Death Wobble - Brand new 2022 Sahara @ 500 miles

[mountainrivera]

OP here.... So far no diagnosis yet. I have u connect and the mileage hasn't moved in two days. I did not bring it to the original dealer and the one i brought it to said that headquarters wants owners to go back to the original dealer for repairs. They told me that they received a tough time performing a repair in the past. I think i mentioned that i opened a case directly with Jeep so i called them and asked them to intervene. they also confirmed what the repair dept told me. I have to say thus far their sense of urgency and responsiveness has been stellar. They immediately called the dealer's repair dept and called me back. They said that they would get to it but have not yet heard back. I will post updates as i get them.

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[mountainrivera]

I had 400 miles on my 22 Sahara and experience a similar wobble . There is no recall so I called parts and they researched and under "steering issues" not totally sure what they called it in there research.The part was just installed it. On my work order it is called Damper-steering replacement. Service said it is the latest fix ?? I need a good hole as I just got it back, will advise.
This may be the part # on the WO , 1 68251580AG 19030006Y. I have big an issue of oscillation that can not be fixed so I think am off to lemon law , good luck.

ugh! Good luck

 

[McGilli]

Always love watching my home videos

 

[MesaAZGuy]

My '22 4xe started Death Wobble at 7200 miles before I traded it in for one that didn't have the death wobble. Or was that because my XM subscription was expiring and I needed a new jeep to keep it going? Hmmm....

 

[Rustynail11]

never heard of any manufacturer requesting you take a vehicle to the dealer you purchased from for warranty service. Why would they care? In fact when I had to have warranty work done late summer the dealer I bought mine at encouraged me to go to another dealer because they were so backed up. Jeep Cares also suggested I find another dealer that wasn't so backed up

Sounds like the dealer you went to is talking crap

 

[Gripster]

That video above is crazy. Really shows the violence of DW and how it will lead to other things failing in short time.

Despite the name, I dont think anyone has died from Death Wobble otherwise it would force a safety recall (multiple deaths) to be properly addressed.

 

[mountainrivera]

never heard of any manufacturer requesting you take a vehicle to the dealer you purchased from for warranty service. Why would they care? In fact when I had to have warranty work done late summer the dealer I bought mine at encouraged me to go to another dealer because they were so backed up. Jeep Cares also suggested I find another dealer that wasn't so backed up

Sounds like the dealer you went to is talking crap

Thought so too but the main number

never heard of any manufacturer requesting you take a vehicle to the dealer you purchased from for warranty service. Why would they care? In fact when I had to have warranty work done late summer the dealer I bought mine at encouraged me to go to another dealer because they were so backed up. Jeep Cares also suggested I find another dealer that wasn't so backed up

Sounds like the dealer you went to is talking crap

I didn't believe it either but the main jeep peeps confirmed it and said the case manager makes the call. In this case it was the right call.

 

[mountainrivera]

Dealer finally took it for a test ride on a highway with a 50mph speed limit no overpasses. The DW occurred on a road with a 65mph road with overpasses where the DW occurred. They said they could b=not replicate the DW and started to explain steering wheel play and wandering which set off the fuse. I then called the Jeep main number who said that the tech needs to see the issue. I then demanded that they rip out the whole front end and replace it and proceeded to point out that they are clueless as to the cause if they are continuing to produce CARS with this issue. They escalated it but i will not get a call back till Monday. I am beyond berserk at this point!!

 

[Gripster]

OP, I totally feel for you and you are not wrong to be pissed. But, is there a road near the dealership that you know you can reproduce DW? If so, just keep your cool and tell them you will go with the technician on a ride so they can witness it for themselves. Your case is not strong without the technician being able to witness it.

Google Melina Martinez class action lawsuit. The class is only including 2018-2020 but if you read the complaint it is an eye opener to just how pathetic this problem is.

I got DW on my 05 TJ but only after I lifted it so I blamed myself. When shopping for my wifes 21 JLR, I was crossing my fingers that she would never have to experience it as I knew it was terrifying and not safe as you have to suddenly slow down to make it stop. Easy enough on surface streets but no so much on the freeway.

By the way, when my wifes JLR with 3,000 miles got DW and I took it to the dealership the service advisor said they are only allowed to call it "wobble" on the paperwork and he was not shy to admit that everyone knows about DW and it is no secret.

