My 2022 Gladiator burned down... how?

[Gvsukids]

Was it a 4XE ? These electric vehicles are catching fire for no reason. It's electrical.

No 4XE Gladiator.

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[ShadowsPapa]

Was it a 4XE ? These electric vehicles are catching fire for no reason. It's electrical.

No. The jeep here is a Gladiator. Take a look. There are no 4xe gladiators.

And no they aren't - not in any numbers - not even as much as other EVs.
So far only 6-8 have actually caught fire "for no reason" - those were charging at the time.
Root cause has been hard to determine (due to the heat generated by the battery fires and other reasons)
It was a Samsung battery issue and as fast as it was discovered to be happening, it was being taken care of. FCA immediately instigated buy-backs of the vehicles and started an investigation - I think right after the 2nd one. This has got to be the fastest any car company has jumped on an issue and sought resolution. It's made more complex by the fact that the issue is Samsung batteries, and those lots have long since been used, and there haven't been many in number to easily establish a pattern or root cause.

Looks to me like more gas gladiators than 4xe Wranglers have burned. I have a 4xe. Been following and watching it very very closely. (and still back the 4xe into the garage and charge it)

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Take a look at the situations of the JTs that burned have in common.......

Parked outside
Sitting ~2 weeks
Where was the fire mostly concentrated? Electrical area

Hmmmmm - rodents.

Have any of them been JTs that were driven daily?
Have any of them been JTs that were parked in a decent garage, away from rodents?

The two that stick in my mind were "it was just sitting there, it hasn't been driven in xx days" and it was "parked outside".

Even my JD lawn tractor was victim but I caught the little SOB that was making his nest in there and he ate a pellet as his last meal. Luckily he had just started chewing around the air intake, using that as padding around his stash of winter food.

Think - parked outside, sitting for xx days - not touched, not disturbed.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

(BTW, we have dogs that we let out 3 - 4 times daily, so there are no critters going to get past those big sh1t$).

You'd be surprised............. seriously. Farm dog who loved to hunt rats and was out and about frequently, and yet those stupid things still hung around. They find a safe spot under a piece of roofing steel, or an area where they at least feel safe, and they climb in.
Even with the neighbor cats hanging around here years ago - we had mouse and chipmunk issues.
I stored a combine in the same building where I had my shop back in the 80s. I was out there daily, sometimes for hours at a time. Come time to prep for harvest - a half dozen rats would be shot out as we fired stuff up. The elevator paddles all chewed to make nice neat tunnels. How the heck - with me out there??? Night time. that's when most such critters are active. At night.

One time,
4 cats in the house, still had a mouse get in (when the back steps settled away from the sill plate and foundation the SOBs found a way in)
Yeah, 4 cats with access to almost anything they wanted 5 litter boxes in the laundry room, there had to be some scent of cat in there - and the mice came in. I have since dealt with the steps and that gap - so once again they can't possibly get in, but don't think that because you have dogs there won't be mice or chipmunks there. Unless your dogs are out 24/7 and around that truck, it only takes a few hours.

I still bet on critters.

Vehicle fire inspections are a lot more difficult than house fires when there's so much heat and total destruction. the wiring no longer makes sense - connectors are totally gone, the copper wire having been hot is no longer nice and tidy and neat - it's everywhere. A fire can start in one place, the heat melt insulation causing another short.... That area is also loaded with plastic - the air box, tube, PDC, power steering pump and reservoir, belt, tubes and hoses. They melt and drip flaming as they fall (I live where I can burn stuff and I routinely make burn piles with old automotive parts, plastics, rubber, etc. and it's interesting to see how things burn, what is takes to make something burn..........)
There won't be evident burn patterns on a wall or floor or ceiling.

I would bet that of the two vehicles shown in these threads with totally destroyed engine bays - even a pro will have a heck of a time determining the actual cause - if they can at all.

 

[JeepRitz]

My 2022 Jeep Gladitor burned to the ground August 06, 2023. Jeep claims no responsibility for the cause of fire. I had 2,536 miles on my Gladiator. I had $71k in the vehicle. did not drive all last winter because I did not want snow, salt, slush on my Gladiator. My insurance company "Allstate" offered me $47k. 2 1/2 months have gone by and no claim payout. How does a fire start on a vehicle that is parked and turned off and a cold engine?

