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Truck yeahTrucks are good! New owners of Jeep Wrangler JL have been complaining for months about frame welding, and some have even had frame failures on an essential suspension mount. Fiat Chrysler is now issuing a recall due to the risk of "vehicle accidents without prior notice". That's why it's such a case.
Jeep Wranglers will issue a recall and a stop sale on some 2018 and 2019 Jeep Wrangler models because a weld to keep the lightbar support on the frame could fail, "potentially leading to separation of the frame bracket" and possibly a crash, Fiat Chrysler indicates in the safety reminder that the advanced communication shown below.
FCA did not confirm the legitimacy of this official looking document posted on the JL Wrangler Forum earlier in the day, although a spokesperson confirmed by telephone that "recall notices are pending" in Regarding solder breaks at the bar support sure to assume that it's real.
FCA also stated that the affected cars were a "very defined population" and that the company knew of no accidents or injuries related to the problem.
Update October 5, 2018 at 17:52 ET: According to the FCA, the recall population includes approximately 18,000 vehicles, all of which will be inspected. Of these, the company estimates that 4% (about 720 vehicles) "could have the same problem".
This comes after many homeowners have commented on Wrangler JL's frame welding issues. Just look at some of the images from this 24-page thread entitled "JL Welding Problems" on the JL Wrangler Forums. This is one of many topics including images of what appears to be rather hideous welds.
It's not just the appearance of welds that owners complain about. A number of people have seen their frames fail, particularly at the snap bar bracket (location mentioned in the FCA recall document above).
The video below, posted by Bret Stevens, resident of North Carolina and owner of JL Unlimited Rubicon for 2018, shows where his control bar support has ripped from his frame. Watch the stand come off the rail when Bret's wife turns the wheel:
Bret published his experience on the JL Wrangler forum in August; I had the opportunity to talk to him on the phone to learn more about what happened. He said his Jeep had only had a Jeep since mid-July and was only 1,300 miles long. Once he got off the road, but he says he "absolutely did not beat it or anything".
In August, after having dinner with his wife in the passenger seat, Bret joined the highway on the road when, on the edge of the bridge, "the steering wheel seemed stuck for a second".
"I had the impression of wanting to drift to the right while I was setting the bar on the left," he continued. From there, the Electronic Traction Control, Brake Control and Electronic Service Indicators appeared on the instrument panel.
Once out of the freeway and highway, Stevens said he had to hold the steering wheel at a 45-degree angle to keep the car upright.
He was able to bring the car home, though he admits in hindsight that "it was probably not wise". This is because, after inspection, Stevens found the inside weld of the steering bar bracket intact, but this one as it never touched the frame. It looked like she had just been soldered to the link bar stand itself. "
"[I] I did not expect the mount on the drawbar bracket to break up quite well, "he told me. Seeing this, Stevens had the Jeep towed to a dealership in Eden, North Carolina, where she currently is.
"I do not trust the integrity of my vehicle," he said, before repeating to me that he feared that other welds on the vehicle would also be compromised and that is why he insists that the vehicle be bought by Jeep.
"[My track bar] was retained by an intact weld … I was lucky, "he said. "It's not because nothing has happened and that everything is fine that the problem is serious," he said, pointing out that when it's over, 39, is a failure as important as a handlebar, "one, that's too much." "
Stevens says his JL is being replaced.
Bret's video illustrating the failure of the tracking bar is not unique, I met one by surfing on the Facebook page of the technicians of the car.
There, a technician claiming to work at an FCA dealership in Charlotte, North Carolina, posted the video above. I contacted the technician, who wanted to remain anonymous, and he told me that this was the first problem of this type he encountered. When I asked him what could have happened, he said:
Not sure yet, it looks like it may come from a bad factory weld. You never really know what customers are doing with their vehicles, so everything could have happened, but no other visible damage has been done to the vehicle.
Then there is the story of Ross from New Jersey, whose tracking bar is completely separated from its frame. You can see the pictures of the failure on the thread of his JL Wrangler forum titled "The crawler bar was sheared at the weld. I feel cursed with my new JL. In this thread, he describes what happened to his Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, a hundred kilometers, written in 2018:
Return to Friday night. Drive on the highway. All is well. I will change lanes, I will turn the steering wheel and, to my great surprise, I realize that I have lost all control of steering in the steering wheel. My vehicle starts to follow alone and I almost kill two other people on the road before I can stop on the shoulder. (Luckily I was in the middle lane …) I get an ESC malfunction warning light (electronic stability control).
Call Jeep Assist. The tow truck comes. The dealer called me the next day to tell me that my control bar was sheared at the weld. (It looks like a horrible manufacturing flaw).
