NHTSA Opens Investigation Over Wrangler Frame Strength

Jeep's flagship Wrangler is being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over concerns that the welds on the 2018 and 2019 frames may not be up to par with federal safety standards.

The NHTSA's investigation officially opened earlier this week, but the timeline that precedes the regulatory body's investigation spans nearly 11 months. According to the agency, several private citizens filed complaints with the NHTSA in which they outlined key defects in 2018 and 2019 model year Jeep Wranglers pertaining to the quality of the welds on the vehicle's frame.

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skytop - 9/23/2019 3:29:51 PM

+1 Boost

Cold weld joints are representative of very poor workmanship or poorly programed welding computer control.

MDarringer - 9/23/2019 7:32:43 PM

-7 Boost

With Fiat at the helm...

Hyundai should buy Dodge/Jeep/Ram/Chrysler from FCA and make America great again.

skytop - 9/24/2019 3:29:38 AM

+1 Boost

According to NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation, the Jeep complaints include “various frame weld quality concerns, such as excessive slag, lack of and/or over penetration, overweld or weld drip, weld splash and porous welds,” along with “steering shimmy/wobble, intermittent lock-up, and looseness/wandering.”

qwertyfla1 - 9/24/2019 5:33:21 PM

+2 Boost

Where is FCA QC control? Someone AWS certified should be doing random inspections of the welds and Tower should employ someone with similar credentials to ensure the work is being built to spec. You can't learn to weld in a few hours despite what others may say.

This is a failure of the manufacture (Tower) but is also a massive failure of FCA to allow such sloppy work to be accepted from the "lowest cost supplier" and would not happen with a Magna, Linamar or other tier 1/quality supplier and you are only as good as your weekest link -or part for that matter. Frankly Im surprised that robotic welders are not doing the assembly work rather than humans. Must be a real shit hole factory and hence the quality standards or lack thereof...