What could this be now (2009, red light, traction control, brakes)

[Coldjensens]

Wifey was driving my 2009 Dodge Ram on the freeway when suddenly a red light on the dash Flash and the truck applied the brakes hard then the light went off and she continued on as normal. I don't think the truck has any automatic safety breaking teacher that I know and there were no other cars around any idea what this is?

[TrapperL]

You have a common Ram issue with the traction control. Best of luck. Hope you don't have one of the Hemis that the lifters are sticking causing cam failure. Or one of the Hemis that the timing chain tensioner shoe that breaks off and causes catastrophic engine failure. Gotta love the Ram to drive one.

[Coldjensens]

Thanks Traction control makes sense given the circumstances.

[kapikap]

Bring it to the dealer, this is dangerous. A few years back, there were reports of cars not stopping, or cars that just shut off and locking, even when going 65mph.

Could be a fault in the abs system. I had a bad accident because of this. Check carcomplaints and NHTSA website to see if anyone has posted the aame occurance.

With all the electronics cars have these days, there could be a glitch somewhere.

[supton]

Don't know about the Ram but my Toyota's can have the TC disabled. Have to do it each time I start, but the two that I have can have TC (and VSC) turned off by hitting the right button. I'd start doing that until the issue is resolved.

Unfortunately I *think* TC only uses ABS sensors. So if you have a bad sensor you might not have proper working ABS--which on a front-heavy truck may have lead to some wonky braking under emergency conditions. If the fault lies elsewhere then no (or less) worries.