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.
I have experienced the death wobble 4-5 times. The dealer says they have already replaced the steering damper once already. I am concerned there are more issues with the steering system on this Jeep.
I have been experiencing the death wobble ever since I bought the Jeep. I-??ve brought it back to the dealer 2 times and they just told me to get different tires. I spent 1,500 on new tires and still experience the same thing. When I go over bumps or bridge seams on the freeway, my entire front end wobble out of control almost causing me to crash every time. My kids are terrified to drive in the jeep, and I keep asking for it to be fixed before someone gets hurt. Date of incident would be from Aug 30, 2021 to today Feb 31, 2023. It-??s every time I drive on the freeway.
Vehicle's front end violently shakes harmonically side to side when driving over 50 mph upon hitting uneven surfaces on highway and interested. When this occurs, the driver loses the ability to safely steer and must brake which is also unsafe to do on the highway or interstate. The harmonic vibration resonates until the speed is reduced to approximately 35 mph.
No warning. Driving down the road at 45 or above taking a curve and hitting a bump in the road the jeep starts bouncing and the steering starts jerking. I have been informed that there is a law suit stating that this is because of front suspension steering damper.
At any speed over 55 mph any bump or irregularity on the road causes the front tires to rapidly bounce up and down from the left side wheel to the right side wheel. There's almost zero steering control. Emergency braking to under 20 mph is necessary to stop the vibration and regain steering control. Sometimes a complete stop in the travel lane of a highway is necessary. The vehicle was purchased used with 18K miles. After 5K miles a vibration was felt at the front wheels anytime driving over bridge or overpass. At 30K miles the vibration/bounce occasionally required emergency braking. The closest dealer was booked during the Holidays and it was over 30 days for an appointment. During the appointment was told it was the steering dampener, a "known issue" but, the parts are on backorder, no ETA provided. The vehicle is currently unable to drive over 50 mph over any surface. Found almost 500 related posts online for this model vehicle going back to 1980. Why is there not a recall on this failing part?
- Seffner, FL, USA
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Bought a used 2019 Jeep Wrangler with approx 17000 miles. At speeds between 60-75 mph on highway roads that have small bumps and or divots, the front axle begins a divergent shudder and wobble side to side that is uncontrollable. It has happened now 7 times. In traffic I have almost caused accidents because the vehicle is not controllable with the steering wheel. At highway speeds, the only way to make the divergent wobble decrease and go away is to immediately step on the brakes in an emergency mode, hope you don't get rear ended and pull off the road. The vehicle has been inspected in detail by two different organizations. I have had the alignment checked, it's perfect. Shocks are perfect. Everything is fine, accept, when the perfect harmonic is reached on a bump at highway speeds, the front axle goes ballistic and makes the vehicle uncontrollable. This is a safety issue that has/will kill people. There are no warning lamps or caution lights. The vehicle is in perfect condition.
Death wobble where the Jeep shakes so violently that you can lose control. It has done this since new. I take it back to the dealer and they say Jeep is aware of the problem and they are working on a fix. Jeeps fix is a replacement steering damper. When I reported it to the dealer, I was told I had to wait until a fix was released. finally at 2125 miles they replaced the first damper. On the way home it death wobbled again. I had to wait again; at 2285 miles they replaced the track bar. The Jeep didn't handle or feel right but it didn't death wobble until Thanksgiving 2022 250 miles from home. I brought it back in and they replaced the steering damper again at 14668 miles. I was told by the service department there are over 6000 dampers on back order. This needs to be a recall since it affects thousands of Jeep Wranglers. My wife refuses to drive the Jeep.
-??Death wobble-?? is happening on Highway when going over 65mph. Took it to the dealership and said there is nothing wrong with the Jeep. Steering wheel shakes violently causing entire vehicle to rattle. Very scary and hard to control
My Jeep is experiencing the death wobble when driving in the highway. Which causes the jeep to violently shake the right side of the front wheel. I have taken it to two jeep dealerships and was told that it can be due to the suspension or differential. I have not drove this jeep on rough terrain or 4 by 4. The dealership is looking into the suspension system for the death wobble problem. The jeep currently stands at 40,000 miles. I also have a warning lamp that shows to service the axle locker system. According to the dealer, the axle locker system is an electrical issue and not a mechanical one. I wanted to report this problem as it is a safety issue and it is dangerous to drive in this condition.
Death wobble same as my 2008 wrangler that I traded in for a newer model and same problem! Someone will die, it's terrible!!! It happened 3 times in 1 day. I can't take it on the expressway at all.
