'Urgent' safety recall leaves couple with dangerous Dodge truck for nearly 2 years

When the recall notice came in the mail, Michele Ashenden and her husband Vittorio Pulcini knew it was serious.

The words "Urgent Vehicle Recall'' in red letters were sprawled at the top, along with a warning that a defective fuel pump on their truck could lead to sudden loss of power and a crash.

Ashenden and Pulcini didn't want to drive their 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT after getting the recall notice, but had no choice. They needed the vehicle for work. 

It soon became obvious the truck was too dangerous to be on the road, Pulcini says. 

"It would just randomly shut off while driving, like, 100 per cent completely black. No power, no electronics, no hazards. Nothing," he said. "[I thought], 'Oh my God, this is totally dangerous.'"

The automaker issued the recall in June 2022. After waiting almost two years for a permanent fix, the Montreal couple reached out to Go Public, overwhelmed with frustration amid mounting expenses.

"They indeed told us … that the repairs were not able to be done because the part doesn't exist," Ashenden said.

The automaker, Stellantis, manufactures and sells vehicles under 14 brands, including Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Fiat and Jeep.

An automobile consumer advocate says the time some companies take to fix defects is "outrageous" considering the safety of everyone on the road is at stake. 

George Iny, who heads the Automobile Protection Association (APA), tells Go Public delayed fixes are "a big problem" in Canada. 

He says some companies will issue a safety recall as required by law then — as in this case — leave owners waiting far too long for the repair, because there are no mandated deadlines on how long they can take to fix the defect. 

"They issue the notice arguing that that makes them compliant with the law, but then they haven't put in the process for the repair yet. It's really unacceptable," he said. 

It is estimated that as many as one in five vehicles in Canada has an unresolved safety recall, "endangering not only the occupants but also other road users," according to a June 2023  report by Transport Canada. 

There are no publicly available numbers that show how many of those are because automakers don't have a fix.