Recall and Stop Sale on Certain 2020 Gladiators For Bad Driveshafts

[Big Red Gladiator]

Whew...I think I dodged the bullet thanks to the delay associated with the steel bumper. My VIN shows no recall and the door tag states 7-19 for the build date. It was ordered in April with the grease option.

Mine was ordered with the grease option also. I now have 10,740 miles on her and seems to be fine. I hope the recall gets parts soon so I can have her check out ASAP

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[RMiller]

Oh really?

"The suspect population was determined by reviewing the supplier's driveshaft production records from the beginning of production of this driveshaft to identify which driveshafts may have been assembled without grease. Driveshaft traceabilty records were then linked to vehicle production records to determine the suspect vehicle population."

Link: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2019/RCLRPT-19V636-4318.PDF

Am I being hyperbolic? Of course I am, you don't need a green card to work in a Mexican manufacturing plant, and they don't pay anything close to $8 an hour.

Auto manufacturers build only a tiny percentage of the components that they assemble into a finished vehicle and those are typically limited to critical components, and those that provide an acceptable ROI. Sub assemblys like we are talking about here are almost exclusively provided by third party vendor/suppliers and contracts are let for those assemblies based on cost and quality acceptance. Order enough. open and install enough OEM parts and you will discover that the overwhelming percentage of these parts are sourced in Mexico and/or Canada.

Looks like Dana, Auburn Hills Michigan is the plant, here is a list of Dana North America facilities : http://www.dana.com/corporate-pages/careers/locations/northamerica

And here is indeed.com employee reviews of the location https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Dana-Incorporated/reviews?fcountry=US&floc=Auburn+Hills,+MI

You are dead on. These driveshafts are assembled by Dana and then shipped to Kuka and Mobis to be put on frame. They go to Jeep to connect body on frame then everything else.

 

[BK_Yeti]

Damn it, I'm in the range at April 2019, though the VIN search shows nothing. Guess I'll wait and see if I get an October call.

For anyone wondering about the date of mfr, you can find it on your driver side door sill.

 

[wch_Chip]

I have the same build date and it`s on the recall list.

I also have the same build date and I'm not on the recall list...currently anyway.

 

[Gladiator4Runner]

So.....I occasionally throw out some questions to a Jeep sales guy I know (funny thing he has no idea I'm on Jeep Garage and this forum so I get more details sooner than he does!!!)

I asked him a general Pentastar question and asked him his thoughts on this recall.... here's his response verbatim.

"
I think all the Pentastar 3.6 engines are the same. The horsepower varies slightly in different models due to exhaust differences. There was a design change in 2016. All models would have the new version in them.

I am not alarmed by recalls. FCA issues recalls on our vehicles all the time. They are just heading off any possible problems and are covering the repair free of charge. Quite often they are just due to a bad batch of a particular part. Sometimes they are just software flashes to make things work better. I see them as positives and not negatives."

YOUR THOUGHTS ON HIM THINKING RECALLS ARE POSITIVE? I get what he's saying that they try and catch things but shouldn't you NOT want ANY recalls?!!!! QUALITY CONTROL!

 

[RH 67]

So.....I occasionally throw out some questions to a Jeep sales guy I know (funny thing he has no idea I'm on Jeep Garage and this forum so I get more details sooner than he does!!!)

I asked him a general Pentastar question and asked him his thoughts on this recall.... here's his response verbatim.

"
I think all the Pentastar 3.6 engines are the same. The horsepower varies slightly in different models due to exhaust differences. There was a design change in 2016. All models would have the new version in them.

I am not alarmed by recalls. FCA issues recalls on our vehicles all the time. They are just heading off any possible problems and are covering the repair free of charge. Quite often they are just due to a bad batch of a particular part. Sometimes they are just software flashes to make things work better. I see them as positives and not negatives."

YOUR THOUGHTS ON HIM THINKING RECALLS ARE POSITIVE? I get what he's saying that they try and catch things but shouldn't you NOT want ANY recalls?!!!! QUALITY CONTROL!

