2023 Jeep Gladiator

The contact owns a 2023 Jeep Gladiator. The contact stated that there were several electrical issues while driving the vehicle at various speeds; there were surges in the RPM accompanied by the vehicle wobbling abnormally. The contact stated that the instrument panel was completely blank. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed, and the contact was advised that the PCA harness was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 38,000.

The vehicle was being driven on a 4 mile stretch of interstate 26 averaging between 65 and 70 MPH. On the steepest section of the grade the vehicle downshifted into 7th gear and began to lose power. It showed a check engine light and other codes which are attached. I was able to safely pull over to the shoulder but the vehicle lacked power and pulling over and maneuvering on a steep grade was precarious. I received an alert from the Jeep mobile app on my phone shortly after instructing me to take my car to schedule an appointment now. I was able to use a scanner application JScan to clear the code and was able to return home without further incident. I investigated the code that was provided by JScan “P00AF” and discovered that numerous owners had experienced the same situation across all lines of vehicles that use the Gen 3 Ecodiesel. I counted 37 separate reports while using Google in 15 minutes of searching. This is a serious safety issue as I was traveling at interstate speeds uphill and went from 65-70 mph down to a slow rate of travel in a matter of seconds and to my knowledge no brake lights illuminated as cars were changing lanes behind me rapidly due to my sudden decrease in speed. It appears likely to be a programming or electrical malfunction with the turbo wastegate actuator and corresponding sensors that is not indicative of an actual turbo or wastegate actuator failure. If the computer algorithm is using barometric pressure for pairing boost set point and actual boost based on residual data that is not updated in real time, when ascending steep grades and gaining hundreds of feet in elevation over a short duration, air pressure values could potentially be skewed resulting in a mismatch in actual versus expected turbo boost output. My vehicle had only been running for 12-14 minutes as I live at the base of a large mountain and left home and began my ascent within 10 minutes. Therefore my oil and engine temperature were not elevated.

This version of the jeep has two batteries, a main and auxiliary. The auxiliary battery is used to power the cpus and such. Tens of thousands of Jeep owners have to disable this aux battery. This is due to both batteries not being charged and charged in a way that destroys both batteries. The cause of this is an engineering fault. Two batteries in parallel as in this case MUST be that same voltage and chemistry. Jeep has engineered the process to allow the aux battery to run down independent of the main. This unbalanced electrical situation destroys both batteries. Jeep will do nothing about it, the mechanics are in denial about it and can only return the vehicle back to it's defective state.

The contact owns a 2023 Jeep Gladiator. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle and turning the engine off, approximately two hours later the contact discovered smoke and flames coming from the engine compartment of the vehicle. The fire department was called to the scene and extinguished the flames. During the fire, the garage was destroyed and the exterior of the home was partially damaged. A fire report was taken at the scene and the vehicle was later towed away. The fire department and insurance investigator concluded that the fire had originated in the engine compartment of the vehicle. The exact cause of the fire was not determined. The manufacturer was notified of the fire. The local dealer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 1000.

This Jeep gladiator has not started on several occasions. And is now stuck in our driveway not turning over the engine. This apparently is a known problem and has stranded my family. Has Also stopped all the electrical with the engine driving down the road when my husband was returning from work, this is a safety issue please respond.