How Are People Stealing Dashboard Screens Out Of RAM Trucks So Easily?

As long as car companies started putting technological convenience features in their vehicles, people have been stealing them to sell on the secondhand market. Car radios and stereos were the prime target for a long time, but nowadays, the target is those infotainment systems that are built into the dashboard. These screens that control everything from your music to your air conditioning to your navigation can go for quite a bit of money after being ripped out of a car. There are people who can't afford to get themselves a new car that has a system like this, so the next best option is to just get the system itself. One line of vehicles has become a prime target recently for infotainment system theft — Ram trucks.

The dashboard screens in these trucks runs UConnect, which is the infotainment service that runs across all of Stellantis-brand vehicles like Chrysler and Jeep. For the Ram trucks, it is accessible with this giant screen that nearly reaches from the top of the dashboard down to the gear shift. They look like they should be built in pretty solidly to the truck, but appearances can be quite deceiving. In fact, if you have access to a drill or a screwdriver, you can get one of these screens out of the car in less than a minute if you know what you're doing. We are going to break down exactly how people can get these screens out of a Ram truck, not because we want people to do this. We want people to know the risk if they get themselves a 2025 Ram truck.

On the top part of the dashboard, nestled right behind the dashboard screen, you will see a small sliver of a rubber-like material. In practice, this is meant for you to put some small things on it so they won't roll around, like pens or coins. In reality, this is the only barrier between your dashboard screen being in your Ram truck and being stolen. If you were to pry up this thin layer of rubber with a screwdriver or even just your fingers, you will see two screws. These two screws are essentially the only thing mounting this screen to your dashboard. If you come in with a drill or a Phillips head screwdriver, you can quickly remove these screws, and you have accomplished the hardest part of getting the screen out of the truck.

From there, you simply need to pull a small latch underneath the very bottom of the screen to unhook the screen completely from the truck. Once you do that and disconnect the little amount of wiring on the back of the screen, you can go ahead and take that dashboard screen wherever you please. There are no hidden screws buried within the inside of the dashboard. There is no metal fastening of any kind. It's really that easy.

Always remember to lock your doors and have an active anti-theft alarm system. This is something you should do with every vehicle, but it's a good idea for these Ram trucks in particular. If you don't take precautions, you're making it far too easy for someone to get in and quickly swipe that dashboard screen.