can keep your truck on the road and workin!

IMO, the manufacturers are constantly trying to cut costs and buying cheaper electronic parts & assemblies. These help keep costs down, but many times ahve a higher failure rate per thousand than quality parts.

 

[mkresser]

IMO, the manufacturers are constantly trying to cut costs and buying cheaper electronic parts & assemblies. These help keep costs down, but many times ahve a higher failure rate per thousand than quality parts.

Agreed!! They have to keep you coming back every few years to spend another hundred grand. It is sad how pretty much every manufacturer is making disposable vehicles these days.

 

[Xflight29]

Agreed!! They have to keep you coming back every few years to spend another hundred grand. It is sad how pretty much every manufacturer is making disposable vehicles these days.

Disagree, when as you say dealers cut cost to make more of a profit. Why would a manufacture cut cost when it will lead to higher rates of issues, costing them in more warranty cost and such as those reported to JD Power. I feel manufactures make cost -saving as adopting lightweight materials or advanced alloys which will improve fuel efficiency and reducing coast at the same time. Yes, all three HD manufactures basically use the same platform, this reduces the manufacturing complexity in cost cutting. Poor-quality parts can and will backfire, resulting in expensive recalls and damage to their reputation. I feel that the buyer by wanting glitzy tech, attracts buyers and auto makers keep competing on each other to give the buyer that one more electronic that can go apeshit down the road.

 

[HarryN]

Nearly all of the auto companies use the same semiconductor supply chain and vendors. One of my neighbors works for a major semiconductor supplier in automotive.

They offer various performance levels of communications speed, feature sets, etc.

RAM like most of them - chose the bargain basement implementation. Slow communication speeds, etc among the options - so did most companies. Part of the result is that there are so many devices communicating back, that it makes the system unresponsive sometimes.

There is essentially a 1 year backlog on parts, virtually all of them coming out of TSMC Taiwan from the older lines. ( there is no need for 7 nm in a vehicle ).

The same general technology is used to make weapon guidance systems, so as you might imagine, there is a LOT of demand unfortunately.

That is why it is so hard to get spare parts from any of the companies, and why ALL of them are going through the brake control challenge.

 

[Farmer 5500]

Disagree, when as you say dealers cut cost to make more of a profit. Why would a manufacture cut cost when it will lead to higher rates of issues, costing them in more warranty cost and such as those reported to JD Power. I feel manufactures make cost -saving as adopting lightweight materials or advanced alloys which will improve fuel efficiency and reducing coast at the same time. Yes, all three HD manufactures basically use the same platform, this reduces the manufacturing complexity in cost cutting. Poor-quality parts can and will backfire, resulting in expensive recalls and damage to their reputation. I feel that the buyer by wanting glitzy tech, attracts buyers and auto makers keep competing on each other to give the buyer that one more electronic that can go apeshit down the road.

It’s all calculated by actuaries and accountants. Cheaper parts have 2 impacts
1. Increased sales because their trucks are more cost competitive and 2. more warranty claims, but the parts may fail after warranty, then there’s no cost to them at all (except possible loss of customers). My guess is increased sales makes them enough extra profit to compensate for a few more warranty claims.
Thousands more trucks sold per year is probably a greater success than being high-up on the reliability chart.

Everyone knows Ford sells more 1/2 ton F-150’s than Ram or GM sells, but does anyone know which of those 3 is the most reliable? My guess is no.
Every service tech has told me that generally, they see more cheaply built parts coming from more sketchy manufacturers and the failure rates are greater.