NHTSA is investigating these spontaneous fires now.

 

[DailyMoparGuy]

I was just thinking about this thread

 

[TinMan2020]

Depending on what the NHTSA finds, and after how Jeep treated the OP, I’d consider a lawsuit after all this.

 

[samstewart]

NHTSA is investigating these spontaneous fires now.

The same happened to us on July 5th 2024. We had a ‘’22 gladiator rubicon with 18,000 miles parked in our driveway for less than 24 hours (engine off). Jeep claimed no responsibility and wouldn’t speak with us. They knew! They had 9 other spontaneous fires that they wouldn’t disclose to us and our insurance company. Now, finally, we are all getting answers as to why this is happening. Jeep needs to be held accountable!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It's a bit of a puzzle - or is it really?
Yes, there's battery power to the cable, and connectors, leading to the PS electric pump, however, no power is being drawn when it's off. It's like shutting off the light switch in your house - the hot wire to your ceiling light can't overheat and burn because even though it's "hot", electric-wise, there's no load being pulled through it to heat the wire.
So, that leaves damage over time, such as scuffing, scraping, or heat of exhaust, damaging insulation to the point that the then bare wire touches a ground, heats things up and starts a fire. The fuse in the high current fuse array should blow - but, is it properly sized for the wire and load? Does that PS pump REALLY actually draw 100 amps to require a 125 amp fuse there? Is the wire large enough, and fuse matched to the wire size and EHPS pump load?
There's also often higher temperatures around the engine and exhaust after shut-down as the heat in the core of the engine makes its way out, no longer being removed by the cooling system. They need to look at that............ how much heat are those wires exposed to after a hard run and then shutdown.

"spontaneous combustion" isn't a thing of magic or mystery - there's a reason things burn.

 

[Hootbro]

Jeep needs to be held accountable!

You will have to litigate that yourself. Not unique to Jeep, but all automakers take no personal responsibility for any total loss fire damage in terms of handling it as a warranty issue and directly compensate for it.

 

[sharpsicle]

...They knew! They had 9 other spontaneous fires that they wouldn’t disclose to us and our insurance company. Now, finally, we are all getting answers as to why this is happening. Jeep needs to be held accountable!

What exactly did they "know"? What answers did you get? Because as of now, the investigation has yielded nothing conclusive. Sometimes investigations are launched to ensure these things aren't due to a defect, not that there's a guarantee there is one.

Fires happen, but that doesn't mean Jeep is being negligent or deceptive towards you. Especially with only 9 reports.

I've had vehicles burn down too. I sympathize with you. It sucks. But the truth is, that's what insurance is for, and why Jeep isn't getting involved. I didn't go after BMW when a brake line ruptured at the cylinder on my X3 and started a fire that burned the whole thing down. I called my insurance. And I'm willing to bet I wasn't the only X3 owner to ever experience a fire.

I'm curious what you think needs to happen instead.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

They had 9 other spontaneous fires that they wouldn’t disclose to us and our insurance company.

Of course they aren't going to "disclose" - because as of yet, there's nothing to disclose. There have been fires - but were all the same causes? Or were two of them because someone like me routed a cable from the battery to the winch and moved wires around in the process, or maybe it was the winch wire itself.
No entity, not anyone involved in any unknowns like this will ever talk about it freely. They can't. Lawyers will be putting duct tape on their mouths until true causes of each and every fire is known. Too many variables, and even police do not - or SHOULD not - talk freely about ongoing investigations and when there's possible litigation, a company would be insane to even mention "yeah, we know of xx other fires". Who does that? While there have been other fires, until the fat lady sings - it's all speculation. IF there's a problem that Jeep needs to address, NHTSA will kick their tails.
There are so many variables here - in part because many people aren't driving Wranglers or Gladiators that have never been touched or modified since initial delivery.
We know nothing at this point.

