New TSB JL 2018 2019: Vehicle wanders requires constant small steering corrections - New Track Bar

[Rdmitch]

I disagree, I'm not looking for perfection and certainly not even comparing this to the responsive steering in the numerous other vehicles i have owned in the past.
I wanted the Wrangler and was aware that it would handle and sound differently than other cars.
All I ask is that it stays in the frickin lane without having to rock the steering wheel !
Once the steering is acceptable to an "average" standard I will stop making a fuss and enjoy the Jeep.
Not a matter of it being a bit loose, its a matter of it being a lot unsafe. This is the only gripe I have and I'm certainly not a complainer. I dumped my Honda CRV due to the oil dilution issue before the value took a dive.

If Jeep can't make this right, I'll fight for a buy back and move on but for now I'm gonna see this thru as much as I can. I believe I'm on the right path with the new Jeep rep I have been working with and we are scheduled for a
Jeep tech to look at this next week.

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[DrDee]

Hi, I am NOT technically savvy with any of the several posts on the “wandering of the steering” but I bought my 2020 Sahara 4 door one week ago out of state and it feels “weird” and frankly unsafe. I only have 120-130 miles on it.

I drive normal speed on highway around 50-60, on streets up to 30. It feels “jumpy”
The Jeep is my daily drive, the steering feels “loose” and I feel I have to have a tight grip on the wheel to keep it straight.
My best bet for this city gal, that has zero chance of fixing anything on my own is to go to my local dealership. Frustrating that it’s a brand new Jeep and I need to take it to service

Anything I should insist they check or do? Suggestions welcome
Thanks

 

[Rdmitch]

Hi, I am NOT technically savvy with any of the several posts on the “wandering of the steering” but I bought my 2020 Sahara 4 door one week ago out of state and it feels “weird” and frankly unsafe. I only have 120-130 miles on it.

I drive normal speed on highway around 50-60, on streets up to 30. It feels “jumpy”
The Jeep is my daily drive, the steering feels “loose” and I feel I have to have a tight grip on the wheel to keep it straight.
My best bet for this city gal, that has zero chance of fixing anything on my own is to go to my local dealership. Frustrating that it’s a brand new Jeep and I need to take it to service

Anything I should insist they check or do? Suggestions welcome
Thanks

Welcome to our world .
Since you found this thread you made it to the right spot. Best bet is to scroll thru these posts and gain the knowledge of the people here so you can understand the problem we all have experienced.
Gather the facts and go to your closest Jeep dealer and have them do all the needed warranty updates to get you current. There is the track bar, damper and a few things you have to do to get the ball rolling. Make sure they follow the jeep STAR report and have them drive the car with you. Be prepared that they will say they haven’t heard about this before or it's just the way these vehicles drive. That’s baloney, they are aware there is an issue !
After they do the initial service (and give them a fair shot, you could get a great dealer) if it’s not right go right back and document there is still a problem. Call FCA and get a case started so the documentation is in order, log everything you do, every conversation and keep all the service paperwork.
Understand they claim they are working on finding a solution and it’s a slow process but we all are dealing with this. The upgrades they do will most likely get you to a point the Jeep is tolerable....not right, but drivable. Hopefully for all of us they will find something soon. Keep reading here and watching for others fixes and advice. Just follow the plan and if they don’t get it right, look up the lemon laws for your state. Some have received buy backs because of this.

Most of all, drive carefully and be safe.

 

[DrDee]

Welcome to our world .
Since you found this thread you made it to the right spot. Best bet is to scroll thru these posts and gain the knowledge of the people here so you can understand the problem we all have experienced.
Gather the facts and go to your closest Jeep dealer and have them do all the needed warranty updates to get you current. There is the track bar, damper and a few things you have to do to get the ball rolling. Make sure they follow the jeep STAR report and have them drive the car with you. Be prepared that they will say they haven’t heard about this before or it's just the way these vehicles drive. That’s baloney, they are aware there is an issue !
After they do the initial service (and give them a fair shot, you could get a great dealer) if it’s not right go right back and document there is still a problem. Call FCA and get a case started so the documentation is in order, log everything you do, every conversation and keep all the service paperwork.
Understand they claim they are working on finding a solution and it’s a slow process but we all are dealing with this. The upgrades they do will most likely get you to a point the Jeep is tolerable....not right, but drivable. Hopefully for all of us they will find something soon. Keep reading here and watching for others fixes and advice. Just follow the plan and if they don’t get it right, look up the lemon laws for your state. Some have received buy backs because of this.

Most of all, drive carefully and be safe.

