Lemon law junk Gladiator

[Blendsley]

I special ordered a 2021 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon and took delivery of it on November 7. It promptly quit running 3 days later. The dealer had it until the middle of December before they decided the PCM was bad. They had to pull a new one off of the assembly line and ship it to my dealer. Mind you I made my first payment on this Jeep and I didn’t even have it. Chrysler refuse to but it back saying it didn’t qualify under the lemon law after being at the dealer for over 30 days. I made the huge mistake of trusting Chrysler and kept the vehicle.
Fast forward to November 2023. I was the Jeep in order to go home and wax it in prep for winter and find the paint all along the bottom of the hood is blistered, not in one place, but the entire length of the hood. I took it back to the dealer and told them the paint was blistered, their reply was, “around the hinges?” From them I found out there is a design flaw on all of these rust buckets that Jeep but is refusing to recall. The body shop inspected the hood and found that the paint around the hinges on the hood was also blistered. They inspected the door hinges but did not find blisters on any of them, but pretty much said it is going to happen. They had to order a new hood and it has yet to arrive.
Fast forward to January 2024. I was driving my wife to work during a snow storm and all of a sudden the transmission went into neutral. I put it back in 2x2, put the transmission back in neutral, then back in drive and got her to work. I went back home to wait for the dealer to open, I barely got it to the dealer. Next day they told me the transmission was done and they had to order a new one.
I called Jeep customer service and demanded a buy back. I certainly can’t trade the Jeep off when it does not have a transmission. They refused, said it didn’t qualify.
I then got on Jeep Forum and found that issues with the PCM, the transmission and the paint are common problems that Jeep is ignoring and refuses buy backs.
I have found one class action suit against Jeep reference the paint issue.
I wondered if anyone else has had these issues and what you did.

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[MarkO]

Check your state’s lemon law statute of limitations. Make it easy on yourself and call an atty specializing in lemon laws. You don’t pay them, and it doesn’t come out of any settlement from a manufacturer. It’s paid by the manufacturer, so that’s the best plan. Really, your only hope is the days out of service when you initially took delivery, but an atty would know best. Just speak to a few attys before you make a decision on what direction you are going to go.

 

[portalgun]

I know this is the internet and all, but it sounds like Jeep is doing a pretty great job replacing anything that has gone wrong. It's not like all these things have happened to you in 3 months time, your time range is almost three years...

1. PCM, replaced right away, sounds like it hasn't been an issue since. It's a two to three hundred dollar part that takes all of 10 mins to swap out.

2. Panel and hinge corrosion, mine had this too, got a bunch of new hinges, a new hood and other fresh panels out of it. Jeep was gone 3-4 days and in exchange I got brand new factory fresh panels, sounds like a win

3. Transmission, definitely more surprising but by your writing it sounds like they are replacing it on their dime and aren't fighting you a bit on it.

If you want something new, just sell it or trade it in. Why would you expect Jeep to give you a refund on something you've had three years of use on that they've corrected any issues with?

 

[chr15m]

Couldn't say for sure without knowing what state you are in, but you are likely outside the window of time for lemon law on a 2021 model year. Even if you're not, typically there has to be actual repair work attempted multiple times for the same issue, which since they've refused, may not be your situation.

I was able to successfully get a buy back done here in Washington on a 2018 Tacoma once, but only because it would turn off while driving, the dealer had replaced parts multiple times and the issue persisted. Only after being to service multiple times and having multiple actions attempted did it even begin to qualify. At that point it was out of service for ~20 days. Ultimately the nail in the coffin was Toyota issuing the recall on the rear diff and the dealers not having parts resulting in trucks being out of service for 2-3mo. I was able to get buy back done thru Toyota, not the dealership. The main thing to consider in my situation was that it was all for the same issue, which was key.

What is your current mileage, that is a consideration as well.

 

[ShrimpHappens]

You've titled your post "lemon law junk," but it seems you haven't looked up what your state's lemon law is.

To the average person, a "lemon" is a vehicle that has more problems than the owner thinks it ought to have. But in the legal world, which is where you go to get the manufacturer to act, "lemon" is very specifically defined: usually a combination of number of attempts to fix the same issue and days out of service.

You've gone to two different forums, but apparently not an attorney. ?‍

 

[Blendsley]

The Jeep only has 16,700 miles on it which is under 8000 miles a year. I would trade it off tomorrow, but I cant because Jeep has yet to send a replacement hood to the dealer. I also saw on this forum that not only is the paint bubbling on the hood and doors but now there owners are reporting the tailgates corroding too. With all the problems showing up on Car Fax I question if I will get even close to book value for it. That is what is aggravating me the most. Thank you for all of your help. I found a class action law suit out of California on the paint issue. Maybe I will call them.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I then got on Jeep Forum and found that issues with the PCM, the transmission and the paint are common problems that Jeep is ignoring and refuses buy backs.

Oh, boy - trying to determine commonality through social media? So if you visit a hospital and end up on the oncology ward, all people have cancer and we're all gonna die?

