Allegedly Faulty Sway Bars (JT's are Potentially Affected)

[Hawkeyes3312]

Read here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/new...highway-speeds-lawsuit/ar-BB13kJJZ?li=BBnb4R5

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[LostWoods]

This is why I fucking hate technology. Just do an Anti-Rock or some quick disconnects and call it a day.

 

[Weasel Caesar]

Says its the circuitboard and faulty seals causing it to (potentially) get wet and fail. Wonder if you could just add some extra water proofing to the allegedly exposed module-- beef up the seals.

From the article:
"[…] the electronic circuit board for the sway bar disconnect is in a housing with seals that are prone to failure and is located in an area that is likely to get wet or sprayed under ordinary or expected conditions, such as driving over puddles or in the rain. Failure of the circuit board occurs when liquid or contaminants breach a seal of the housing, resulting in a disconnected or malfunctioning sway bar. In some instances, the electronic sway bar disconnect will fail and not reconnect, forcing the driver to drive on roads and highways without a sway-bar."

 

[whiteglad]

I had the disconnects on my JK's. Did the controller flip so it would be less likely to get hit. Never used the disconnects. My JT doesn't have one and I had no incentive to buy a model with it (Rubi) for that feature.

 

[ACAD_Cowboy]

So as the owner of a slightly wonky disco I can tell you that A. it's horrible to drive unlocked and B. you can repair it yourself with basic tools if it konks out.

The design is mighty slick when it works right, slip collar slides out and the bars are totally free. The issue comes in two flavors; a killing electronic failure which can be held at bay if you take some time every now and again to R&R and silicone grease all the seals etc.. The other form is the collar getting held up on the servo which requires dropping it down and doing a full inspection with cleaning and grease packing etc. It seems that water can get into the slip collar area, dragging some dirt with it which will for a rust crusty greasy mud mix which will cause the collar to not complete it's travel. Bang on it all you want it won't move. It has to come down and be serviced but you can do this on the trail, in a parking lot, on the highway shoulder etc.

The spooky part is the bar will report it's in battery, out of battery or somewhere inbetween while in reality being somewhere else entirely. I'd "unlock" the bar and it would flash indicating it wasn't able to completed then I'd "lock" and it would go dark indicating locked. Reality was it was in between, physically unlocked by the barest margin but unable to move that last smidge to relock. The beach mark from krud on the inside was outstanding, a failure work of art. 2 hours later and it was cleaner than when it was built inside, stuffed with grease and dash of gear oil for liquidity. I now schedule a series of activations of the bar and lockers and low range for about a half hour of constant use. Whoever is watching security footage of that specific loading dock must be amused. Ramp the left, then the right again and again and again... and again and again.

Are they a questionable design? Yes. Will they kill people? Yes. Was this a negligence situation? Not likely. Could they do better? Yes. Will they? Not likely.

So should your light start blinking and the nose feels as loose as the steering, pull it over and break out the tools.





If you can follow these video you can at least get it in the locked position.

 

[Factoid]

I disagree on the negligence. A sway bar is a handling and loss of control prevention device, therefore a safety device. It may be a “cool design”, but only an incompetent engineer designs a safety device where the failure mode is disengaged.

 

[ACAD_Cowboy]

Well there's the rub, all those springs are designed to shove the slide link closed. You need to apply power to the unit to hold it open. If it straight up dies during use it would lock itself up.

The problem is scheduled maintenance and repair parts to deal with and correct water intrusion weren't part of their thinking.

It's up there with death wobble, dead steering, shit radios, self digesting 3.6L engines and all the other "it's a jeep thing" things we pay for. It's a feature I swear.