Thank you so very much, I’ll be sure to heed your advice!

 

[kobejo34]

Understand they claim they are working on finding a solution

We can only hope. Thank you all for continuing the fight.

 

[JeepCares]

Hi, I am NOT technically savvy with any of the several posts on the “wandering of the steering” but I bought my 2020 Sahara 4 door one week ago out of state and it feels “weird” and frankly unsafe. I only have 120-130 miles on it.

I drive normal speed on highway around 50-60, on streets up to 30. It feels “jumpy”
The Jeep is my daily drive, the steering feels “loose” and I feel I have to have a tight grip on the wheel to keep it straight.
My best bet for this city gal, that has zero chance of fixing anything on my own is to go to my local dealership. Frustrating that it’s a brand new Jeep and I need to take it to service

Anything I should insist they check or do? Suggestions welcome
Thanks

Hi DrDee,
We're sorry to hear that you are experiencing a steering concern on your new Wrangler. If you would like any additional assistance while working with your dealer, our team can connect you with a Case Specialist. We are available via private message!
Alex
Jeep Social Care Specialist

 

[Aceman]

Hi, I am NOT technically savvy with any of the several posts on the “wandering of the steering” but I bought my 2020 Sahara 4 door one week ago out of state and it feels “weird” and frankly unsafe. I only have 120-130 miles on it.

I drive normal speed on highway around 50-60, on streets up to 30. It feels “jumpy”
The Jeep is my daily drive, the steering feels “loose” and I feel I have to have a tight grip on the wheel to keep it straight.
My best bet for this city gal, that has zero chance of fixing anything on my own is to go to my local dealership. Frustrating that it’s a brand new Jeep and I need to take it to service

Anything I should insist they check or do? Suggestions welcome
Thanks

Hi, I am NOT technically savvy with any of the several posts on the “wandering of the steering” but I bought my 2020 Sahara 4 door one week ago out of state and it feels “weird” and frankly unsafe. I only have 120-130 miles on it.

I drive normal speed on highway around 50-60, on streets up to 30. It feels “jumpy”
The Jeep is my daily drive, the steering feels “loose” and I feel I have to have a tight grip on the wheel to keep it straight.
My best bet for this city gal, that has zero chance of fixing anything on my own is to go to my local dealership. Frustrating that it’s a brand new Jeep and I need to take it to service

Anything I should insist they check or do? Suggestions welcome
Thanks

Hi, I am NOT technically savvy with any of the several posts on the “wandering of the steering” but I bought my 2020 Sahara 4 door one week ago out of state and it feels “weird” and frankly unsafe. I only have 120-130 miles on it.

I drive normal speed on highway around 50-60, on streets up to 30. It feels “jumpy”
The Jeep is my daily drive, the steering feels “loose” and I feel I have to have a tight grip on the wheel to keep it straight.
My best bet for this city gal, that has zero chance of fixing anything on my own is to go to my local dealership. Frustrating that it’s a brand new Jeep and I need to take it to service

Anything I should insist they check or do? Suggestions welcome
Thanks

I’m in the same boat. Just drove my new JLUS home tonight. It was the most nerve-wracking, unenjoyable, 4 hour car ride of my life. I refuse to take it on the highway again until the issue is rectified; had several scary moments between 18-wheelers and guardrails where I could barely stay in my lane.

 

[Aceman]

Brought the Jeep to a local dealer today. They told me they inspected it and drove it at 70+ mph and said
everything felt as it should. Funny thing is, the odometer only had 1-2 miles more than when I dropped it off. The nearest highway is 2 miles away so they obviously didn't even get it to a highway. I'm trying one more dealer and if it's not figured it out the jeep goes back. I don't have time to play detective with a brand new vehicle.

 

[Rdmitch]

Brought the Jeep to a local dealer today. They told me they inspected it and drove it at 70+ mph and said
everything felt as it should. Funny thing is, the odometer only had 1-2 miles more than when I dropped it off. The nearest highway is 2 miles away so they obviously didn't even get it to a highway. I'm trying one more dealer and if it's not figured it out the jeep goes back. I don't have time to play detective with a brand new vehicle.

Now that’s funny, you busted them flat out !

 

[Udi]

I’m in the same boat. Just drove my new JLUS home tonight. It was the most nerve-wracking, unenjoyable, 4 hour car ride of my life. I refuse to take it on the highway again until the issue is rectified; had several scary moments between 18-wheelers and guardrails where I could barely stay in my lane.

