NHTSA Complaint #11432334 — 2016 RAM 1500

On August 28, 2021, I was driving towards Huntsville, TX, on Hwy 30, a rural divided highway with two lanes in each direction. The speed limit is 70. The truck was empty except for me, and a few tools. I had the cruise control set at 60 mph and was going up a slight hill when then truck suddenly and violently popped out of gear. At first, I thought someone had hit me from behind. Fortunately, there was nobody close to me and I coasted to the side of the road and stopped. After a few minutes trying to calm down and read the truck manual--I never turned the engine off-- I followed the instructions to shift back to P (Park) and then select a gear. I did this and the bell ringing and flashing lights stopped. So I shifted to drive and took off again. This time I did not use the cruise control--just slowly got back up to speed. Then BOOM! Once again, around 60mph about 4 miles down the road, the truck popped out of gear a second time violently and suddenly with no warning. Once again, I coasted to a stop and just sat there halfway freaked out. Finally, I turned the emergency blinkers on and crept into Huntsville at 30 mph. The next day, Sunday, August 29, I started the truck to see what would happen, and the Check Engine light was no longer lit up. I phoned the Wischnewsky Dodge dealership in Huntsville, TX, and the Service Manager Chris Lovelady said I could bring the truck in and he would read the codes at no charge. On Friday, September 3, I met Service Manager Chris Lovelady at 11am and he downloaded the codes. I took a picture of the three codes (file uploaded below). He said the significant code of the three was P0984 Shift Solenoid 5 Control Circuit Range/Performance. He stated that since the codes were 'Stored' and not 'Active', he could not work on the truck--he said I had to drive it some more. If this incident had happened on the crowded freeway in Houston where I live, there most certainly would have been a wreck.