Gladiator Quality Control Issues

[NachoRuby]

The seat kind of looks normal for a leather seat. That's just what leather seats do. That your ram didn't do it is almost an exception. Unless it's way worse in real life, I'd expect leather to conform and stretch.

The comment "I paid too much..." needs to be rethought. People are complaining they bought a sometimes 70k vehicle, forgetting its identical to a vehicle that starts at under 30k. Your vehicle is more than twice its base price (yes I'm exaggerating a little but you get the point) in nothing but options. Its painted by the same machine as a 30k vehicle. Assembled by the same people. Your "Premium leather" is installed into the vehicle by the same tool that installs the base model ones. The truck is not premium, its just a fully loaded much cheaper vehicle.

I always say the same thing. These jeeps are not a luxury or premium vehicle. It's a $36,480 Gladiator, based on a $30,000 Wrangler, with more stuff. That it was $XX,000 with options is irrelevant. That just means you got more stuff with it. I would expect the same service and repairs from the dealership whether I paid $30,000 as if I had an optioned out one (I don't).

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[JET_83]

The windshield type stuff happens. The problem is the dealer, not Jeep.
Jeepcares is communication, not a fix-all nor are they technical. They enable communication, convey information, etc. They don't fix things nor can they force a dealer to do anything.
Find another dealership for the leak.

I'm not sure if the seat thing would totally bother me or not.......... maybe, but then I'm not there to evaluate it, either.
(BTW - Jeep buys those seats from another manufacturer........ Jeep doesn't make them.)

But if the issue is those two more minor things - best avoid buying any vehicles at all. I could list what some of the other car makers are messing up to put things in perspective.
Mercedes - 1,000,000 cars recalled - sun roof flies off on the highway
Ford - valves
GM - steering locking
could go on.........
I'd not consider that a huge fail of quality control. Sometimes stuff does slip through, especially with staffing shortages these days.

I've bought brand new vehicles with far worse issues in the past.

Maybe reality check....................... and find a dealer that cares.

If i could not get a leak fixed by one dealer, I'd go to another. And if the first one sends out a survey - give them heXX in the survey.

if it’s Mopar glass than Mopar manufacturers it.

 

[JET_83]

The seat kind of looks normal for a leather seat. That's just what leather seats do. That your ram didn't do it is almost an exception. Unless it's way worse in real life, I'd expect leather to conform and stretch.


I always say the same thing. These jeeps are not a luxury or premium vehicle. It's a $36,480 Gladiator, based on a $30,000 Wrangler, with more stuff. That it was $XX,000 with options is irrelevant. That just means you got more stuff with it. I would expect the same service and repairs from the dealership whether I paid $30,000 as if I had an optioned out one (I don't).

If it’s stretched out properly from the manufacturer then no it won’t do this

 

[johnparjr]

Seat looks like mine in my 2020 Mojave and it doesn’t bother me but to each their own. As for the window it’s going to break probably within 6 months anyways so just wait and as others have said find another dealer

 

[NachoRuby]

If it’s stretched out properly from the manufacturer then no it won’t do this

What do you mean stretched out properly from the factory? They are the same truck. Same platform. Same problems, same solutions, across the board, with the only exception being the Mojave suspension.

A high altitude isn't going to be less problematic or have less dealership issues than a sport S. They are still mechanically the same, even though one costs much more. The higher trim might even have more problems, because it has more stuff.

 

[JET_83]

What do you mean stretched out properly from the factory? They are the same truck. Same platform. Same problems, same solutions, across the board, with the only exception being the Mojave suspension.

A high altitude isn't going to be less problematic or have less dealership issues than a sport S. They are still mechanically the same, even though one costs much more. The higher trim might even have more problems, because it has more stuff.

The leather stretched and stapled properly, kind of like the same concept with carpet.

 

[NachoRuby]

The leather stretched and stapled properly, kind of like the same concept with carpet.

Ok. That makes sense. My leather cars have all done the stretching, conforming thing, so i just expect leather to look like that. I usually go for cloth or alcantara, though.

 

[JET_83]

Ok. That makes sense. My leather cars have all done the stretching, conforming thing, so i just expect leather to look like that. I usually go for cloth or alcantara, though.

Just no excuse to overlook it or act like it’s normal when it’s just poor manufacturing process

 

[obrianmcc]

Compared to the crap I see other people dealing with on hard mechanical issues, consider yourself lucky.

The seat though is a tough one. I know in most FCA vehicles, "leather" is a misnomer on the seats only means the bolsters and side trimmings are actual leather and the main areas are some vinyl "pleather" artificial compound and not real leather.

