Driving a car without power steering can be annoying sometimes, but it’s not as bad as it sounds, especially if the car you’re driving is pretty light. The last BMW 3-Series I owned, a red E30 sedan, had its power steering deleted, and I thought I’d hate it. But really, once I was moving more than 5 mph, I totally forgot there was no power steering on deck, since the wheel turned so easily.
Manual, unassisted steering gets a bit scarier when it arrives unexpectedly in your otherwise power-steered vehicle. The 3-Series I had before the red one, a white 325iX, would regularly munch its power steering belt for no good reason, resulting in ultra-heavy steering out of nowhere. This was particularly unnerving when it happened on off-ramps (twice), where I nearly lost control of the car.
Something similar is apparently happening with some Ram ProMaster vans, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency launched an investigation today into the 2022 and 2023 ProMasters after receiving reports from owners that the electric power steering assist could intermittently or completely fail.
Here’s Exactly What’s Gone Wrong, And How Many Vans Are Affected
According to the recall document published today, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation received “19 Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) alleging an intermittent or complete failure of the power steering assist system in certain Model Year (MY) 2022-2023 RAM ProMaster 1500, 2500, and 3500 vehicles.”
As the NHTSA points out, losing power steering while on the move is, in fact, bad. At best, it means the driver has to put in way more effort to steer the van; at worst, it means the driver can no longer physically control the van and ends up in a crash. Considering these ProMasters can weigh up to 5,020 pounds empty, trying to pilot one without power steering sounds like it’d be pretty awful. The report claims an estimated 136,666 units could be affected.
ProMasters built from 2022 onward use electrically assisted power steering, which means there’s an electric motor attached to the steering rack to provide power assistance, rather than a belt-driven hydraulic pump with pressurized fluid. According to the NHTSA, the people reporting the failure say it’s one of the electrical connections causing the issue:
Several received reports allege failures of the steering rack with specific reports citing water intrusion into the electrical connectors of the electric power steering control module.
These reports suggest it’s not the rack itself that’s failing, but possibly an out-of-whack electrical connection causing the failure. In my experience with intermittently working electrical connections, this feels like it makes the most sense.
Owners Have Been Speaking Out Online
Several ProMaster owners online have voiced their concerns about this issue, with some asking for advice on locating the problem, and others pointing out the allegedly faulty connectors. Here are a few screenshots from commenters on the Ram ProMaster Owners Facebook Group:
One owner even made a video showing the status of an allegedly faulty connector plugged into the power steering system of his 2023 ProMaster, going as far as crawling under the car on the ground to depict its exact location:
Going by the video, you can see that the inside of the connector is heavily corroded to the point where the wires are no longer able to make a solid contact with the rack:
Another owner published a video on Facebook showing what an “intermittent” loss of power steering looks like on a ProMaster, and it seems pretty scary, as it shows the wheel briefly fighting the driver for control as power to the motor cuts in and out.
It’s unclear right now whether any crashes or injuries are associated with this potential problem just yet, though if a recall is eventually issued to fix whatever’s going on here, the NHTSA will reveal that data. It’s too soon to tell whether the problem is truly widespread or isolated to a small batch of vehicles, but considering the number of complaints online that I was able to find above, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the latter. Dodge wouldn’t comment on the matter beyond a representative telling me it’s cooperating with the NHTSA’s investigation.
If you own a ProMaster from 2022 or 2023 and can get under it, I suggest doing so and inspecting that plug. At least this way, you’ll have an idea if the power steering on your work van is about to give out on you.
Top graphic images: Ram
The driving position in a pro Master is terrible, to be polite about it. I don’t know any service guy who likes them.
Since I’ve never been in this situation, I have a question: if you pay to get this fixed and a recall happens later, can you get a refund for the original work? Even if it was done at an independent shop?
I’ve read elsewhere that the answer is yes, as long as you have the receipt.
I lost it in my Legacy about a year after driving through flood water (water intrusion in the rack) and it was fine as long as the tires were rolling. Not rolling, it was a 2-arm affair. Also had a smaller diameter steering wheel. Tires were only 195s, I believe, though.
Oh man, this article brings back some memories. In the early ’90s I was fresh out of grad school and starting my first “real” job that required commuting between the garden cities of Bridgeport and New Haven along the hell highway of I-95 in my girlfriend’s hand-me-down-from-her-mom car – a late ’80s Buick Riviera. These have become somewhat famous as they had the first touchscreen. But what this car also had was power steering that chose to cut out at random times. Generally not a problem when cruising along the highway, but would occasionally go out mid-turn. No chance I had the $$ to fix that. Glad to say I lived to tell the tale. One of my happiest days was trading in that car, which was loaded with every bit of tech available, for a base model early ’80’s Toyota pickup. Bench seat, crank windows, stick shift, etc. That little truck ran like a top and never gave me any trouble. Think I gave the used car guy the Riviera and $1,000.