He`s a salesman talking like a salesman. I find what he said a little insulting as if your going to be taken in by his BS. There is nothing positive about recalls and they can be death to a certain model and does not make a manufacture look good. He`s probably a Pinto owner.

 

[piroman683]

Anyone know if this is transmission specific, or axel specific? I ordered my Gladiator July 30th, just got a call it would begging getting built until December 2nd. This was due to the recall from what the rep told me but no answers on what specifically I could change in my build to bring in the date. The axel was the track lock limited slip.

 

[bgenlvtex]

So.....I occasionally throw out some questions to a Jeep sales guy I know (funny thing he has no idea I'm on Jeep Garage and this forum so I get more details sooner than he does!!!)

I asked him a general Pentastar question and asked him his thoughts on this recall.... here's his response verbatim.

"
I think all the Pentastar 3.6 engines are the same. The horsepower varies slightly in different models due to exhaust differences. There was a design change in 2016. All models would have the new version in them.

I am not alarmed by recalls. FCA issues recalls on our vehicles all the time. They are just heading off any possible problems and are covering the repair free of charge. Quite often they are just due to a bad batch of a particular part. Sometimes they are just software flashes to make things work better. I see them as positives and not negatives."

YOUR THOUGHTS ON HIM THINKING RECALLS ARE POSITIVE? I get what he's saying that they try and catch things but shouldn't you NOT want ANY recalls?!!!! QUALITY CONTROL!

They can't control quality (entirely) on parts that they don't manufacture. It really is that simple.

I think there are more people that don't understand what goes on then there is those who do.

These drive shafts in question were assembled off site by Dana, and delivered as complete assemblies that were installed into a chassis.

What exactly would you have FCA do to a sealed bearing assembly to establish that it was full of grease?

Recalls /TSB's happen, ALL MANUFACTURERS have them. I've personally had many more recalls on the Toyota vehicles I've owned than any other brand. That doesn't make them bad, that means they are getting out in front of a problem and hopefully remedying it before your particular example shits the bed.

People are way over reacting to this deal, but if you're looking to break out the torches and pitch forks, you'll want to be heading up to Dana, Auburn Hills, Michigan because they are the source of your angst, not FCA/Jeep

 

[CG07SUT]

So now that they’ve identified the issue/problem/culprit, how long until they can provide a resolution? Seems that Jeep could redirect driveshafts to those affected units in lieu of continuing to build new product. In my case, my Gladiator is sitting in purgatory (Service Bay of Dealer), unable to be driven or sold since the recall is “Stop Sale”, meaning the final paperwork cannot be signed until the recall is cleared. While I did not custom order, I have used multiple zip codes to search and there are none in about a 400 mile radius that fit my wants. If Jeep is not going to begin notifying owners until 10-19-19, hopefully that does not mean that they will not begin repairs until then.

Dealers are sitting on inventory that they cannot sell. Owner’s are driving vehicles that could have an issue, the issue is severe enough for FCA to issue a Stop Sale notice. They should be able to source a few thousand drive shafts in a reasonable time and keep the public informed of the corrective actions. Jeep/FCA need to stay ahead of this on a new vehicle launch

 

[bgenlvtex]

So now that they’ve identified the issue/problem/culprit, how long until they can provide a resolution? Seems that Jeep could redirect driveshafts to those affected units in lieu of continuing to build new product. In my case, my Gladiator is sitting in purgatory (Service Bay of Dealer), unable to be driven or sold since the recall is “Stop Sale”, meaning the final paperwork cannot be signed until the recall is cleared. While I did not custom order, I have used multiple zip codes to search and there are none in about a 400 mile radius that fit my wants. If Jeep is not going to begin notifying owners until 10-19-19, hopefully that does not mean that they will not begin repairs until then.

Dealers are sitting on inventory that they cannot sell. Owner’s are driving vehicles that could have an issue, the issue is severe enough for FCA to issue a Stop Sale notice. They should be able to source a few thousand drive shafts in a reasonable time and keep the public informed of the corrective actions. Jeep/FCA need to stay ahead of this on a new vehicle launch

They are largely at the mercy of the supplier (Dana), FCA doesn't have the parts or capability to manufacture the drive shafts.