I am with @IanNubbit in that your $70K dollar quality expectation is misplaced. You just bought extra options and extra things to go wrong when they do.

I was thinking just this ... most vehicles these days are not usually real leather. These engineered textiles will always have a range of quality and dependent on the supporting substrate will also have differing levels of stretch ... especially if those particular panels were cut in alternating directions mixing warp, weft, and bias.

 

[IanNubbit]

Congrats , wish I could do that I’m a push over for options, toys and gadgets.. you are correct that it makes my gladiator almost double the price and we are essentially in the same vehicle. Guess I stand corrected and I’m glad there is a wide variety of ways to enjoy the gladiators.

We do it for one sole purpose. Less stuff to have problems, and as a tech, you almost never see base model stuff (things that Every truck has, and not options that only some have) break. Auto climate control always seems to be a hot mess is a great example. Also manual trans, good or bad, almost always have way better track records then Auto's by a land slide as long as you drive nicely. Me and wife both tend to never go above 3k RPMs, always brake very lightly, and after 130k on her JK, no issues besides the common head problem which was resolved in the first year under warranty of course. Window motors never brake, because they arent there lol. Never accidently hitting panic buttons, becasue we don't have them, etc.

 

[Reasoner]

No offense to OP, but I dislike how Jeeps have slowly turned in to these expensive, borderline status symbol vehicles.

Most Jeeps I see around town or on the dealer lots are the highest trim levels with tons of options added on.

I had to search pretty diligently to find my sport model. Bought it before it even arrived on the lot because it was the only one available within a reasonable distance.

 

[Cburd61]

I have been lucky. My ‘20 Overland has only had the rear window leak, which I fixed by running a bead of black silicone around, and the radio glitched once. I believe the radio may have been an update. Quality now a days has went down across the industry. I took an early retirement after working in the only B.M.W. Plant in the U.S., partly because of the decline in quality. In the 20 years I worked there, it went from shutting the line down until an issue was resolved, to, “Ship it”, just to keep the production numbers up. Building a $70,000 and up vehicle with issues, then shipping it to let the dealership figure it out is just wrong. I knew my Gladiator wasn’t a “premium” vehicle, but I also expect everything to be right. As far as the original poster, I wouldn’t be happy with the leaky windshield, and the seat should retain it’s shape better than that.

 

[bleda2002]

Pretty sure the leather in the high altitudes are actually made by katskinz. I had the same style installed in my ram and it stretched like that too.

 

[joeym7]

The windshield type stuff happens. The problem is the dealer, not Jeep.
Jeepcares is communication, not a fix-all nor are they technical. They enable communication, convey information, etc. They don't fix things nor can they force a dealer to do anything.
Find another dealership for the leak.

I'm not sure if the seat thing would totally bother me or not.......... maybe, but then I'm not there to evaluate it, either.
(BTW - Jeep buys those seats from another manufacturer........ Jeep doesn't make them.)

But if the issue is those two more minor things - best avoid buying any vehicles at all. I could list what some of the other car makers are messing up to put things in perspective.
Mercedes - 1,000,000 cars recalled - sun roof flies off on the highway
Ford - valves
GM - steering locking
could go on.........
I'd not consider that a huge fail of quality control. Sometimes stuff does slip through, especially with staffing shortages these days.

I've bought brand new vehicles with far worse issues in the past.

Maybe reality check....................... and find a dealer that cares.

If i could not get a leak fixed by one dealer, I'd go to another. And if the first one sends out a survey - give them heXX in the survey.

Seats sagging, meh, that is somewhat subjective, but they should at least be able to fix a leaking windshield. I've had cars that cost me $100 that didn't have a leaky windshield lol. There is no excuse for it in a 40 (or whatever the low end is)-70K$ vehicle, and nobody should ever accept such incompetence from a manufacture or an incompetent dealer (as the case may be).

Fight on OP, give them heck and make their lives miserable.

 

[joeym7]

Quality has never been Jeep’s strong suit. I’ve have owned six wranglers and now my gladiator. All of them had quality and/or mechanical issues over the short period of time that I owned them. You would figure over the years that Jeep would improve their product. Nope. They increased their price as the popularity of their product has increased.
Also, don’t depend on JeepCares, it’s a marketing ploy. Nothing more.

Yea, because too many people are willing to accept low quality, just read this thread and some of the implied tone in some of the posts - lol...."Oh, your windshield leaks, why don't you know it is a Jeep-Thing, watsamatter with u, man-up."

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