What is the best year for the Ram 1500?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Ram 1500
which year?
Compare every Ram 1500 model year the EPA recorded, 2013 to 2027. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Ram 1500 year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Ram 1500 years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2014
1,748 indexed complaint reports; steering is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2014 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect20161,524 indexed complaint reports; steering is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2016 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect20191,461 indexed complaint reports; electrical system is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2019 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Ram 1500 model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2026 Ram 1500
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 75
- Combined EPA economy
- 12–22 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 10
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,800–6,350
- Fuel labels
- Midgrade Gasoline · Premium Gasoline · Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelselectrical system 37unknown or other 13exterior lighting 8
Open the 2026 evidence dossier →2027 Ram 1500
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 0
- Combined EPA economy
- 12–22 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 10
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,800–6,350
- Fuel labels
- Midgrade Gasoline · Premium Gasoline · Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsNo component label indexed
Open the 2027 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2027 has 75 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2026.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Ram 1500 by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 0 | — | 12–22 | 10 | $2,800–6,350 | Dossier → |
| 2026 | 75 | electrical system 37unknown or other 13exterior lighting 8 | 12–22 | 10 | $2,800–6,350 | Dossier → |
| 2025 | 320 | electrical system 162forward collision avoidance 67engine 62 | 15–23 | 7 | $2,650–5,050 | Dossier → |
| 2024 | 70 | electrical system 29engine 23power train 14 | 12–23 | 10 | $2,650–6,350 | Dossier → |
| 2023 | 193 | electrical system 64engine 46unknown or other 45 | 12–24 | 13 | $2,650–6,350 | Dossier → |
| 2022 | 597 | engine 242electrical system 184power train 100 | 12–26 | 15 | $2,650–6,350 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 667 | engine 272electrical system 194unknown or other 101 | 12–26 | 15 | $2,650–6,350 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 621 | electrical system 159engine 154unknown or other 110 | 17–26 | 13 | $2,650–4,150 | Dossier → |
| 2019 | 1,461 | electrical system 376steering 334unknown or other 232 | 17–23 | 13 | $2,650–4,150 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 649 | electrical system 157engine 108unknown or other 92 | 14–23 | 7 | $3,100–5,000 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 865 | steering 226engine 155electrical system 106 | 15–23 | 7 | $3,100–4,700 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 1,524 | steering 304engine 291service brakes 235 | 15–24 | 10 | $2,950–4,700 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 1,435 | steering 338engine 334power train 225 | 15–24 | 12 | $2,950–4,700 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 1,748 | steering 500engine 300electrical system 243 | 15–23 | 11 | $2,950–4,700 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 1,263 | steering 628electrical system 227engine 123 | 15–21 | 10 | $2,950–4,700 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.