This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Driving on the highway my Jeep all of a sudden went out of control, I could not control the steering wheel and I was all over the road. I crossed out of control over 2 lanes on the highway, making other cars swerve to get out of my way!
I experienced the so- called death wobble last night and this morning on my way home from work. I was going just above 40mph. It feels like an unbalanced wheel? if I would leave off the throttle just a bit and keep it smooth at 40 mph it would go away. I couldn't imagine the other owners who were going much faster what they must have experienced. This needs fixed and I will be at the dealership expressing my concerns. I hope no one gets hurt by this !
Traveling about 50 mph in sweeping left turn on smooth, paved road, vehicle began to shake violently, did not want to respond to hard braking and continued until under 25 mph. Tires were close to being worn out, they were replaced with new alignment. Problem has continued with new tires. Jeep was at dealership 3 days and they could not find anything wrong, I want to add they were concerned and very nice but found no problem. Driving home from dealership it happened 3 times and has happened numerous times since. Dealership suggested new tires were bad, but this has now happened on 2 sets of tires. The problem occurs with such violence it is unsafe to driver, passenger, and other vehicles sharing the road. This also happens on roads with bumps on straightway such as might be found in right lane where heavy trucks cause surface deformaties. Our Jeep has no modifications to any part, steering, suspension, shocks, or has tires not recommended for this vehicle.
While driving about 50mph and then begin to slow down on a major highway. The steering wheel begins to wobble back and forth violently and the whole vehicle shakes like crazy, and the muffler sputters like it is about to shut off. I have had to forcefully steer to the shoulder of the road and my vehicle continues to shake, the only way to get it to stop is to turn it off and restart it. This also happened when my vehicle was sitting in my garage and I turned it on to warm it up, it starts to shake and sputter after about 30 seconds of being turned on. I've heard it called the "death wobble" and I understand why. This has happened numerous times over the last 4 months. The condition seems very dangerous to me.
- Las Cruces, NM, USA
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The contact owns a 2011 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated while driving between 35-75 mph, the vehicle vibrated violently on hard surface roads. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle had been taken to a dealer, where it was repaired several times, but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 46,000.
I started feeling a warble when I would hit a bump on the road, took it into a les schawb they told me it was warn tie rod ends, so I then took it to Jeep dealer 'lithia" in eugene Oregon they inspected it and said nothing was wrong. Today I was coming home on hwy 126 and after I hit a part of the road that is rough, the Jeep totally went out of control the whole thing was shaking so bad I had everything I could do to slow it down and pull off to the side of the road, it probably would feel like if all 4 tires popped at once. It scared me so bad, I was just shaking. I got out looked at all the tires, and underneath, L seen nothing wrong so I put on my 4 way flashers and drove home the last 3 miles at a crawl. I will contact Jeep again on Monday and tell them there is a problem, the power steering has also went out twice on this and had to be fixed.
The contact owns a 2011 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated that when driving 60 mph over a road bump, the front end of the vehicle would shake violently to the point that the contact would almost lose control of the vehicle. In order to correct the failure, the contact had to merge to the shoulder and stop the vehicle completely. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who performed a diagnostic and stated that he needed to replace all four tires. The tires were not replaced. The manufacturer was notified and recommended that the vehicle be taken to another dealer for a second diagnostic test. The failure was mileage was 22,000. Updated 4/11/13 the dealership and manufacturer referred to the problem as the death wobble. Many speculate it is caused by the track bar, alignment, steering and suspension components, or the tires. The consumers vehicle is currently backed by a five year power train warranty. However, the dealership believed the tires needed to be replaced, at his cost. The consumer did not believe the tires were the issue.
While traveling on a highway or a high speed service road, my Jeep will begin to shake tremendously. I have researched and found this is known as the "death wobble." I am a younger driver and when the first incident happened, I began to freak. Although not very many accidents actually occur I am still scared that it will happen again. Sometimes I can feel it coming on but nothing ever happens. This has happened 3 times in a week and a half, once at 67mph, once at 60mph, and once at 55mph. This is a very scary event and I hope to get it fixed soon. I wish that you would take the time to look over this incident and fix it. Once again being a young driver this is very scary. I have had my Jeep for a year and 2 months and this is the first time it has happened.
The first incident occurred on 9/26. My partner was driving to work and made a right hand turn from mt. Holly huntersville rd on to harris blvd. He was traveling 45 mph and hit a small dip in the road while going around a curve. After hitting the bump the vehicle shook so violently it felt as if the tires were going to fly off the car, steering the vehicle became almost impossible. Luckily he was able to pull over near pet's mart as he slowed the shaking lessened. After putting the car in park and shutting the car off he looked to ensure there were no flat tires. All tires were good, he again started the car and arrived to work safely. I researched this type of incident and found the symptoms to be related to the "death wobble." Immediately I called lake norman Jeep dealership explained the issues and scheduled an appointment for 9/28. At the dealership they installed a steering damper and balanced the tires. We were hoping this solved the problem it didn't. tonight (10/8) my partner was exiting 277 on to highway 16 traveling 55 mph and again experienced the "death wobble." As he was merging onto highway 16 the car again shook so violently he could not control the steering, there was a car next to him and in the rear. An attempt to turn the car made the shaking worse. He quickly put on his hazards and slowed the Jeep down to 20 mph on this highway. He was only able to regain control of the steering after the car reached 20 mph. Luckily no one was hurt and he arrived home safely. I am concerned that this is a known issue for Jeep and yet there has not been a recall on this product.
