Federal safety regulators have opened an investigation into allegations that 1 million Ram 1500 trucks and Dodge Durango SUVs could roll away while the vehicles are in PARK.
The 2013-2016 Ram 1500 trucks and 2014-2016 Dodge Durango SUVs are equipped with electronically shifted transmissions and electronic rotary controls for gear selections.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it has received at least 43 complaints about vehicles that rolled away after drivers put the transmissions into PARK.
The government says 25 crashes and nine injuries have been reported, and 34 reports say the vehicles started moving while the gear shifters indicated the vehicles were in PARK.
The complaints describe how drivers moved the transmissions into PARK and exited the vehicles, then the trucks and SUVs rolled away and caused all sorts of mayhem.
The majority of the reports say the engines were left running when the vehicles rolled away, but there are a few reports that say the engines were shut off when the rollaway incidents occurred.
NHTSA says that based on the wording in all the reports, none of the trucks are SUVs had the parking brakes engaged when the problems occurred.
Safety regulators opened a separate investigation into Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles for the exact same problems and similar shifters, so NHTSA wants to know if there is a common problem affecting all the vehicles.
Based on the results of the investigation, it's possible 1 million 2013-2016 Ram 1500 trucks and 2014-2016 Dodge Durango SUVs will need to be recalled.
CarComplaints.com will update our website when NHTSA releases its findings from the investigation.