Major Issues with Jeep/FCA/Mopar - OEM High Fender Flare LED Upgrade Kit

[jeepinization]

I appreciate everyone allowing me to vent a little on the forum about the lack of communication and concern that Jeep/FCA/Mopar has shown me these last few months with an issue I'm having. The lack of communication and concern goes from the dealership all the way up to the very top of the electrical engineering team at FCA/Mopar. I believe it is issues like this which makes many people start to consider looking at other options, like the new Ford Bronco. Before I begin, I am aware I can purchase a tazer and this will solve my issue but I shouldn't have to do this if the very issue is created by Mopar/FCA offering a product which doesn't work, especially when it is installed at the dealership.

In May I purchased a 2020 Jeep Willys JLU. I've owned many many wranglers over the years from a JK Rubicon to my first Jeep, a YJ Rio Grande edition. For the JL I wanted the Willys edition. However, the one thing it didn't have but something I needed was the higher fender flares with the LED lights. I wanted these for two reasons. First, I needed the extra height to put on larger tires and second the Willys edition came with LED front and fog lights but did not come with the LED fender flare lights, so I wanted to complete the LED package. The Mopar high Fender flare LED upgrade kit gave me both.

In doing my research I contacted several dealers and all of them confirmed I could add these to my 2020 Willys edition without any issues. When I pushed back that others who have added the LED fender flare lights have had error messages show up on the dash and hyper flash issues, ALL of the dealers confirmed again that my JL model would be fine since the kit was designed to be added to ANY JLU model and the dealer would be flashing the computer. In fact, one of the dealers even got in contact with someone at FCA/Mopar who confirmed it would work fine for any 2020 JLU / JL model.

Fast forward 3 months. I purchased the High Fender Flare Kit (paintable option) and had them painted and installed. Wouldn't you know it the "turn signal light out" error message appeared and I was experiencing a hyper flash every time I turned on the turn signal. Fast forward another month and many, many trips back to the dealership and still the issue has not been fixed. My last trip back to the dealership, the head electrical engineer at FCA told the dealer it would be impossible to fix this issue for my JL model or any other model that does NOT come from the factory with the LED lights installed. He told them that the only thing I could do was to have the dealership add resistors to the fender flare lights but by doing so, it would void my warranty for ANY & ALL electrical items in the Jeep.

Talk about a great solution!

Truth is I'm perfectly OK with Jeep / FCA creating models which have certain features which other models do not. What I'm not OK with is the lack of communication, information or even clarification on Jeep/FCA/Mopar's part on which mods they sell will and won't work prior to their customers purchasing them. Especially when so many people confirmed they would work. In my case I'm already into them $1,500+ between the cost of the fender flare kit, paint and install.

Even the mopar website does not clarify that certain JL models will NOT work with the upgrade kit. Here is the description:

Fender Flares allow you to install larger wheels and tires and lift kits on your vehicle without tire interference in the wheel well. These paintable high top flares are the same as production Rubicon with LED daytime running lights. Kit includes four different flares, one designed for each wheel well. Fits 2-Door or 4-Door Jeep Wrangler (JL). Paintable.

This OEM Fender Flares part was specifically designed for your 2020 Jeep Wrangler JL 4-Door. It goes through rigorous testing to assure peak performance and safety while maintaining strict FCA quality requirements. Rest assured part number 82215741AC is of original FCA quality, supplied by the same people who engineered your vehicle and covered by the Mopar warranty. Mopar is the original equipment parts supplier for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat vehicles.

Although the hyper flash and error message is super annoying, my biggest issue by far is resell. I can't even imagine how much this error message will hurt my resell value. I guess I'm just disappointed that Jeep/FCA/Mopar have reached a point that they have stopped caring about the customer experience. I know many of you have expressed similar concerns with different issues with Jeep/FCA/Mopar since the JL came out. I hope maybe with some strong competition from the Ford Bronco they might finally care enough to create a better experience for those of us who have been loyal jeep customers for several decades. Maybe, just maybe they will be willing to offer a solution which does NOT void the warranty.