Around 12/14/2011 hit a bump in the road my Jeep started to shaking lost control was able to slow down and regain death wobble they call it brought it to the dealer they replaced stealing damper thing where good to around 09/01/2011 same thing happened brought it back to dealer he balanced front tires then around 09/26/2012 same thing brought it back ON09/29/2012 dealer checked it out said all was good and tight on 09/30/2012 on my way from NY to cape cod on 84 in hartford it happened again this time it was close drivers around saw and moved out of the way but no crash got back home ok taking it slow brought to dealer on 10/08/2012 they test drove it checked wheel alignment said all was good Chrysler Jeep of warwick NY and Chrysler Corp have a problem this death wobble is going to kill someone someday.
While traveling on the highway at approximately 55-60 mph, my 2011 4-door Jeep Wrangler hit a small bump. The Jeep's front-end/steering wheel began to shake uncontrollably. When trying to reduce the speed by braking, the violent shaking only became worse. I was unable to keep the vehicle in the lane which I was driving because of the out-of-control shaking. Had there been other vehicles in the adjacent lanes, there most definitely would have been an accident, with possible injuries, given the rate of speed that I was traveling. I had to reduce the speed of the vehicle simply by not applying the gas or brake, causing cars behind me to have to brake, which in turn could have resulted in additional accidents/injuries. This uncontrollable shaking has occurred in this vehicle approximately 5 times. I have since learned that this is the infamous "death wobble." Since this is a known occurrence, especially in Jeep, my concern is why this is not being addressed and being required to be fixed.
I was a passenger riding along in a 2011 Jeep Wrangler that exhibited the infamous Jeep death wobble, which is a violent shaking and shuddering of the vehicle and steering wheel on a completely stock vehicle with 20K miles. The driver of the vehicle then told me that this was the 3rd occurrence he has experienced with his vehicle. I observed how violently the vehicle shook and was very relieved that we did not roll over nor hit any other vehicles on the road. The Jeep dealership has told him repeatedly that they cannot find or replicate the problem he experienced. I am shocked that something so common and dangerous has gone unfixed all this time.
The notorious Wrangler death wobble. I have a brand new 2011 Wrangler with 10,000 miles and today it started this insane wobble when going down rough roads at any speed at all. I cant believe this, it is staock and this is upsurd that Chrysler hasn't fixed this.
14mm bolts were installed on the assembly line of the manufacturer (Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep) in the track bar bushings and lower control arms of the Jeep Wrangler suspensions, which actually calls for a 9/16" bolt. Not only were the wrong size bolts used, the wrong type of bolts were used in the installation. The bolts used were threaded to the head, rather than using the appropriate "shoulder" bolt - threaded at the bottom and smooth up to the head. By installing the wrong bolts, the threads have eaten away at the inside of the bushings, causing the round hole to have wear from the cutting action, thus loosening the surface area inside which can lead to "death wobble". death wobble is where the ball joints, track bars, and lower control arms in the suspension flutter while driving, causing the steering wheel and the suspension to shake violently, which is extremely unsafe and can result in a potential accident or even death. I expect Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep to issue a recall and a technical service bulletin to all affected vehicles. I took my Jeep to my dealership and upon examination, sure enough, there was significant wear inside the bushings where these bolts were installed by the manufacturer. I wanted to replace them with the correct size and type of bolts to rectify the situation, but the damage has already been done, resulting in all new parts needing to be ordered (track bars, lower control arms, etc.) sources: Please refer to numerous youtube consumer videos on "Jeep Wrangler death wobble" as well as a "sticky" posted in the following Jeep enthusiast forum: www.wranglerforum.com there, you will find a sticky called "the importance of changing out stock bolts" with over 12,000 views and over 300 posts.
At approximately 3,000 miles I performed the first oil change. I found the drain plug, which is typically tight, to be loose. I was able to remove it with my fingers. At approximately 6,000 miles, I began to hear a clunking noise at low speeds. After trying to diagnose the issue for over a week, I finally discovered the problem. The upper anti-sway bar fasteners on the front suspension were loose. I torqued them back to specs myself. I am concerned about what other nuts or bolts may be loose on this vehicle. Jeep issued a recall for "loose suspension fasteners" for 2010 and 2011 models, but my VIN is not included. I believe the problem may be more widespread than Jeep has spoken it to be.
Death wobble occurs randomly without warning in our 2008 Jeep Wrangler unlimited X, causing us to lose control of the vehicle. To try to correct the issue, we replaced the steering stabilizer and had the tires rotated and balanced (which was unneeded). This did not correct the problem. We've taken it to a front-end specialist and found no abnormal wear. Jeep dealership provided no help or encouragement.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Levittown, NY, USA