The car doesn't track straight without continual adjustments with the steering wheel. It will drift a little right, then I nudge the steering wheel to the left and it will drift left and have to correct to the right again.
2018 Jeep Wrangler steering complaints
Page 37 of 38: complaints 1,061 to 1,090 of 1,117, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I have had this vehicle for one week and I noticed the steering problem right away. Most of my driving is on the highway, this vehicle has an excessive steering dead zone which leads to major over correcting and constant steering input to keep within a straight line, especially when there are bumps, cracked, uneven pavement, turning, wind etc. It's very a scary. I don't even want to drive the vehicle. My speed during this is between 60-75.
The jeep wanders left to right, higher speeds are worse. I have been pulled over twice in the 9 days I have owned this jeep for erratic driving.
Steering wheel bracket now welded on to frame properly. It has fallen off car causing steering to be floating and dangerous
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 jeep wrangler. While driving 45 MPH, the steering wheel seized without warning. The contact was able to control the vehicle until the power steering returned to normal. The vehicle was taken to atlantic chrysler jeep dodge ram (130 sunrise hwy, west islip, ny 11795, (631) 422-0123), but the cause of the failure was not determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000. The VIN was not available.
I have the new jl wrangler. This is a redesigned wrangler for 2018. Since taking delivery on 5/2/18 I have experienced lose steering with what seems to be a dead spot with the steering wheel. This allows for the jeep to wonder in the traffic lane. At times it feels very unsafe where you feel like you could lose control or end up in an adjacent travel lane. The dead spot is a few degrees right and left of center. It feels like you can move the wheel without any steering input to the front wheels. Because of this you are often fighting with the steering wheel as you make corrections to the left you end up going too far and have to correct back to the right. This occurs at all speeds, but seems more prevalent at higher highway speeds. Maybe because it feels more scarier at those speeds? Jeep and fca so far seem to indicate this is normal jeep wrangler steering. However I have had previous jeep wranglers where the steering did not feel this way. As well as conferring with other jeep owners both of previous models and this new model who do not experience this problem. I have had the jeep in twice for service with the dealership I purchased the jeep from, but nothing wrong has been found. I have driven over 3600 miles on the jeep to date in hopes that it would get better. However the issue is still there.
Highway speeds 60-75 MPH, steering locks. Hard to turn left or right. A major degree of resistance from a 'straight' steering wheel to any movement left or right
Since purchasing this vehicle in early july 2018 and having driven 550 miles I can say this vehicle has an excessive steering dead zone which leads to major overcorrecting and constant steering input to keep within a straight lane. This problem is amplified when traveling at highway speeds (60+ MPH). Especially when there are bumps, cracked/uneven pavement, turning and wind and this creates an extremely dangerous driving situation which could result in serious injury to myself or others. This vehicle has a dangerous "bobble" or sway and driving at faster posted speeds, especially on more narrow roads is quite dangerous. The amount of force to correct to stay in center lane is unlike any vehicle in my almost 40 years of driving I have also owned 3 other jeep wranglers so I know how they drive. Others have mentioned this could be either a steering gearbox or computer flash issue. I did not pay over $40,000 for an unsafe to drive vehicle. Thank you for your assistance and help with this serious safety issue!
Build date 2-2018 since purchasing this vehicle in early march 2018 and having driven over 5,000 miles I can say this vehicle has an excessive steering dead zone which leads to major overcorrecting and constant steering input to keep within a straight lane. This problem is amplified when traveling at highway speeds (60+ MPH). Especially when there are bumps, cracked/uneven pavement, turning and wind and this creates some not so fun situations. The selling dealer suggested lowering tire air pressure, which I did and it still doesn't fix the problem.
This is in reference a dead spot when the steering wheel is centered and I'm going or trying to go straight on the road. It is noticeable at all times but becomes unstable at 50+MPH. It is difficult to drive straight because the steering wheel has play in it before the wheels actually turn. My jlur was lifted at the dealership before delivery using the mopar 2" lift kit. I brought the jeep to the shop and was told I needed an upgraded steering stabilizer because of the lift. They added part number 77072360 at a cost of $461.80. I have driven the jeep since then and the steering play is still there. A week later I put new tires on my jeep thinking it may help reduce the dead spot condition on the steering but it did nothing, it feels exactly the same. The new tires are 35 x 12.5 r17. Stock tires were 33.
There is excessive play in the steering wheel, which progresses as the speed increases. It becomes very difficult to keep in the lane on the highway. The vehicle "wanders" and requires constant steering corrections. Exact vehicle is a jeep unlimited wrangler (jlu) sahara 2018
This is a brand new vehicle. The steering is loose. There's a dead spot when the wheel is centered. It is very difficult to drive especially speeds over 50 miles per hour because the steering wheel has play in it before the wheels actually turn.
There is something wrong with the steering on this new jeep wrangler. There is 2-3 inches of play in the steering wheel and it is very difficult to stay in my lane on the highway. This is a very unsafe vehicle over 55mph. This is not normal.
