Ram 5500: which model years to avoid

Complaint and recall totals for every Ram 5500 model year we track, ranked by severity.

Model yearComplaintsRecallsCrashesFiresSeverityMost-reported system
20151380146.2 MediumENGINE
201617721223.5 HighPOWER TRAIN
20171970263.2 MediumPOWER TRAIN
20183581011.4 LowSERVICE BRAKES
20222641015.4 LowPOWER TRAIN
Across 5 model years, the 2016 Ram 5500 carries the highest severity index (223.5, driven by power train), while the 2018 is the cleanest at 11.4.
Source. NHTSA public complaint and recall APIs. Complaint counts are not normalised by units sold; a high-volume seller will attract more filings than a rare trim.