Recalls are often just a normal part of car ownership, but some cars see recalls more frequently than others. Earlier on Friday, the Jeep world got hit with recall 68C. What’s recall 68C? It affects a number of 2020 to 2025 Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrids and 2022 to 2026 model year Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrids, and regards unexpected combustion. As the internal communication reveals:
Some of the above vehicles may have been built with a high voltage (HV) battery manufactured with cells which may be susceptible to separator damage. Separator damage, combined with other complex interactions within the cells, may lead to a vehicle fire. A vehicle fire can result in increased risk of occupant injury and injury to persons outside the vehicle.
Well, that’s not good. A separator sits inside a battery between the anode and the cathode, ensuring the two materials don’t contact each other. If it fails, the result would be an internal short circuit, which could lead to thermal runaway. Not every use of the word “thermal” describes a fire, but in this case? Yeah, fire. Although a recall report hasn’t hit the NHTSA website yet, recall 68C has appeared on the Transport Canada website which describes…huh, you aren’t going to believe this.
On certain vehicles, the recall repairs completed by an FCA dealer during recall 95B (Transport Canada recall no. 2024-566) may not be effective. As a result, another repair is required.
On certain vehicles, there could be a problem inside the high-voltage battery that can cause a fire, even while parked with the ignition off.
Yeah, it turns out this is sort of a recall of a recall. The last round of fixes in 2024 didn’t all work and didn’t apply to every affected vehicle, which is especially concerning when one potential result of this problem is a vehicle bursting into flames unattended. But it gets wilder: That recall from last year is also a fix for another recall, as the recall report for last year’s recall states:
• On June 25, 2024, the FCA US LLC (“FCA US”) Technical Safety and Regulatory Compliance (“TSRC”) organization opened an investigation after receiving two reports of fires originating from the high voltage (“HV”) battery in Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (“PHEVs”) outside the scope of FCA US Recall ID B9A (NHTSA ID 23V-787) (“B9A”).
• From April 2024 through July 2024, FCA US received additional reports of fires originating from the HV battery in certain Jeep Wrangler PHEVs and certain Jeep Grand Cherokee PHEVs. FCA US has conducted further analysis of the battery packs from some of these vehicles with Samsung SDI in an effort to determine root cause.
• From June 2024 to July 2024, FCA US received three reports of fires originating in the HV battery in Jeep Wrangler PHEVs which received the B9A remedy software. FCA US has determined the B9A remedy is ineffective at detecting certain abnormalities within the HV battery that may lead to a fire.
Alright, so here’s what happened: Stellantis discovered that some Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrids were catching fire, so it started remedying the problem by updating the battery monitoring system. That update didn’t work as expected, so it decided to update the battery management systems again, “followed by a HV battery replacement if needed.” However, that now doesn’t seem to have worked as expected either, so Jeep is working on another fix.
So, what are you supposed to do if you own an affected 2020 to 2025 Wrangler 4xe or 2023 to 2025 Grand Cherokee 4xe? Well, in the words of the manufacturer, “To reduce the safety risk, FCA advises not to charge your vehicle, and to park it outdoors and away from other vehicles or structures until the recall repairs have been completed.”
Coming on the back of an over-the-air update that reportedly bricked several Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrids, this latest recall isn’t the sort of thing that inspires confidence, and it’s something that Jeep needs to get right. While NHTSA hasn’t published a full defect report for this latest recall, the last one revealed that multiple reports of fires came in the roughly six months after the initial B9A recall was launched. Needless to say, we’ll be keeping our eye on the situation as it evolves. Given the precedent, this isn’t the end of this story.
Top graphic image: Jeep
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