Negligence implies intent, this is more like pretending you didn't hear the question. Until someone dies from it, FCA likely won't do much. Having driven with the bar unlocked, it's frightening and you know right away something is not right and correct for it by going much slower and making very minimal steering inputs. Anyone who doesn't feel how not right it is shouldn't be driving a vehicle with it. What I don't see is the articles claim that they could disengage at highway speed. It may not reconnect but it sure as hell won't disconnect. Knowing how it functions on the inside and armed with a few simple tools you physically relock it and be about your life in under an hour. If it was possible to unlock on it's own then I would haul out the negligence flag and fly it loud and proud.

 

[Jay Gatsby]

Conclusion at end of article...

The Drive examined the NHTSA's public database for complaints of problems and found only 9 results. Many more complaints reported suspension issues related to the sway bar, though most issues were described in too vague of terms to conclusively point to failed sway bar disconnect systems.

 

[Renegade]

I disagree on the negligence. A sway bar is a handling and loss of control prevention device, therefore a safety device. It may be a “cool design”, but only an incompetent engineer designs a safety device where the failure mode is disengaged.

Is that an incompetent engineer, or poor production of an acceptably engineered system? There are a lot of parts which go bad, not because of engineering, but because they are trying to save money by using inferior individual components.
Additionally, the "failure mode" actually results in it being engaged. It takes an electrical current to disengage the swaybar. When the current is eliminated, the springs are supposed to engage the coupling. Yes, there are issues, but it isn't how you are portraying it.

 

[Factoid]

Is that an incompetent engineer, or poor production of an acceptably engineered system? There are a lot of parts which go bad, not because of engineering, but because they are trying to save money by using inferior individual components.

And there lies the rub. It is somewhere between what the customer wanted and what was received.

 

[5JeepsAz]

located in an area that is likely to get wet or sprayed under ordinary or expected conditions, such as driving over puddles or in the rain


Hey is this the thread where all the technos fill the replies with how cool and smart technology is? Or wait, is this the thread where artificial intelligence is a wunderkind and all the technos 'ply' us with replies about the latest technological breakthrough advancing something that worked fine 50+ years ago? Hey now, is this the thread where .,ah. Give it up. This is the thread where Jeeps are not designed to go through puddles or rain anymore. See, all these posts missed the point. Yessir, what happened was the jeep got wet, so of course the technology wont work. Hang on, I know. It's because MSN. That's it. We need fair and balanced. The faux news version? "We need to spend less on passenger safety to preserve capitalism, "

 

[Gobi Wan K]

I saw this article earlier. I traded a 2013 Power Wagon that I got in 2016 I think for my Rubicon. I have been around Jeeps since before the Rubicon was a thing. In all of that time I have never heard of this problem. I have heard of the disconnects suffering failures and having other problems but never one disconnecting on it's own. My understanding as mentioned above is that it requires a electro mechanical action to disengage so I wonder how this would even happen. My only thought is they are going to try to prove that moisture closed the circuit and caused it to disengage. Doesn't seem very likely to me. At least not to the class action level.
I didn't even have a front sway bar on my TJ. I didn't really notice a huge difference. Once I added the bigger axles and 37 stickies it was going to drive like a pig no matter what I did.

 

[ACAD_Cowboy]

THE real problem is the clickbait headline. I emailed the editor for The Drive who replied that the title was changed because its misleading. Has it been? Is this new headline the less misleading one?

For what its worth they make a manual conversion for when the servo motor dies which is okay but it doesn't do anything for the gear case being FOS.

Yes you could get the numbers off the seals and find a compatible unit but shame on jeep for not making it generally available. Or better yet, shame on smartbar for not being more accomodating. Interesting that we don't see the actual manufacturer of the component mwntion3d in the suit.

 

[ACAD_Cowboy]

https://www.thedrive.com/news/33208...rams-can-disconnect-at-highway-speeds-lawsuit

Msn is still peddling the click bait.

Shame, SHAME!

 

[SwampNut]

This is why I fucking hate technology. Just do an Anti-Rock or some quick disconnects and call it a day.

This is why I hate MSN's clickbait titles and over-hyped hit pieces.

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