There is a lot of play in the steering. It is unsafe to drive over 55mph. You have to turn the wheel 2 inches to the right and back to the left to stay straight on the highway.
Track bar bracket and other welds are very poorly done, which can lead to serious malfunction or injury. Welds have poor porosity with pinholes, slag inclusions, lack of fusion, underfill, etc. The welds on my new 2018 jeep rubicon jlu that cost $52,000 are all malformed. I don't see how there could have been an inspection pass on these welds, as they are dangerous. I've had them inspected by two professional welders with a combined 45 years of experience and they both immediately agreed. One user on the jl wrangler forums with very similar welds had a complete failure of the track bar bracket at a higher rate of speed (highway posted speeds) and was somehow able to get the vehicle to the side of the road without killing himself or anyone else. This post can be found on jl wrangler forums dot com, search for "track bar sheared off at the weld" the track bar bracket weld on my jeep doesn't cover the top of the bracket but instead the weld sits almost on top of the bracket edge as you can see from the added pictures. The side welds are simply weld blobs and do not follow any weld standards. This is simply dangerous and shows that the vehicle was not inspected when leaving this stage of the build from fca. Just to note, most all other welds that were visually inspected are just as poorly done.
Purchased my 2018 billet silver, 4-door wrangler rubicon jl on july, 2 2018. Build date is 2/2018 for the vehicle. I noticed the excessive need to overcorrect the steering wheel when I drove it home from the dealership. I test drove it earlier in the day on a 4 lane, split highway and it was almost entirely a straight highway drive, so I didn't notice it much on the very short test drive as I did driving the jeep home later in the evening on a much more narrow, two lane country road. The issue is exactly like many who have descried the issue in the jl wrangler forums online (over 570 posts as of this complaint filing) who've described the wheel being unresponsive with lots of left/right micro correcting to stay in center lane. While driving straight and on even pavement I can move the steering wheel approximately 5-7 degrees and the wheels and direction is unresponsive. There was a time or two driving home when I would come out of a slight dip or bump in the road and the jeep would come out of the dip, start tracking towards an oncoming car or center lane, and correcting the wheel back to the right and away from oncoming traffic really took a lot of effort. Tire pressure is to spec at 37psi in all four tires. This vehicle has a dangerous "bobble" or sway and driving at faster posted speeds, especially on more narrow roads is quite dangerous. The amount of force to correct to stay in center lane is unlike any vehicle in my almost 30 years of driving.
While starting the vehicle for the third time in two days after picking up the car following a PCM flash for a cruise control recall, I noticed the prnd lights flashing on the shiftier approximately 10 seconds after vehicle start. I subsequently received a cel and a "service shifter' message. I shut off the vehicle, let all displays go dark, and restarted; the cel went away. I proceeded to continue my drive home. About 10/15 min later, I noticed the lights flickering once again on the shifter. I once again elected to continue home as it was late at night. Approximately 2/3 miles later, I received errors on the start/stop and traction control systems. The vehicle appeared to go into a "limp mode" - I it would not shift out of 8th gear and I experienced reduced power and an inability to maintain the posted 70 MPH. I decided to exit at the next off-ramp as I could maintain 65mph. While exiting, I noticed the gauge needles (speedo and tach) sweep and got airbag warnings. I heard the electric fan go 100% high (very loud) and I lost power steering. I pulled over to the side of the road and shut off the vehicle. After letting it sit for approximately 5 min, I restarted the vehicle and while the cel remained no other errors were illuminated or presented. I was less than 2 miles from a jeep dealer and decided to try to continue there on access roads. About 1/8 mile down the road, I once again lost power steering and say various error messages like before. I pulled into a parking lot and aborted my attempts and called for a tow to the dealer less than a mile away. Posted are pictures of the errors read using an obd-2 scanner I had in the glove compartment. While I have driven cars without power steering in the past, it was rather difficult with the larger ~32" tires and I am not sure a crash could be prevented if a smaller person was driving.
Jeep steering has a dead spot, which allow the jeep to wander back and forth in a lane. If it has any side wind the jeep become very difficult to control. Seem like to much play in the steering box. This is not a jeep thing as the dealer states, its a real problem that fca seem to not want to address.
Steering on the freeway at higher speeds (60 MPH+) has a dead zone and the jeep wanders back and forth, making it difficult to keep in a straight line and very dangerous/feels as if I could lose control. Several complaints for same issue on the federal safety agency from other 2018 jl owners. Needs to be addressed and a safety recall initiated to correct as no dealerships are fixing the issue. Could cause accident and fatality and extreme liability for fca.
Vehicle wanders. Dead spot in steering. Significant input required to keep vehicle under control at highway speeds.