Maybe because the parts are just subpar? The number of racks I’ve had to re-order because of being bad out the box is unreal, and it’s only for the Promasters!
I can’t wait for a recall to fix them, just to see what the fix is lmao
Subpar parts in a Stellantis vehicle? Unpossible.
Promaster is the worst work van I ever had. So many problems. That’s what happens when you start with a Fiat and then do Ram things to it.
I drove a 1999 Buick Century for a few years without power steering. That was also not a problem over 5 mph.
Once upon a time though, I was a TC (sat in the front passenger seat) in an up-armor Humvee in Iraq. The power steering went out in that a couple miles and a few turns from our base. I had to reach over and help the driver turn the wheel. It took a lot of pulling. I hadn’t thought about that in a while. Good times.
I need to ask my son about this. He works as a transfer agent for a major national logistics company with thousands of Promasters in the fleet and has driven many of them. He has a bunch of wild stories to tell, but I’m not sure he’s seen this problem come up, although I’m sure it’s happened to his clients more than once.
Honestly manual steering isn’t that bad. Most peoples’ experience with manual steering is when their power steering fails, and cars with power steering have different steering ratios and sometimes even smaller steering wheels that rely on the power steering to function. Change the steering ratio and through the magic of mechanical advantage you hardly notice it.
I’ll take EPS over manual steering, but if I had to choose between hydraulic power steering and manual steering I’m going manual all the way.
This is important to keep in mind. It’s not just that these degrade to old school manual steering when power fails, it’s that they degrade to something significantly worse than old school manual steering because they weren’t designed to be unpowered.
Yep, even a lightweight car will come with significantly wider tyres and in guessing a slower rack. Though through experience will also say those vans tend to feel quite light on the nose even when empty.
Yup. With Hydraulic power steering when it fails you end up fighting the hydraulics as well, making it even worse than a manual steering setup if you swapped in a power steering steering ratio.
As someone who was once forced to drive one of these at a previous job, over my objections and my suggestion that we should have replaced our Sprinter vans with more Sprinter vans, there is an extremely simple answer to this question:
Because it’s a giant piece of shit.
I probably would have preferred a federal inquiry into why the damn rear door latch quit working after 3 weeks, on a vehicle with less than 500 miles on it.
I would have thought that watertight electrical connectors was pretty much a solved problem at this point. But I guess somebody just had to save half a cent per unit.
All of the manufacturers were too busy designing the latest overcomplicated latch system for their connectors to bother with little things like water seals.
I say this as someone who has run into corroded connectors on both a Stellantis and Toyota vehicle.
Looks like a good use for some RTV silicone.
Blew a seal on the steering rack on my ’05 MDX on vacation last summer. I was VERY careful about where I parked as at slow speed it was an arm workout to steer. It was very heavy but manageble at road speeds. Drove it all week and 7 hours home that way. Got rid of it without fixing it. Heavy vehicle on wide tires with a small steering wheel = no fun.
Had a CTS with power steering pump issues and it was a pain to maneuver in parking lots. It drove normally once up to speed, but at least in my case it wasn’t a surprise fault like these Promasters are having.
The last thing my 2004 Sentra SE-R did to me was spring a massive power steering leak, leading me to clean it out and donate the rusted carcass to charity. This is not a fun thing to have happen. I also experienced a complete failure of a Saginaw steering pump on a 1-ton 454-equipped flatbed Chevy C3500 we had at work. That also resulted in that vehicle’s eventual disposition, especially as the power steering in that also runs the power brakes.
To have it now be an intermittent electrical fault? That’s absolutely terrifying.
Strange they ran a hydroboost system on a gasser! I’ve got a K2500 with a 454, has conventional vacuum power brakes. Funnily enough, yesterday I was replacing the power steering lines, as they’ve been leaving quite a mess
My motorhome is based on a GM P30/P32 chassis with a good ol’ Vortec 5.7L gasser and uses the hydroboost system – I was a bit surprised to see it. I’m guessing it works better for the HD braking on the bigger stuff. Quite a bit smaller than a vacuum diaphragm, too.
My 2014 lost power steering by blowing all the fluid out through the shaft seal when I was 300 miles from home. Great that they fixed it by moving to electric power steering…..