Jeep Wrangler 4xe Fire Risk Recall

[Great Offender]

https://jalopnik.com/jeep-wrangler-4xe-phev-faces-another-recall-this-time-1851043584

No opinion just repeating what I have read, researched, and confirmed. I know this is the Wrangler but they due share the same platform.

Sponsored

 

[Volt0]

Yikes! Reminds me of my late grandpa, he didn’t trust that bleep food that came from microwave ovens. I can only imagine what he would say about PHEV vehicles.

 

[Chaos Theory]

Already?

 

[Jimko71]

“The company estimates only 1% of the vehicles involved in the recall may have the defect, and that owners may still drive their vehicles.”

 

[Volt0]

“The company estimates only 1% of the vehicles involved in the recall may have the defect, and that owners may still drive their vehicles.”

I wasn’t able to glean the actual numbers from that article, since they only used relative measures ( to discount/oversimplify the issue? ). Anyway, 1% of what? Couple hundred thousand? Assuming 300,000 are in the recall list, that would leave 3,000 vehicles/homes/families at risk [ pls tell me if my math is wrong here ]. And out of that pool, how many have already had their batteries replaced? And if a person was to buy one used, let’s say from one of those big used-car-vendors, how would the new buyer know about it and/or know if it’s been resolved? My fear is that the 300,000 number that I made up is probably too low. And was this for North America, or the UE too?

 

[Deleted member 57233]

I wasn’t able to glean the actual numbers from that article, since they only used relative measures ( to discount/oversimplify the issue? ). Anyway, 1% of what? Couple hundred thousand? Assuming 300,000 are in the recall list, that would leave 3,000 vehicles/homes/families at risk [ pls tell me if my math is wrong here ]. And out of that pool, how many have already had their batteries replaced? And if a person was to buy one used, let’s say from one of those big used-car-vendors, how would the new buyer know about it and/or know if it’s been resolved? My fear is that the 300,000 number that I made up is probably too low. And was this for North America, or the UE too?

45,230 vehicles across the globe. It's literally the first sentence of the article. So, ~450 vehicles may have the defect.

 

[Mr._Bill]

When @ShadowsPapa quits parking his 4xe in the garage, then it is time to be concerned.

The writer is taking a potential issue and blowing it out of proportion to draw in the internet crowd.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

45,200 Wrangler PHEVs total?
32,000 involved, and of those, 1%
So 1% of 32,000 is 320 (give or take, I rounded the 32,000 number)
These were made 2021 model year to 2024 model year.
That's 4 model years - 21, 22 23, 24 - so did the defect take place in the first model year and was then fixed, or was it in the middle, and then fixed, or was it in the last of the 23 and first of the 24 model year?
There's really no real or solid information out there. No clues as to which years. Hard to imagine it's covering all 4 model years.

Ours is still at the dealership awaiting a transmission.

Love their closing statements mentioning the other recalls - which consist of trivial crap, or the diesel fuel pump issue, or a seat belt latch issue and so on.
Go plug in some other makes and models and look at their recall lists - not really much different unless you get to something like Lexus.
They didn't compare and show that other companies have as many, some more, open recalls.
It's like telling friends you got a 50% raise and go bragging about it - and someone bothers looking and finds you were making 10 bucks and got a 5 dollar raise.

I love some of the reactions over on the other Jeep sites - one guy is really concerned because his Wrangler 4xe didn't show up on the NHTSA site recall list and he's wondering why he's not being notified of the problem and is really very concerned. Others asked- so you are concerned that your Jeep is ok and not involved?

I watched this news "unfold" on forums dedicated to the 4xe and the reactions are all over the map.

I read in one report that the fix is a software update. That implies that the batteries are likely being charged too fast or too much, etc.
I'd also like to know if the 6 that occurred while charging had any specific charger in common, or were they using level 1 or level 2 chargers and so on.
Just not enough information, but a lot of talk -and of course Jalopnik's article is about what I expected from them. Going in circles, not really putting out anything helpful and then showing how many recalls the Wrangler has.

(Sorento has 5, Equinox has 5, Honda Pilot has 6 - I could keep looking........)

I'm not trying to say there's zero concern but..........
If you own a a certain Kia or Hyundai, you should be concerned as well.

 

[redriderjf87]

It's Jalopnik. Not exactly the pinnacle of objective & professional journalism.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The auto blogs, etc. are passing along only prelim information and I'm not sure if it's helping or hurting.
I got some info on the issue and even Stellantis doesn't know which batteries, when or whatever. All they know is they must look into a possible battery flaw.
We also need to keep in mind - it's yet another product they buy, not make, so they have zero way of knowing there's any sort of issue until something happens.
Here's the dope -

The defect has not been identified and the root cause is still being investigated.