I had exactly the same experience on my first highway trip. The thing is, this is my first Wrangler so I thought - hey, this is how these Wrangles drive... Then I looked at other, older, Wranglers that were passing me on the highway and I couldn't understand for the life of me how they could keep their Jeeps in the center of the lane, while I was wandering around the lane like a drunken man! Some of them were even driving with one hand on the wheel. I thought - hey maybe this is a learning curve. I'm a good driver, I can get the hang of this Jeep.

I'm a very experienced driver with many thousands of hours under my belt. And yet I couldn't take my eyes off the road to change a channel on the radio or work the GPS. The drive was not only nerve wracking, it was outright dangerous and I also almost found myself on the median guard rail in a highway turn that I've done many many times before with other vehicles. Then I found the thousands of postings on this forum complaining about exactly the same problem!

So my question is - if an experienced driver like myself can hardly handle this vehicle on the highway, to the point of almost losing control, than - how many less experienced Jeep drivers actually DID lose control and perhaps DID have an accident? How can FCA/Jeep allow this to go on for so long? This is such a huge liability, not to mention a turnoff for future customers... I am not going to let my wife or my kids drive it, that's for sure.

What I haven't mentioned yet is that my Wrangler is a brand new 2020 model. I got it 2 weeks ago. Yes --- they have Not solved this problem in the latest and greatest model year...! I really hope they come up with a good solution soon.

 

[Stan_Smith]

I have excessive free play on 2019 (April build). Dealer says FCA is building adjustable steering gearboxes. Waiting to hear back from the dealer.

 

[tk2fast]

I have increased my caster to 7 and toe to 0.34 total along with a Rough Country track bar and finally my 2018 JLU is about 95% perfect. Also went from the 245/75/17 tires to 285/70/17. Trying to drive it over 50 before was too much "work" to keep it in my lane, but now it is It's where it should have been from the factory.

First time I brought into dealer FCA Help Desk told dealer to check torque on all ball joints. Very interesting coming from FCA and verifying that they know these Jeeps are coming from the factory with loose steering components. They then checked toe and it was WAY out of alignment. After that they said that's all they could do, so I read and researched this problem and made some changes that helped just about solve my issues.

Full description to what I did. https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/to-lift-or-not.37380/page-3#post-844317

 

[Aceman]

I had exactly the same experience on my first highway trip. The thing is, this is my first Wrangler so I thought - hey, this is how these Wrangles drive... Then I looked at other, older, Wranglers that were passing me on the highway and I couldn't understand for the life of me how they could keep their Jeeps in the center of the lane, while I was wandering around the lane like a drunken man! Some of them were even driving with one hand on the wheel. I thought - hey maybe this is a learning curve. I'm a good driver, I can get the hang of this Jeep.

I'm a very experienced driver with many thousands of hours under my belt. And yet I couldn't take my eyes off the road to change a channel on the radio or work the GPS. The drive was not only nerve wracking, it was outright dangerous and I also almost found myself on the median guard rail in a highway turn that I've done many many times before with other vehicles. Then I found the thousands of postings on this forum complaining about exactly the same problem!

So my question is - if an experienced driver like myself can hardly handle this vehicle on the highway, to the point of almost losing control, than - how many less experienced Jeep drivers actually DID lose control and perhaps DID have an accident? How can FCA/Jeep allow this to go on for so long? This is such a huge liability, not to mention a turnoff for future customers... I am not going to let my wife or my kids drive it, that's for sure.

What I haven't mentioned yet is that my Wrangler is a brand new 2020 model. I got it 2 weeks ago. Yes --- they have Not solved this problem in the latest and greatest model year...! I really hope they come up with a good solution soon.

Keep me up to date on your progress. I got nowhere with the first dealership I went to, as they didn't even drive it on the highway or do any diagnostics. I'm gonna try another dealership further away from me and see what they say. Many have mentioned adding aftermarket track bars, LCA's, etc but I'm not footing the bill for those parts + labor on a brand new $45k vehicle. Also, log a complaint with NHTSA. There are many complaints regarding the steering - https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2019/JEEP/WRANGLER%2520UNLIMITED/SUV/4WD#complaints

 

[Attaboy55]

When I search the Mopar part number on google, the images that come up seem to indicate that it's an entirely new designed track bar. Even Quadratec's image is that of a track bar that looks more similar to the JK track bar despite it stating that it is for an 18/19 JL. Interesting if they reverted back to the solid bar design!

I have the new one, it's the exact same track bar utlized on jeeps until Jan 2019, the only difference is bushings, and it is NOT solid as pics would suggest...

 

[wv18jl]

Just saw this

Will schedule an appointment with my dealer

They have been perfect for me since 1991 so this shouldn't be a problem

Will update later with results

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