On 10-23-2022 while driving on I64 in West Virginia I experienced extreme shaking in the steering wheel and bouncing in the front end of my Jeep. I took the vehicle to the Jeep dealer in Beckley, WV and when I explained the problem a member of the service department stated "That is the shimmy shock." I was told there had been an information bulletin put out on this problem and a temporary solution recommended. On September 5, 2019, I took my Jeep into the dealer I bought it from in ref. to recall# V41 and had the steering damper replaced. On October 31, 2022, I took it in to the dealer for repair and the mechanic noted the wrong damper is installed, the right shock is leaking, and they recommended replacing the Michelin tires that have only 39121 miles on them.
Both front shocks broke and needed to be replaced. Needed a 4-wheel alignment because of this. Broke steering damper. Part not able to get fixed as Chrysler won't release the required part until November 15th even though other Jeeps of this year have been recalled due to this issue. I have the repair paperwork. Experienced a "Death Wobble" on Thursday, October 27th. I'm lucky that I didn't panic and was able to get it out of traffic and on the right side of the road. The Jeep and cab shook violently. Issue confirmed by an independent repair shop. Have paperwork to backup claim. No one else besides the independent shop verified the issue. Dealership claimed it couldn't exist because my vehicle style is not part of the original recall for this issue they are aware of. No, there was no prior warning before this occured.
The steering has become very loose, causing the vehicle to feel as though it were drifting with every bump. Entering into a parking lot, or going over speed bumps cause the vehicle to feel as though you are jerking the steering wheel back & forth, with the whole body of the vehicle rocking. Changing lanes requires the upmost care when merging, so as not to cause too much movement, otherwise the entire vehicle rocks back & forth as though you were off-roading on extremely uneven turf. God forbid you attempt to avoid hitting something that jumps in front of you car; that is bound to cause the car to flip! Doesnt matter if you're traveling 5mph or 65 mph, the drifting is obvious & pretty scary.
When driving down the interstate my 2019 jeep hit a small bump in the road. Front end started shaking violently. At first I thought I had blown a tire but tire pressure warning did not show on dashboard. I let off the gas and it ebbed till gone. I was going 70 miles an hour when it started. It was intermittent through out the day and started each day after
Experienced the death wobble. Front tires began to oscillate violently causing loss of steering control on a highway. Went on for ~20 seconds, almost ran off the road and would have crashed. No indications prior to event, smooth highway speed driving right up to extreme violent shaking. Fighting with the wheel to steer to stay on the road was ineffective. The only thing that saved us was it suddenly stopped on its own. Before this event there were several short, less severe instances of wobbling.
Experienced -??death wobble-?? at 60mph. Vehicle has 22k miles and steering components checked out to be good. This is very unsafe and scary. Steering wheel started shaking violently and had to slow way down, almost to complete stop, to regain control. Thank you
When on the highway going over 55 MPH and hitting a bump the steering wheel and entire vehicle begins to move rapidly and violently from side to side. This causes your vehicle to feel like it's losing control. The only way to stop this from continuing is to slow the vehicle down significantly. This presents a significant danger of losing control because of the shaking or being hit from behind on the highway due to slowing down significantly. The dealer has attempted to repair this defect twice within the last 2 months by replacing the steering damper and it is still occurring. No warning messages are illuminated when this occurs.
My Jeep wanders tremendously, at times it-??s hard to keep it on the road. And sometimes it will veer to the left or right unexpectedly. I-??ve almost hit two incoming cars because of this. This problem needs to be fixed on this model vehicle immediately or someone is going to get hurt or killed. Sometimes if you hit a bump the steering will vibrate tremendously until you come to a stop. There-??s no way to control the vehicle when this happens.
The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated that upon entering the highway at 60 MPH, his vehicle hit a few bumps in the road and the vehicle experienced the "death wobble". The contact stated that he had experienced the failure while between two semi-trucks as he firmly held onto the steering wheel. The contact also stated that he lost control of the vehicle and that his vision had been obstructed due to the violent shaking moving his glasses off his face. As the vehicle began to slow down, the shaking stopped, and the contact pulled over. The contact then carefully drove the vehicle home without incident. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer who initially denied that they had never heard of such a failure. The contact left the vehicle in the dealer's possession for a week; the dealer then notified the contact of a service bulletin which was related to the failure. A software update was performed on the vehicle and returned to the contact. Despite the repair, the contact stopped driving the vehicle because of fear that the failure might occur again. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Petaluma, CA, USA