An Alberta man is questioning a popular slogan for Ram trucks after he said his truck’s paint job is not “tough enough.”
Wade Adams, of Okotoks, said he started noticing paint problems with his 2018 Ram 1500 after a spring snowfall.
“About the middle of April we had a big snowstorm, big, wet snow. I was sweeping that snow off my roof, and I noticed a piece of paint — it was a sizable piece,” he said.
“So, I got up on my running board and I looked and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, my whole roof is peeling up.'”
What started as just a few pieces, he said, quickly grew into almost the entire roof.
“So, the paint actually peels to the side,” he said. “Lifts right off and it peels right up to the metal. There is no paint left on it. There is no primer.”
Adams took his vehicle back to South Trail Chrysler, where he had bought the truck new just a few years back. He said he was told his corrosion warranty had expired and there was nothing that could be done. The dealership did escalate his claim, but it was denied.
It was also denied by manufacturer Stellantis.
“It’s kind of a shame that that’s what we’ve gotten to,” Adams told Global News. “You can spend $60K on a vehicle and you get a vehicle that’s not worth what it used to be.
“All I’d like is to be able to buy a new vehicle and have it stay new for more than five years.”
Dealer and automaker response
Global News reached out to Stellantis, which is one of the largest automakers in the world by volume.
It said it continues to investigate Adams’ case, “But this condition is inconsistent with the durability demonstrated by our paint process.”
It also pointed out the Ram 1500 is its best-selling vehicle and that the previous-generation model was a “two-time truck-of-the-year winner,” and that the Ram 1500 has “since won multiple quality awards, most recently last month.”
South Trail Chrysler agreed to take another look at Adams’ truck. It told Global News it is just the reseller, but it still wants to “take care of a loyal customer like Wade Adams” and that it will continue to try to escalate his case.
Adams said he has posted photos of his paint job to various Ram truck sites, and everyone is shocked at the images. He has been asked if he accidentally parked it somewhere where something might have leaked on it.
“Acid or something,” he said he had been asked. He denied it.
He was also in a collision with a deer a couple of years ago, but he told Global News it only affected his bumper and not the roof in any way.
The Okotoks businessman said the problem has also gotten bigger, with paint crack lines spreading to other parts of the vehicle.
He said he has tried to get quotes to fix the problem independent of the dealership or manufacturer but has been told it could cost up to $7,500 and the new paint job would not come with a warranty.