The jeep wanders and drifts at highway speeds...steering is bad!!! I get the wandering and the dead spot and floating feel when on long straight aways doing 50+ MPH. It's a cause and effect because of the unresponsiveness of the steering, so you overcorrect causing you to go side to side in the lane. Thus making it almost impossible to keep it going straight and requiring you to drive with two hands on the wheel. My tires were at 44 psi. Aired them down to 38 psi. Did not help because the steering at higher speeds is just sloppy and unresponsive with a good 1 inch plus of play in the wheel. I also tried the rough country steering stabilizer. It did nothing to help the wandering. It was actually worse then stock. In fact I got a lot more bounce on the tires when I hit a bump or hole in the road, so I put the stock steering stabilizer back on. It seems that it takes the computer a few seconds too long to receive the input from the steering wheel. I'm no engineer or mechanic and I'm not too smart (lol) but I can tell you there is an issue with the software and steering box (gear). Like I said, I have had numerous jeeps and trucks and I have been a police officer for over 20 years, so have a ton of driving experience and I have never had any vehicle with this steering issue. This is a serious safety issue especially at higher speeds on major highways, where you feel it and deal with it most. Jeep and fca need to get there [xxx] in gear and fix this issue asap before there is a fatality. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Steering gear box locks up occasionally while trying to turn, inhibiting a turn from being made while moving. Seems to only happen when it is hot.
When this dangerous incident occurred, I had my daughter and two grandchildren in the vehicle with me and we were traveling on a four-lane, divided highway. I was preparing to move from the inside to the outside lane of travel in anticipation of making a right-hand turn. When I began to turn the steering wheel to the right, it felt like the steering was locked and it was only with a good deal of force that I was able to complete my lane change. It was very difficult to apply enough force to turn the steering wheel while simultaneously not applying too much so as to cause myself to oversteer and potential leave the roadway. When I got to the intersection where I needed to make my right-hand turn, I again had to apply a good deal of force to turn the steering wheel and complete my turn. This condition continued until I arrived home some five to ten miles away. I would like to note that it was very hot that afternoon (approximately 95f). I have read that jeep is aware of this issue and that the prime suspect in the cause of this safety issue is the new aluminum steering gear box they introduced on this model. The fact that aluminum has a greater thermal expansion rate than the previously used steel steering gearboxes certainly warrants this suspicion. I have also read that the manufacturer has had several "confirmed repairs" of this "steering lockup" issue by replacing the steering gearbox with a rumored new, modified one. With these considerations in mind, I believe the high temperatures of that day contributed to the expansion of my jeep's aluminum gearbox causing it to bind up and lock the steering. A further indication that this might be the case is the fact that hours later after both the vehicle and the ambient temperate had cooled, the steering returned to normal.
The 2018 jeep jl have electronic steering control and past 60mpg, it makes it difficult to steer to the right. The steering sticks and I have to muscle it to get it to steer to the right which has made me almost get into several accidents.
The steering is extremely loose and vague on center. There is no movement with the wheels in relation to steering input for 1.5 inches on either side of center. This results in constant correction and over-correction cycles to try to maintain lane position. The problem is noticeable at 45mph, and is significantly worse at highway and interstate speeds (70mph). Bumpy or windy conditions make the control problems worse. The problem becomes more unsafe on curvy roads with heavy traffic where I am unable to maintain speed with other vehicles and it's very difficult to remain within lane markings.
Steering has big deadspot in middle where you turn the wheel and it doesn't actually turn the tires/vehicle. It's more noticeable above 60mph. It causes the vehicle to be all over the lane and can be scary at times as it will sometimes cause me to get too close to other vehicles in next lane over. This is not for a single date. It happens all the time.
The steering at speeds over 50 MPH has 2-3" of play with the steering wheel going straight. So I am continually fighting to keep it straight. This has been going on since I purchased it.
Hello , I have about 1,700 miles on my jlur and the steering issue is so frustrating.this past week I took a road trip and found myself making corrections constantly. ... On going since purchase. The issue seems to be a dead spot/play at center where it takes constant back and forth..not as bad under 50 MPH..on a side street..gets worse above 50 MPH on a freeway. Steering has never been right. My wife will not drive it. I took to my dealership and they were no help they just indicated that's how they drive.....not true. I would like to take it to another local dealership to have it resolved.I am hoping this is possibly a steering box issue- replacement or adjustment .there are reports of this resolving the issue. I really need your help on this issue. We love everything else on the jeep. Just want it to steer correctly. Thank you for any assistance you can provide to expedite this issue, note: it has had an alignment and tire pressure is correct as well.
There is an issue with the steering control system on 2018 jeep wrangler from the factory. The issue requires constant steering effort to keep the vehicle in lane at highway speeds. The vehicle wanders around all over the lane above 65 miles per hour. There should be a recall for this vehicle, because it is unsafe to drive on the highway. The following video illustrates the problem: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v75cd60u9my1quwad3xscwy-prpucltx/view link to other owners, who have encountered the same issue: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/steering-feels-like-it-has-play-and-drifts.3691/
The steering gets stuck at various times when turning to the left. My family was exiting a highway on our right, taking the off ramp to another highway on our left. The vehicle did not want to turn to the left in the curve of the off ramp. It took significant force to keep it from hitting the side of the on ramp (which was on an elevated highway) then over corrected from this significant force and put us into the next lane barely missing other cars. On another occasion we were not able to turn to the left when merging lanes almost causing another accident.
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