 

[JW Jeep]

Also none are burning up on the dealers lots or in their shops ? I’m sure their are some dealers that wouldn’t mind if a few disappeared or burned with all the inventory of over manufactured vehicles ( only kidding on this point ). There is a lot of questions on fires though ? When I worked for ford about 20 years ago I got demonstrators as part of the job Every year or less. I actually got to order them the way I wanted them. Even got the gas and dealer plates included. we’ll long story short I helped a friend move and a folded up card board box some how got stuck between back of cab and box. We couldn’t get it out so every time I washed the truck I would get a piece out. There wasn’t much left but one day driving down the road it caught fire and scared the crap out of me. I made it too my house and put the fire out. That small piece of card board did quite a bit of damage and it was right above the gas line , real scary !! It melted the inside trim of the back of cab ( super cab ). We had to replace inside cab rear trim , carpet, repaint back of cab, replace rear sliding window, remove box and replace front of box panel and repaint, new bed liner, wiring & loom and new high pressure fuel line. Sorry such a long story but it doesn’t take much too start a fire, even a small piece of card board. Lesson learned !!

 

[samstewart]

The same happened to us on July 5th 2024. We had a ‘’22 gladiator rubicon with 18,000 miles parked in our driveway for less than 24 hours (engine off). Jeep claimed no responsibility and wouldn’t speak with us. They knew! They had 9 other spontaneous fires that they wouldn’t disclose to us and our insurance

company. Now, finally, we are all getting answers as to why this is happening. Jeep needs to be held accountable!

Of course they aren't going to "disclose" - because as of yet, there's nothing to disclose. There have been fires - but were all the same causes? Or were two of them because someone like me routed a cable from the battery to the winch and moved wires around in the process, or maybe it was the winch wire itself.
No entity, not anyone involved in any unknowns like this will ever talk about it freely. They can't. Lawyers will be putting duct tape on their mouths until true causes of each and every fire is known. Too many variables, and even police do not - or SHOULD not - talk freely about ongoing investigations and when there's possible litigation, a company would be insane to even mention "yeah, we know of xx other fires". Who does that? While there have been other fires, until the fat lady sings - it's all speculation. IF there's a problem that Jeep needs to address, NHTSA will kick their tails.
There are so many variables here - in part because many people aren't driving Wranglers or Gladiators that have never been touched or modified since initial delivery.
We know nothing at this point.

I understand what you’re saying in regards to them admitting there’s an issue, however, they denied this to our insurance company as well which in the big picture if things, may creates a bigger problem. My Jeep hadn’t been touched as far as any modifications and/or upgrades. We bought it brand new and took amazing care of it. This now makes 10 vehicles that have been reported. That’s a lot as far as I’m concerned! I know there are always exceptions, but for the most part, it’s pretty uncommon for a vehicle to spontaneously combust while just sitting there.

 

[samstewart]

Also none are burning up on the dealers lots or in their shops ? I’m sure their are some dealers that wouldn’t mind if a few disappeared or burned with all the inventory of over manufactured vehicles ( only kidding on this point ). There is a lot of questions on fires though ? When I worked for ford about 20 years ago I got demonstrators as part of the job Every year or less. I actually got to order them the way I wanted them. Even got the gas and dealer plates included. we’ll long story short I helped a friend move and a folded up card board box some how got stuck between back of cab and box. We couldn’t get it out so every time I washed the truck I would get a piece out. There wasn’t much left but one day driving down the road it caught fire and scared the crap out of me. I made it too my house and put the fire out. That small piece of card board did quite a bit of damage and it was right above the gas line , real scary !! It melted the inside trim of the back of cab ( super cab ). We had to replace inside cab rear trim , carpet, repaint back of cab, replace rear sliding window, remove box and replace front of box panel and repaint, new bed liner, wiring & loom and new high pressure fuel line. Sorry such a long story but it doesn’t take much too start a fire, even a small piece of card board. Lesson learned !!

I’m sorry to hear that happened! Fires are pretty scary and devastating no matter what the cause, however, in this case, my Jeep was just sitting there for a little less than a day. Nothing we did or didn’t do started that fire! And please don’t say it could have been a rodent! I’m really not sure why some people are skeptical or even in denial, if anything they should be really concerned! There’s a recall for the manual transmission jeeps where the clutch plate overheats and can cause a fire. I’m really not sure why this should be treated any differently! One unexplained fire is one too many!

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