2018 Jeep Cherokee Suspension Problems

A week ago, I went to my local garage that I trust for a completely different reason than I ended up leaving with. I have a 2018 Jeep Cherokee. I have less than 62,500 miles on this vehicle. I do not tow anything. I do not go off road. I do not ride down trails or do anything out of the ordinary. I live in the Boston area. What I found when I was at the garage was an issue that the garage couldn't fix. I needed a rear differential unit replace. Jeep discontinued the Jeep Cherokee this year. What a coincidence because the differential unit isn't available. It's been on back order all year based on what I see online. I spoke to someone at a service department today. He told me it has been on back order, there are 150 ish that have been requested. There are 8 ready for deployment in July. So I will have 140+ people ahead of me for this thing that doesn't exist on a vehicle they no longer make. Today I went to a Jeep dealership and they looked at the unit and said at some point it's going to break and I'll lose control of my vehicle. They've seen this issue in the past and its not pretty and told me I should trade it in immediately. I have a vehicle with 62,500 miles that is essentially totaled . It will become inoperable in a matter of months, if not weeks. Even if they get the part, they told me it would be $3,500 for the part, plus another $1,500 for labor, plus likely the axle needs to be replaced, plus another part and it's likely $8,000 to fix it all. And it could be 6-12 months before they can fix it. I get it, it's sexy to chase the airlines. The headlines are great. Vehicles is another story. That's not a sexy storyline. But Jeep is taking someone who FINALLY paid off this vehicle this month and is forcing me to buy a new vehicle. I don't get to use insurance on my totaled vehicle. Jeep is forcing me into trading this vehicle in by not producing parts. Vehicle was inspected today. No warning lamps. It was found by mistake.

NHTSA ID

11605534

Incident

Jul 30, 2024

The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. The contact placed the gear shifter in the park and the restart message was displayed. While driving at unknown speeds, the vehicle failed to accelerate as needed. While making a turn, the vehicle was difficult to steer. Additionally, the key fob was inoperable. There was an abnormal rattling sound detected. While driving, the vehicle was swaying. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were flashing. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that a wiring harness was loosened. The vehicle was repaired but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000.

NHTSA ID

11528560

Incident

Apr 1, 2023

Mileage

120,000 mi

This vehicle is designed to be a flat tow vehicle for a class a motorhome. No one made me aware of the death wobble and this caused an accident which could have been deadly. We did 13,000 dollars in damages to my motorhome and jeep. After hours of research i found this to be a common problem from Jeep. i contacted the local jeep service department and they were not aware of this. Come to find out there is a jeep part to correct the problem, at a cost of $286.39 and a labor charge of $460.00 to install. If jeep is aware of this problem, why are they not advising the public to not flat tow this jeep until the necessary parts are installed. There is nothing in the manuals regarding this problem!

NHTSA ID

11517448

Incident

Apr 2, 2023

The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the front end of the vehicle and the steering wheel would violently shake and vibrate while depressing the brake pedal. The contact indicated that the check engine warning light was illuminated when the failure occurred. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic who diagnosed that the passenger’s side and driver side front wheel ball joints were damaged. The passenger’s side ball joint was more severely damaged. The vehicle was then taken to the local dealer who confirmed the diagnoses. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 45,000.

NHTSA ID

11463886

Incident

Mar 1, 2022

Mileage

45,000 mi

WAS DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD AND THE PARKING BREAK CAME ON AND WOULD NOT RELEASE.

NHTSA ID

11406361

Incident

Apr 4, 2021

Mileage

66,000 mi

I HAVE 2018 JEEP CHEROKEE WITH 85353 MILES IT HAD SERVICE SHIFTER TWICE WHEN I WAS DRIVING SO I HAD TO PULL OVER ON HIGHWAY AND TURN OFF ENGINE AND TURN ON ENGINE SHIFT TO PARK THEN TO DRIVE

NHTSA ID

11348713

Incident

Aug 11, 2020

WHILE DRIVING HIGHWAY SPEEDS THERE IS A VIBRATION BETWEEN 60 AND 80 MILES PER HOUR. I HAVE HAD THE TIRES REPLACED, RIMS REPLACED AND NO CHANGE IN VIBRATION. IT HAS STARTED SINCE I OWNED THE VEHICLE WITH 7 MILES ON THE ODOMETER TILL TODAY WITH 9000 MILES ON IT. THE DEALER CLAIMS THAT THIS IS NORMAL THROUGHOUT THE LINE OF CHEROKEES AND IS JUST "ROAD VIBRATION" BUT TALKING WITH OTHER OWNERS THIS IS NOT THE CASE AND THEY DO NOT EXPERIENCE THE SAME THING. IT DOES TEND TO FADE AWAY DURING LONG LEFT TURNS ON THE FREEWAY BUT APPEARS AS SOON AS THE VEHICLE STRAIGHTENS. NUMEROUS ATTEMPTS TO GET THE DEALERSHIP TO FIX THIS HAS RESULTED IN NO HEADWAY AS THE DEALER CLAIMS THAT THIS IS NORMAL.

NHTSA ID

11140689

Incident

Jun 28, 2018

Mileage

85 mi

I WAS STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT, THE. LIGHT TURNED GREEN AND ALL SUDDEN MY CAR MY PASSENGER SIDE RIM JUST SHATTERED AND POP 4 HOLES IN MY TIRE. THE TIRE WAS NOT MISSING ANY RUBBER. TOOK IT TO THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY SAID IT IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY WHEN I JUST THE CAR IN NOV. I HAVE CONTACTED JEEP AND THE DEALERSHIP AND I GET THE SAME THING. YES MY TIRES AND RIMS ARE COVERED UNDER MY WARRANTY PLAN BUT NOT LOWER CONTROL ARM AND BALL ISN'T UNDER WARRANTY UNLESS IT WAS A DEFECT. HOW CAN A RIM COMPLETELY EXPLODED FROM THE INSIDE? SEE PHOTOS ATTACHED

NHTSA ID

11073289

Incident

Feb 8, 2018

Mileage

1,980 mi