Sponsored

 

[emilboya]

Same issue on my sport, yes it is a risk with the warranty but just splice the resistors yourself (how will the dealer ever know?), took me 5 minutes to do and no more errors, works perfectly fine!

 

[fat_head]

I hate Jeep dealerships with a seething passion. They are legitimately trash and I've never had worse experiences in my life than dealing with Jeep service departments.

Once you liberate yourself from them and begin fixing stuff yourself, it's such a sense of freedom. Sure you feel like you got bent over for paying for a new vehicle that they won't fix (because you did get bent over) but the reward of having a Jeep that works the way you want it helps with that backside bleeding.

 

[CptFloridaMan]

Dealers are inept most of the time, Id personally get a jscan or tazer and program it and enable DRLs. The wiring harness is the same either way. Flashing it like this will also have it set to where if the parking brake isn’t engaged the DRLs will be running.

 

[cgagnon99]

I know it's aggrivating, but look up the Magnuson Moss Act. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer can "VOID your entire warranty". They would have to prove that any electrical failure was the result of your modification. Let's say, your uConnect screen stops working. They would need to prove that it was related to the resistors added to the lights.

Theres a good chance you might not be able to get any front lighting covered, but them saying your entire electrical warranty would be voided is a load of crap

 

[aldo98229]

Today’s Mopar parts catalogue is full of empty promises.

Years ago there was an implicit understanding, a guarantee, that buying a Mopar part meant it’d fit perfectly, it’d work well, and it’d look great. And if any of it didn’t, the dealer would take care of it. But since FCA took over, and vehicles have become more complex and ladden with electronics, that guarantee has gradually disappeared.

I learned the hard way that nowadays there’s no point in paying more for a Mopar part. Half the time an aftermarket part will look just as good, work better, and come with better customer support...for a lot less money.

 

[jerseymike]

I think you can add them as an option with JSCAN too...I did it with mine for wheel/tire size...I also ironically bought the rubicon fender flares with lights (I stuck with halogen) and found them to be a steal for what they included. I never trust dealers with mods and add ons regardless of manufacturer.....they typically do not tinker in things or have the knowledge that we obtain on the forums unless they mod out jeeps.

 

[jellis4148]

When I searched your part number it even says for vehicles with factory LEDs. There is nothing wrong with Jeep Dealerships. I have worked at one 22 years. We take care of customers, and do everything we can to help. Obviously we can't do everything, and of course those people get mad cause we can't fix what they either broke by abuse, or modified and broke. If you change something on a vehicle that is not considered an accessory. Then you run the risk of it not working correctly. They spend millions of dollars testing accessories to make sure they work properly, and then give you a 12/12 or 36/36 warranty with them. With the Magnuson Moss Act they do have to prove that the part you changed caused another part to go bad. That's pretty open statement, and not hard to do for a lot of stuff. You add resistor, computer goes out, and how can you prove it did or didn't cause the problem. While It does stink that the fenders didn't work out for you, and whoever the people were that told they would work should be reprimanded. Ultimately you run the risk of adding parts that did not come on the vehicle from the factory. No different than non factory wheels. They can cause problems also. Finally for the record. Again, I have worked at dealerships my entire career. If one of my customers comes in with a problem. I do my very best to fix with no charge, but if you had come to me with those fenders, and had the problem I would do my best to help, but no for free, and I would never had told you the would work. I would've said, "Based on what I've found on the internet they won't work unless you had factory LEDs. So, do it at your own risk."

 

[rickinAZ]

Sounds like you have the option of eliminating the stress with a Tazer, or keep letting it frustrate you. I get wound up at things like these as well, but sometimes you need to just let it go and avoid the brain damage.

 

[aldo98229]

When I searched your part number it even says for vehicles with factory LEDs. There is nothing wrong with Jeep Dealerships. I have worked at one 22 years. We take care of customers, and do everything we can to help. Obviously we can't do everything, and of course those people get mad cause we can't fix what they either broke by abuse, or modified and broke. If you change something on a vehicle that is not considered an accessory.