He adds that the situation has "incredulous" him.
In the wake of Ross, Jason, from Miami, Florida, published an article about his own failure of the JL Wrangler link bar, even posting an image showing a clear separation between the bracket and the frame. I could not talk to Jason (or Ross, anyway), but he describes what happened in the thread by writing:
1,100 miles and no problem until this morning, when I was coming out of the Palmetto Expressway in Miami and that my steering wheel was turning right and that I kept driving straight. Fortunately, I left it at the nearest Jeep dealership and they were shocked to say the least.
He goes on to say that the tracking bar was "out of the box" and that turning the steering wheel made it "forward"[buck] from top to bottom like a low rider. "
The complaints regarding JL chassis welds are so numerous that one of the Colorado JL owners, who passes by Capt-Zoom on JL Wrangler Forums, has even created a discussion thread urging people to send petitions to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to urge the organization to speed up an investigation into bad welds. Capt-Zoom's letter to NHTSA describes complaints from JL owners regarding their chassis welds:
Bad welds in the guide bar bracket that have broken and cause a total loss of steering.
Porous welds exceeding safety standards that can lead to catastrophic failure.
Slag on almost every frame weld on which the paint does not adhere. This will eventually cause rusting of the frame at the welds, which could lead to catastrophic failure.
Lack of penetration on some welds that can lead to catastrophic failure
Excessive penetration of certain welds that can lead to catastrophic failure
Excessive welding or drip on several welds
Solder splatters on various parts of the frame, which will result in a lack of paint adhesion in the long run and an increased likelihood of frame rust.
Browse the NHTSA's online database and you will find 13 JL Wrangler complaints that fall under the "Structure" category.
"Missing and failed welds on the front frame, where the guide bar and everything else meet," we read. "The welds on the alignment bar bracket are not aligned properly. In the rest of the frame, a lot of slag, misaligned welds, poor penetration, poorly formed weld plugs, splashing and porosity, "says another complaint.
Yet another says, "Many welds on the frame to include the guide rail are extremely porous. If / when the weld of the track gives the vehicle, it will result in a total loss of direction. This makes it a high risk of accident and injury. "
One after another, owners from all over the United States have written about poor welds on JL frames. In Florida, here's a caveat on how these bad welds could cause "catastrophic" failure:
Here is a JL driver from Illinois who feels "very safe" in his new JL:
It's then that of someone in California who allegedly claimed that the bar of his Jeep had failed in the same way as Bret's JL, Ross's, Jason's, Jason and the movie shot by the dealer technician from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Of course, I can not confirm the validity of these complaints on the NHTSA website, but there are 13 of them, which is not insignificant, and that does not even count for the enormous 130 JL complaints that fall under from the "steering" category.
Some of these complaints seem to describe a vehicle behavior similar to that described by Brett when his link bar frame bracket broke down. This one, for example:
IT WILL NOT TREAT RIGHT AND IT WILL ARRIVE ON THE ROAD. IT IS DIFFICULT TO KEEP IT ON THE COURSE WITHOUT A LOT OF CORRECTION. IT'S UNCOMFORTABLE AND DANGEROUS
And this one:
A FLEXIBLE DIRECTION FOR DRIVING THE VEHICLE AT AUTOROUTIQUE SPEEDS RESULTING IN CONSTANT CORRECTION OF THE VEHICLE TO MAINTAIN THE RIGHT LINE AND STAY ON THE TRACK. VEHICLE DERIVATIVES TO OTHER TRACKS AND VEHICLES VERY DANGEROUS TO DRIVE. REQUEST THE DRIVER TO CORRECT THE DRIVING WHEEL CONTINUOUSLY.
(It should be noted that in May, FCA recalled a problem with an intermediate steering bar problem that could lead to problems such as those described above.)
These alignment bar failures – and this recall in general – are a big problem because the alignment bars are essential components of the suspension. The Jeep Wrangler 2018 coil springs front axle solid suspension consists of five main link arms: four suspension arms that extend rearward between the frame and the front axle, and a control rod passing laterally from the frame to the axis.
The four control arms locate the axle in the forward-to-back direction, but that's only the steering bar which is responsible for keeping the axle centered laterally and taking over lateral loads on l & # 39; axle.
In other words, a failure of this part means that no structural element keeps the axle in its correct lateral position. That's why, in Bret's video, turning the steering wheel moves the entire axle back and forth instead of effectively turning the front wheels.
FCA says it is trying to provide us with more information on this issue (such as the total number of vehicles performed). We will update this story as we learn more.
h / t: Zerin Dube
This message has been updated with additional information about the FCA reminder.
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