 

[mountainrivera]

OP, I totally feel for you and you are not wrong to be pissed. But, is there a road near the dealership that you know you can reproduce DW? If so, just keep your cool and tell them you will go with the technician on a ride so they can witness it for themselves. Your case is not strong without the technician being able to witness it.

Google Melina Martinez class action lawsuit. The class is only including 2018-2020 but if you read the complaint it is an eye opener to just how pathetic this problem is.

I got DW on my 05 TJ but only after I lifted it so I blamed myself. When shopping for my wifes 21 JLR, I was crossing my fingers that she would never have to experience it as I knew it was terrifying and not safe as you have to suddenly slow down to make it stop. Easy enough on surface streets but no so much on the freeway.

By the way, when my wifes JLR with 3,000 miles got DW and I took it to the dealership the service advisor said they are only allowed to call it "wobble" on the paperwork and he was not shy to admit that everyone knows about DW and it is no secret.

Thanks for the moral support! So thinking about this a little more rationally what i will ask is what action would you have taken if you experienced the DW and put it on the lift and saw nothing?

 

[AEDRUBI]

Ok…probably about the same amount of frustration, as I got the Rubicon Wrangler for the wife, and with 2 or 3 recent DWs, she’s now afraid to take it on the interstate.

The first inclination of any problem was taking an on-ramp to a Highway being resufaced. There was a sharp curve, and the pavement had deep grooves cut in, before being asphalted. As we accelerated, it was just a violent shaking, but I blew it off as large tires, pavement grooves, speed, turning, etc. (When I say large tires, just stock BFG 285/70/17).

Worse was just last week, interstate construction going on, but nothing a PT Cruiser or a Toyt Camry couldn’t handle…at around 60 MPH, went over a big metal plate, almost flush with the pavement, with a little vibration, but then a moderate bump on the opposite side, and it was like I was in a shuttle making reentry to earths gravity pull. Tried to speed up out of it, slow down out of it, but had to pull off and stop.

So, I set up an appointment with Jeep, but it’s two weeks out and gout on the jeep care site and make a complaint. Nothing back from Jeep Care. I run the Jeep by a local shop, just to take a look and and give me a no shit evaluation and it’s pretty much….outer rods, drag link, track bar and steering stabilize…shot. Saw some unusual wear and believe the tires out of balance.

Ok, all this at 40k miles, and dozens of trips to the jeep dealer for routine oil, maintenance, and checks, and no one ever noticed any of this?

Working on just getting new tires with the wear issues, and I thought I would go with the origanal BFG (K02). But I’m talking to a tire guy and he’s saying he can get them, but….issues with uneven wear that be be a contributor to the DW. Ok, didn’t know that.

Reading up on the issue, and it looks like it’s a perfect storm of variables, and not sure if any or all are correct. KO2s uneven wear and not rotated-balanced every 6k miles, cold or cooler weather, substandard hollow trac bar, cheap steering stabilizer, not using proper shoulder bolts in critical connections, cheap bushings, etc. and then hitting bumps, pot holes, uneven pavement at higher speeds. Just typical driving conditions anywhere in the US.

Cancelled the jeep appointment and looking around for best options to upgrade the shit that Jeep should have done, in the first place. (Can you imagine them telling you this, when your about to shell out $45 plus k….hey, this is a great vehicle, but if I were you, get it to a shop and upgrade your tack bar, drag link, steering stabilize, steering box and maybe a different tire and profile)

Jeep Care eventually calls, and they listen and seemed concerned. They rescheduled the dealer appointment and opened a ‘case number’ . I’m already scheduled to get new tires, but instead of the KO2s, and second choice being the Micky Thompson Baja Boss, I have a concern about those being a contributor to the DW...so, scheduled to get Perrelli Scorpion ATs.

The dealer eval is a week out, but my confidence level is low that they’ll fix anything...maybe I can just find a used PT Cruiser.

 

[Gripster]

OP, you said they "put it on a lift and found nothing". Did they actually do anything besides look at it and maybe grab some things with their hands to see if they moved? They need to remove the cotter pins on the ball joints and torque to spec and then tighten slightly to the next available castle nut slot. How about replace the dampener with the premise the bleed procedure was not performed at assembly. Pretty weak dealership if they just said they put it on lift and found nothing.

That said, get the test drive with technician and reproduce the problem so they acknowledge the problem exists. Then, you are now going down the lemon law path as "they cannot find anything" so they cannot fix it. I am confident that if they acknowledge it and cannot fix it, then you will be OK with lemon law.