I don’t think most on here expect dealers to fix everything, 100% of the time. Where dealers fall flat, in my experience, is when it comes to communicating with customers.

It is common to have to leave the Jeep all day for some warranty work, get a call at the end of the day that the vehicle is ready, only to find “COULD NOT REPLICATE” printed at the bottom of the work order.

It isn't uncommon either that, in order to get the sale, the Sales Department will promise parts and installations that the Service Department doesn’t really want to, or know how to, do.

 

[jellis4148]

I don’t think most on here expect dealers to fix everything, 100% of the time. Where dealers fall flat in my experience, is when it comes to communicating with customers.

It is common to have to leave the Jeep all day for some warranty work, only to find out at the end of the day “could not replicate” printed at the bottom of the work order.

It is also common that, in order to get the sale, for the Sales Department to promise parts and installations that the Service Department doesn’t really want to or know how to do.

I do agree that communication has been a problem for years. All manufacturers including FCA tell service departments to schedule the customer as soon as possible, and put them in a loaner car. Then work on the car whenever you can. They feel getting you in quick is better than the day you can work on it. Unfortunately some things are hard to diagnose. I have had things I couldn't reproduce when I got to the dealer. Noises are hard sometimes. Once you hear it, you are tuned to it, and hear it all the time. Sometimes it's hard to hear or duplicate what is cause a specific problem. That being said, service writers should do a better job at calling the customer. I feel they can be a little behind on that. As far as Sales promising stuff. That's just lazy ass salesman. I'm the Mopar, Jeep, Uconnect, Ram Expert at the dealership. I have and would never promise anything that I can't follow though on. I don't even guarantee the PDR guy can get out a little dent. Guaranteeing things is a good way to make a bad situation. I will advise, and give my opinion, but on most stuff I leave it up to the customer to make the final decision based off of info we have gathered. Maybe that's why I've been at the same store for 22 years.

 

[Notorious]

Especially when so many people confirmed they would work.

This may be part of the problem. How many of those people who you spoke to, successfully completed the same mod you did?

 

[Gregj]

IKD,,, the solution is simple and easy. Just do like so many of us have and download the JSCAN app and fix it and move on with Jeepin’.

IMO not worth the stress of fighting with them.

I have taken my Sport S with LED’s the technology package dash and a whole lot of other mods in and they don’t bat an eye.

Gregj

 

[aldo98229]

IKD,,, the solution is simple and easy. Just do like so many of us have and download the JSCAN app and fix it and move on with Jeepin’.

IMO not worth the stress of fighting with them.

I have taken my Sport S with LED’s the technology package dash and a whole lot of other mods in and they don’t bat an eye.

Gregj

It varies a lot by dealer, though. You are lucky your dealer doesn't bat an eye despite your mods.

That’s far from the case for many of us.

 

[jeepinization]

Thank you everyone for your comments.

I wanted to give everyone an update. About two weeks ago I received a call from my local dealership. I've got to give them a ton of credit, even after my last meeting with them they continued to try and find a fix. They said a regional rep from FCA would be making a special trip to work with them on my jeep.

They spent all day working on it and all day on the phone with the engineers in Detroit to try and come up with a solution but even with all that work, they still could not get the computer to stop throwing the error message and stop the hyper flash.

I'm blown away that the company who makes the Tazar and those who have created the JSCAN can figure this out but FCA and apparently their engineers in Detroit can't. In fact it sounded like they didn't even know where to begin. Maybe FCA needs to hire the team at Tazar or JSCAN in order to show them how to fix their own vehicle?

I know my only real solution is to install resistors, JSCAN, or purchase a Tazar but I can't help but wonder how the same company who built the jeep and LED upgrade kit couldn't figure this out.

Thanks for all your feedback and suggestions. Like I said before I just needed a place to vent with a group who understands.

Sponsored