Hello All,
Add another 2019 Ram Rebel to the list. 44k miles, second owner (I think), completely stock. I've owned it just a little over a year and a half and it's happened maybe 3 times. The latest was a few days ago while making a left turn. The shift indicator was flashing on 'D' and it said something to the effect of 'shift to park then to desired gear'.
Not sure if I have 3.92 gears, will have to confirm. I did notice people cleaning their throttle bodies did help, and at some point it was believed that it occurs when a voltage related to the pcm drops to 13 volts and change. (I'm summarizing after skimming, so if I got something wrong please feel free to correct me) I wouldn't think 13 volts would be low enough for any electrical component to 'wig out', but I could be wrong as there is so much electronic crap in these things now that anything is possible.
One other thing I noticed that seems to be relevant. When the engine is cold, particularly in reverse, I can put very tiny pressure on the gas pedal from a stop and it will work itself into 'buck' mode, where it goes into a loop of near stalls followed by recovery that makes the truck move more quickly in reverse. I had suspected either a tune up was needed or there was a dead spot in the TPS, but have not opened anything up to check. Something else I notice is that the transmission seems to shift fairly stiffly when cold, but then smooths out as the temp goes up. I just drove it 300 miles last weekend to a vacation spot and back, no issues except the stiff shifting.
Regardless, as a programmer, I don't understand the logic of why a 'shift to neutral' scenario is needed at all. If RPMS drop, or speed suddenly drops, I thought automatic transmissions were such that they wouldn't be able to stop the engine. Neutral doesn't save anything while driving, unless it's a runaway scenario or something?
@RamCares has a 2019 TSB come out yet? My local dealer is swamped on a regular basis and I'll not bother them without information about the issue in hand. I also won't put up with this for very long, as CA is dangerous enough, but I live in NJ where traffic is pretty thick as well. I don't need an insurance claim, law suit or the guilt of someone else getting hurt because my vehicle decided to just stop powering the drive train.
Hope everyone remains safe, and this is a real bummer. I do love my Rebel, but not enough to keep it with an unsolved safety issue.