2015 Ram 3500 vs 2016 Ram 3500
Two adjacent model years of the Ram 3500, side by side. Every figure is a raw NHTSA/EPA count — not normalized by how many were sold.
Side by side: identical recall campaigns (16 each), and 2016 3500 has fewer recorded owner complaints (133 vs 136). 2015 3500 carries more NHTSA investigations (4 vs 3). Neither has NHTSA crash ratings, and neither has EPA fuel-economy data in our dataset.
| Metric | 2015 Ram 3500 | 2016 Ram 3500 |
|---|---|---|
| Recall campaigns | 16 | 16 |
| Owner complaints | 136 | 133 |
| NHTSA investigations | 4 | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | Not rated | Not rated |
| EPA fuel economy | — | — |
Where these two actually differ
Both carry 16 recall campaigns, so recall history does not separate them. A campaign can still cover very different defects on each vehicle — read both records before treating the tie as equivalence.
2015 Ram 3500 has drawn 3 more owner complaints (136 against 133). Complaints are self-reported to NHTSA and scale with how many were sold, so treat the pattern of what owners report as more informative than the total.
Counts are raw NHTSA and EPA totals for each model year. They are not adjusted for how many of each vehicle were sold, so a high-volume model will tend to show more of everything — a larger complaint count is not by itself evidence of a worse car. Use the per-vehicle reports for the underlying records.
How to read this
- A green check marks the lower raw count — fewer recorded issues, not a declared winner.
- Complaint totals are not normalized by vehicle population; a big-seller shows more of everything.
- Where a rating or EPA record is absent, that is missing data — not evidence of safety.