Dana business model is production line manufacturing, production is scheduled, materials are sourced, then production is commenced and completed for a particular product before something else is I troduced into production flow.

They aren't just sitting around waiting on somebody to order a drive shaft or 5,000, they are building drive shafts around the clock 7 days a week. You can bet that warranty response time is contractually defined and agreed upon before the first shaft was built.

I can guarantee FCA would prefer resolution to be immediate, they are the ones who are getting blamed and losing customers not Dana

 

[Airmousam]

They can't control quality (entirely) on parts that they don't manufacture. It really is that simple.

I think there are more people that don't understand what goes on then there is those who do.

These drive shafts in question were assembled off site by Dana, and delivered as complete assemblies that were installed into a chassis.

What exactly would you have FCA do to a sealed bearing assembly to establish that it was full of

I actually dont think you fully understand...FCA fo sure has at least one on site SQE (supplier quality engineer) who is responsible for out going quality at Dana...(folks on his management team are 100% looking for a job now)...just got back from 2 weeks in Thailand visiting my companies sub tier suppliers and this shit is watched very carefully and this shaft is way frieking more important than the stuff I was looking at and happens to be tied to the launch of very important flagship vehicle.....this is sure as shit someone at FCA's fault and absolutley could have and should have been prevented...just sayin..

 

[Dryfly24]

For those who think recalls are a bad thing, I have a question.

Have you ever inadvertently made a mistake, caught it, and took action to correct it? Was that correction a bad idea? Should you have just pretended the mistake never happened and damn the consequences? Would that have been a better course of action than owning up and making it right?

If the answer is “The mistake should never have been made in the first place.” Here is another question: Has there ever been a human who is perfect and never made a mistake?

 

[tweak89]

As someone who works for a company that doesn't manufacture but assembles its product we have onsite QA that inspects all incoming parts. BUT, we do not inspect EVERY SINGLE PART. It's just not feasible to do so, so we occasionally have an issue that can cause our product to not perform properly or even fail. We inspect a random 10% sample. If a certain number to not meet our specifications for that part, we then inspect 100%.

I can imagine a similar practice when dealing with the scale of product that a company like FCA has. I certainly don't like that my truck is in the possibly affected range, but I'm glad they discovered it and are doing something about it.

 

[Airmousam]

As someone who works for a company that doesn't manufacture but assembles its product we have onsite QA that inspects all incoming parts. BUT, we do not inspect EVERY SINGLE PART. It's just not feasible to do so, so we occasionally have an issue that can cause our product to not perform properly or even fail. We inspect a random 10% sample. If a certain number to not meet our specifications for that part, we then inspect 100%.

I can imagine a similar practice when dealing with the scale of product that a company like FCA has. I certainly don't like that my truck is in the possibly affected range, but I'm glad they discovered it and are doing something about it.

In this case, mind you this is a 40B company,... there would be outgoing QA of some % of the part(s) at Dana, incoming inspection at FCA, and daily inspection of the manf. process at Dana by FCA SME's...Yes accidents happen, but this is not a windshield washer switch, and FCA will have NTSB and others crawling up the arse for some time...very bad pub, but good for the consumer as it's a safety issue and being quickly addressed...cheers

 

[bgenlvtex]

I actually dont think you fully understand...FCA fo sure has at least one on site SQE (supplier quality engineer) who is responsible for out going quality at Dana...(folks on his management team are 100% looking for a job now)...just got back from 2 weeks in Thailand visiting my companies sub tier suppliers and this shit is watched very carefully and this shaft is way frieking more important than the stuff I was looking at and happens to be tied to the launch of very important flagship vehicle.....this is sure as shit someone at FCA's fault and absolutley could have and should have been prevented...just sayin..

I fully get it.

It doesn't matter if they have one QA guy on site or 5, they are working 3 shifts, the QA guy job is to monitor process so by proxy outgoing quality.

I'm not saying FCA isn't concerned or that it isn't a problem, I'm saying that the malfunction is on the part of the supplier and FCA can't remedy that on their own.

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