NHTSA Complaint #11627674 — 2013 RAM 1500

In May of this year, 2024, the Power Assisted Steering System failed completely without warning or other symptoms. Fortunately it failed while not driving but would have caused a serious safety issue. I am a strong male driver and it was extremely difficult to turn the wheel. The dashboard displayed a steering system warning light and the OBDII port reported a C2219-00 error. I am the sole owner of the truck and have owned it since 2013 with only 51,000 miles on it. I reported this to the dealership where purchased it and they offered no assistance since it was well out of warranty. I inquired about purchasing a replacement steering rack or bringing it in for repair. They responded that the entire steering assist unit had been discontinued with no inventory available anywhere in their nationwide system. Therefore, they could not repair the truck or offer to sell me the rack and pinion assembly. They also recommended I contact a junk yard - ridiculous for a modern vehicle with a known defect such as steering. I eventually purchased a remanufactured steering rack on eBay and repaired the truck myself. The price for the steering rack was over $2,100! I have seen where there were other reports of this failure on NHTSA so I thought it would be helpful to report the failure on my truck as well. I have uploaded the part number and serial number of the steering rack in case that's helpful. Thank you.