Lawsuit Claims Ram ProMaster Solely Makes use of 7 Gears When Clients Paid For 9

In case you purchased 9 apples, however later discovered that you simply could not eat two of them, what number of apples do you’ve gotten? Technically you continue to have 9, however in observe you solely have seven that you should use. Such an argument is the premise of one more lawsuit towards Stellantis (although most likely with out the apples). High Class Actions studies that Victor Gonzalez and Stuart Glick have filed a category motion lawsuit towards Stellantis, alleging that the corporate falsely marketed that the 2022 and 2023 Ram ProMaster vans as having a 9-speed computerized transmission. To be clear, that transmission does comprise 9 separate gear ratios, an improve from the 6-speed transmission provided via 2021. That’s not in query. 

What the lawsuit alleges is that these vans are so gradual, they by no means get round to participating eighth or ninth gear, making them successfully 7-speeds as an alternative. The lawsuit additional claims that Stellantis promised that the upper gear ratios within the nine-speed transmission’s prime gears would scale back engine RPM in comparison with the outdated 6-speed. Numerically, that’s true. Nonetheless, it is solely true in observe if the transmission truly makes use of these highest gears. The lawsuit alleges it doesn’t, making the brand new transmission successfully the identical because the outdated one.

It additionally claims that Stellantis both was or ought to have been conscious of this concern, but selected to disregard it and market the vans as having 9-speed transmissions. Which technically, they do, no matter whether or not they use all of the gears or not. (Previously, DaimlerChrysler as soon as did exactly the other, promoting a 6-speed transmission with solely 4 or 5 of these gears enabled.)

All ProMasters, no matter dimension, use the three.6-liter Pentastar V6 that Stellantis drops into virtually every little thing it makes. It made 280 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque within the 2022 Promaster. It was the bottom engine within the Dodge Charger that yr, which Automotive and Driver mentioned “lacks the giddy-up of front-drivers such because the Nissan Maxima.” That is not precisely excessive reward. Put that very same V6 into an enormous field on wheels, and it is honest to say it is working laborious beneath the ProMaster’s hood and may not be as much as the duty, because the lawsuit claims.

Nonetheless, there’s one issue that might take the wind out of this argument’s sails: the Ford Transit. I personal a 2021 mannequin, and bought the tallest, longest model they make to show into my camper van. It has a 3.5-liter V6 (not the optionally available EcoBoost) that makes 275 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque, comparable numbers to the Pentastar. It has a ten-speed transmission, so that you may not count on the Transit to ever attain its larger gears, both. But it surely does. 

I’ve put about 20,000 miles on my Transit driving to all 4 corners of the nation. It would not attain tenth gear a lot after I’m towing my enclosed bike trailer in Tow/Haul mode, however that mode favors the decrease gears for extra energy. It will nonetheless go into tenth on a flat, open freeway. In Regular mode with out the trailer, it will not use something however the excessive gears at freeway speeds, and makes good use of all ten cogs as acceptable for circumstances.

Whereas a lot of my van life pals have ProMasters, I have not pushed any, so I have not had the chance to place the lawsuit’s allegations to the take a look at myself. I can say that it is doable to place a transmission with a number of gears right into a van of this basic dimension, form, and horsepower, and have it use all these gears. It might be the ProMaster’s gear ratios or distinctive transmission programming that make the distinction, if what the lawsuit alleges is true. That is an enormous “if,” which is but to play out in court docket.