Proposed class-action alleges Jeep 4xe fire risk unresolved (2024)

South of the border, owners of Jeep Wrangler 4xe vehicles are apparently preparing to fire a lawsuit at the company, alleging a design flaw in the electrified powertrain can lead to conflagrations. The suit – which runs 114 pages, a sum apparently typical for the hyper-litigious United States of America – is being brought by ten owners hailing from seven different states, including Jeep-y places like Arizona and Florida.

Article content

At issue is an alleged failure to properly address the root cause of a November 2023 recall, one which covered Wrangler 4xe rigs from the 2021 to 2023 model years. When the original recall was issued, Jeep said it received an octet of field reports between April and November 2023 of Wrangler PHEVs with fires originating from the high-voltage battery. A pair of vehicle buybacks were in the hands of Jeep by October, with battery modules and cells undergoing analysis.

The remedy was described as a software flash on the hybrid battery pack; if a diagnostic trouble code was present, full replacement of the pack ensued. It was also suggested to park the thing away from flammable items. This recall covered about 32,000 Jeeps in America and nearly 4,000 in Canada.

Article content

Plaintiffs in the new proposed class-action lawsuit allege these solutions may not have truly remedied the problem. “Despite the ongoing safety risk that the Fire Defect poses,” reads the suit, “FCA has not yet corrected the problem and did nothing to warn owners and lessees until very recently,” apparently referring to the November 2023 timeframe.

Stellantis early March countered that it notified the public and media promptly; dealers are finally just now able to make the repair, and so customers are being notified the fix is available. “We have not been served with this action,” a Stellantis statement on the lawsuit was quoted by the Detroit Free Press. “We are currently servicing vehicles as the remedy is now available. Affected customers are being advised accordingly.”

Article content

Details in the proposed suit allege in part that some of the known fire incidents occurred whilst charging; that any spontaneous ignition exposes people to risk; and that the high-voltage lithium-ion battery packs supplied by Samsung were of suspect quality. In a line which would surely make Saul Goodman proud, a particularly entertaining excerpt of text from the filing states “A plug-in electric hybrid that cannot be parked at its home or operated in electric mode is not fit for its ordinary purpose.”

Buried in the legalese is a notation describing these Jeep Wrangler PHEVs as “dangerous instrumentalities,” which should totally be the name of a punk-rock band, should we have any readers considering a career in that field of music. As for the plaintiffs in this new suit, they are seeking monetary damages and – in scary all-caps – demanding a jury trial.