Ram Pickup Recalls Investigated After Seven Injuries Reported

US auto safety regulators are investigating whether earlier recalls of more than a million Ram pickups did enough to address a flaw that could lead to trucks rolling away unexpectedly.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received 20 reports indicating previous recall fixes failed to address the problem, including six incidents that injured seven people and 12 involving a crash or fire, according to an agency notice. The defect at issue could allow the vehicles’ transmission to be shifted out of park without having a foot on the brake pedal or a key in the ignition.

NHTSA’s so-called recall query covers nearly 1.2 million pickups made by Ram — now part of Stellantis NV — from the 2013 through 2018 model years. The vehicles were recalled over the issue in 2017 and 2018.

NHTSA said it is working to understand why the additional roll-away incidents occurred and identify any other possible root cause of the issue.

Stellantis said in an emailed statement that it’s cooperating with NHTSA.