Over six lakh of this pickup truck under the scanner of NHTSA: What's wrong?

More than six lakh Ram pickup trucks are under the scanner of US road and automotive safety agency NHTSA for a potential stalling issue. The Cummins 6.7-litre turbocharged diesel engines and high-pressure fuel pumps onboard the vehicles are at the centre of the investigation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The probe covers Ram pickup trucks that were built in 2019 and 2020. As NHTSA has revealed, the prove covers 2500, 3500, 4500 and 5500 trim models of the Ram pickup trucks. The pickup trucks have been reportedly stalled abruptly while running at speeds over 40 kmph. In most cases, the vehicles couldn't be restarted.

Stalling a vehicle abruptly on the road could result in fatal accidents for the particular vehicle and other vehicles as well. While there haven't been any reports of major mishaps, such a problem could be dangerous

Ram pickup trucks are capable of towing nearly 17,000 kg of weight. A vehicle with such a weight in tow and running at 40 kmph stalling abruptly on a busy highway could be specifically risky.

The stalling could be the result of the vehicles' high-pressure fuel pumps not being able to deliver the volume of fuel to the engine. This results in the motor stopping abruptly, stalling the vehicle.

This is not the first time when Ram pickup trucks came under scrutiny. Previously, the automaker issued an inspection for 2018-2020 Ram diesel pickup trucks in June last year. Since then the automaker has multiple times inspected the specific models and their engines, fuel pumps etc. NHTSA said that Ram has improved the fuel pumps of its pickup trucks with several inspections. However, the latest inspection sheds light again on the affected pickup trucks.