Go check Ford and GM forums - they "all have a problem that Ford and GM are refusing to fix" as far as paint bubbling.

PCM issues are far from common - far from it. It's a minor thing - and it's now fixed. So how is Jeep at fault? I'd actually suggest that a PCM issue is rare. But - when you look in forums, where people gather to complain, compare problems, look for solutions and so on - you will of course find some others with the same issue. If it's fixed it's fixed and doesn't count as lemon.

Transmission also is NOT common. It's rare. If you see 4 or 5, that's out of hundreds of thousands, if not millions - how is that common? It's again like visiting a hospital, the forum is where people come to compare notes, find solutions, and in some cases, try to get justifications for their anger........... there's all sorts of reasons.
But forums are not where people gather to say "this is the most perfect vehicle I've ever owned! it's not where people bore others of how "there are no problems, so now what, I'm bored because there's nothing broken"
Forums are also a small fraction of a percentage of total owners. There are over 100,000 4xe Wranglers out there, and yet the 4xe forums are only a handful of owners. How many Gladiators are there compared to active JT forum members? Small number, small percentage of the total. And of those forum members, how many are complaining? Only a few. Some with extremely legit complaints, don't get me wrong there, but then some not so much.

Lemon means it's unresolved, and the SAME issue, not several issues - most of them resolved. That doesn't count. (welcome to the world of modern vehicles)

With all the problems showing up on Car Fax

OMG - don't even go there! That's a bunch of CRAP. Not everything shows up on CF - good grief, people think that if there's a rock chip in the windshield they'll get a bad CF report - fact is, not all shops report, there's no requirement, and bubbling paint isn't going to do crap to such reports. People grossly misunderstand what that's all about. Not all shops report, those that do don't always report everything, and stuff that's non-accident related has zero impact on anything. Drop the carfax stuff - it's bull as far as being related to any of this at all.
Fact is - if I was looking at a used vehicle and saw it had fresh paint and a new engine, I'd be fine with it - because the paint and engine would have fewer miles and years than the rest of it. No, not all of the problems show up on car fax. I had the rocker panels replaced on a WJ - that's a major operation. Guess what didn't show up on a CF report - rocker panel replacement, major body work. Yup, the radiator was replaced by a dealer, rocker panels replaced, pan gasket replaced, etc. - none of it on CF, not a bit.
When trading, dealers look for things like accidents - frame repairs or replacement, results of damage that could come back and bite someone later, not any of the stuff you mention.

 

[Hootbro]

I can't do nothing anything for you.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I can't do nothing for you.

I was never all that great in my HS English classes, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and so on, eluded me.
However, that being said -
I think you just said you can do something for him.
Saying you can't do nothing implies you must do something.

 

[Hootbro]

I was never all that great in my HS English classes, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and so on, eluded me.
However, that being said -
I think you just said you can do something for him.
Saying you can't do nothing implies you must do something.

Yeah, bad Grammar. Corrected it.

It was a smarmy comment to people that only join to use us as a customer service solution like we can do anything other than saying "that sucks".

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yeah, bad Grammar. Corrected it.

It was a a smarmy comment to people that only join to use us as a customer service solutions like we can do anything other than saying "that sucks".

10 likes for that one. There's been a couple of those lately.........

 

[sharpsicle]

Problem #1 - Rectified, did not return.
Problem #2 - Actively being addressed (2½ months active, waiting on parts).
Problem #3 - Actively being addressed (less than 1 month active).

Total timeframe*: 3 years 2 months.

*Assuming 2021 model was made/delivered EOY 2020 as '21 orders opened July 2020 and '21 deliveries started Q3 2020, and '22 orders started September '21.

None of these are related. All are being dealt with. This is why they're saying you don't qualify. Because, well, you don't.

Also not sure why a recall is in your conversation, because recall or no recall they still would be working on the truck and still would be doing the same things they are now, so it's kind of a moot point.

 

[jac04]

..like we can do anything other than saying "that sucks".

Anyone else find that if you say "that sucks" to a bunch of engineers, someone says "or it blows, depending on where you're standing"?

 

[sharpsicle]

Anyone else find that if you say "that sucks" to a bunch of engineers, someone says "or it blows, depending on where you're standing"?

Scientifically speaking, nothing ever sucks, everything always blows

 

[cranbiz]

Lemon Law in most states is same problem 3x or more times within a time period (usually 12 months). Each state is different so you do have to check the laws.

Now, you have had the Jeep 3 years and have had 3 different problems, either fixed or being addressed by Stellantis. Nope, not even close.

My Gladiator has the paint issue, one of these days i will take it in. I'm not getting my panties in a bunch. Stellantis is not the only auto maker with paint issues on aluminum panels. They are, however, the only one that will take responsibility and fix it.

You have taken to the web to complain and demand something you are not entitled to. Sorry, that's a millennial move. I truly feel for you and your problems but I'm not sympathetic in your demands.

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