In my case, the dampener was leaking oil (dont know if that was a result or the cause) but that at least gave me piece of mind that they could fix something. I had already tightened ball joints before taking it in. I asked the dealership to verify torque on everything which they of course claimed they did, but they lied as the cotter pins that I installed were still there with the exact bends that I made.

 

[Beachcomber72]

OP, you said they "put it on a lift and found nothing". Did they actually do anything besides look at it and maybe grab some things with their hands to see if they moved? They need to remove the cotter pins on the ball joints and torque to spec and then tighten slightly to the next available castle nut slot. How about replace the dampener with the premise the bleed procedure was not performed at assembly. Pretty weak dealership if they just said they put it on lift and found nothing.

That said, get the test drive with technician and reproduce the problem so they acknowledge the problem exists. Then, you are now going down the lemon law path as "they cannot find anything" so they cannot fix it. I am confident that if they acknowledge it and cannot fix it, then you will be OK with lemon law.

In my case, the dampener was leaking oil (dont know if that was a result or the cause) but that at least gave me piece of mind that they could fix something. I had already tightened ball joints before taking it in. I asked the dealership to verify torque on everything which they of course claimed they did, but they lied as the cotter pins that I installed were still there with the exact bends that I made.

1000% positive your leaky stabilizer did not cause DW and was probably leaking after the fact. A steering stabilizer by itself can not and will not ever cause DW. Stabilizers only function it to smoothen/soften out a side to side steering action, and the axle itself vibrating up and down getting thrown in to a violent oscillating motion is not going left to right or vice versa. It’s again, specifically an upwards and downwards oscillation.

Does it suck, definitely yes. And I feel for anyone that has experienced it. It’s not pleasant by any means, but it happens.

In regards to the OP on this one I’d reach out to your state’s Attorney General. Start there if you can’t get a dealership/manufacturer proper response to your situation.

 

[XX4XEXX]

Not laughing at this post but we should bet on what is the issue everytime we get a DW post.

It's not that the dealer doesn't want to fix it it's that they don't want to pay to fix it and it's not in a bay under 27/4 watch. They need to mimic the issue to understand what needs to be done if they can not it goes back to you. DW is unique and not easy to duplicate, sometimes.

When Jeepers experience DW, even though it's new and under warranty, if planed to keep it get familiar with wrenches and Jeeps. If your having issues as suggested earlier stick to IFS.

DW is curable 100% but if it's more of principal to you then find the issue document it in detail with pictures and sue FCA. If not lift the thing and build it. You can pay out of pocket to have it inspected by a 4x4 jeep shop and it will not void warranty FYI.

 

[Gripster]

Not laughing at this post but we should bet on what is the issue everytime we get a DW post.

It's not that the dealer doesn't want to fix it it's that they don't want to pay to fix it and it's not in a bay under 27/4 watch. They need to mimic the issue to understand what needs to be done if they can not it goes back to you. DW is unique and not easy to duplicate, sometimes.

When Jeepers experience DW, even though it's new and under warranty, if planed to keep it get familiar with wrenches and Jeeps. If your having issues as suggested earlier stick to IFS.

DW is curable 100% but if it's more of principal to you then find the issue document it in detail with pictures and sue FCA. If not lift the thing and build it. You can pay out of pocket to have it inspected by a 4x4 jeep shop and it will not void warranty FYI.

I am sorry, but I do not agree. There are many people who want to drive a Wrangler because Jeeps are fun and cool but these people do not wrench on their cars nor should they be expected to. I am talking your average person who inocently makes a purchase but then shortly thereafter finds their Jeep has an inherant safety flaw that they had no idea existed. If DW is 100% curable, then why does Stellantis have a class action lawsuit and issue a TSB to replace the dampener and then still have this problem plaguing the design? Why has DW been a problem for decades and not solved? In my case I will probably purchase a bunch of aftermarket parts and tell my wife the problem should be solved, but honestly the problem is never solved it only does not appear again, hopefully.

If the window sticker said "caution this vehicle may exhibit sudden and violent steering wheel shake", then buyer be warned and everything is cool. The OP should be entitled to a complete buyback and so should I, but I love wrenching and will go down that path and void any warranty claim on DW once I have a bunch of aftermarket parts in the steering system. When purchasing my wifes JLR, I was well aware of DW but felt it certainly wont happen on a stock Jeep with no mods. Shame on me for assuming a manufacturer was more responsible.

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