FCA US will conduct a voluntary safety recall on all affected parts to repurchase the HV battery.
The remedy for this condition is not currently available.


Imagine the scope of this!
How many JL 4xe have been sold in the 2021 through 2024 model year??
Anyone here know?

They don't know yet the root cause, the defect has not been identified. All they know is that there have been 8 fires, traced to the HV battery array.
They have to look at 100,000 batteries and figure out where the issue is, the cause, I'd assume the years they were received, the VINs they were placed in.
If this is an issue that can be traced to any random battery, this means that over 100,000 Wrangler 4xe are involved and they'll need 100,000 batteries to resolve the issue unless they can nail it down to a lot number or date range!

 

[Dougstdig]

Bill

I sent you a message please respond. I’ll post my cell in the DM…

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Bill

I sent you a message please respond. I’ll post my cell in the DM…

Just caught it - and responded. Normally I get emails really fast on such things - not this time, maybe because I had the dealership service manager's email attention for a while LOL.

 

[Dougstdig]

Just caught it - and responded. Normally I get emails really fast on such things - not this time, maybe because I had the dealership service manager's email attention for a while LOL.

Message received, and thank you.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

45,200 Wrangler PHEVs total?
32,000 involved, and of those, 1%
So 1% of 32,000 is 320 (give or take, I rounded the 32,000 number)
These were made 2021 model year to 2024 model year.

Can't recall where I got the 45,200 number from - I think one article was quoting only that year's sales numbers.
I've figured probably closer to 100,000 total Wrangler 4xe sold over the 4 model years.
They are investigating 32,000 of those (very rough numbers, I'm rounding)

First year (2021) was 29,000+
More than 43,176 in 2022
2nd quarter 2023 was 17,600
Let's just assume only 10,000 each of the other quarters. That's 47 but we'll drop that down as sales are likely down, and say for 2023 it was only 35,000
So 29,000 + 43,000 + 35,000 = that's over 100,000 - closer to 110,000
Of that number, they are looking at 32,000, making me wonder if a specific model year will eventually come out) and of that 32,000 - only 1% are actually suspected = 320
320 out of over 100,000 are your odds if we're getting any decent information at all.
Of those, the articles are stating 8 fires - but only 6 of those were being charged.
Which charger? Level 1 or level 2?
If all 6 were on level 2, then use the supplied level 1 charger.
Were they in the middle of charging or were they all done?
Level 2 takes only a bit over 2 hours to charge - usually about 2 1/4 hours tops. In the last few minutes, the amperage ramps down.
during the first hour or so, probably 90 minutes, that's where the charging is easy because the fist 80% or so is an easy charge. It's the final charging that takes more time and effort.

So if I were to do a forensics investigation of this - I'd want to know which chargers, brand and level 1 or level 2.
I'd want to know if they scheduled the charging and if so, when the fires occurred - during charging schedule or outside of the charging schedule.
If you ask most people - if it's plugged in, they'll say "it's charging" and that's not even close to true. It's simply plugged in. So when they say it was charging - one must clarify if it was inside the scheduled charging time or outside.
If they didn't schedule but do like I do - plug it in and let it charge - then you'd ask how long after you parked it and plugged it in did the fire start? If they say "4 hours" then it was not charging (unless it was level 1). If they say "just an hour after plugging it in" you'd want to know if the battery was at <1% when they parked it or still had xx% left according to the gauge in the cluster.
If it was only half down, then it would charge in short time.
And that throws other questions in - because if the fire starts right after the charging is finished, or 2 hours later, it matters. You can't say it started while charging, yet the fire could be a result of heat generated during charging - thermal runaway.
See - there's too many questions here - we have no clue and neither to the articles/"journalists" (and I use that term loosely these days)
If everything is 100% spot on and all of those questions were properly answered (plus a few more) and they were truly charging actively and not just plugged in - that's one thing and in my case, I'd watch it the first 2 hours (not go to bed, etc.) and maybe, even though it's winter, unplug it when my phone said it was done charging.

Man, those folks at Stellantis have their work cut out for them as they are not likely to get solid facts from the owners. They just don't know. I've at least got my wife to the point she now knows that just because it's plugged in does not mean it's charging. She's even asked me a few hours after she's gotten back home "is my Jeep done charging" and check the app and let her know.

I know of a couple of members here who could really dig into this and know 100% more than I do on such things.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

NHTSA FINALLY has some info on it - 2022 model year....

Our 2023 appears to be fine.
I knew it was going to be restricted to one model year. I could smell it with the numbers involved and so on.

I plugged in our VIN and it's fine - it's a 2023.
So relax ............. unless you have a 2022.

Sponsored