Jeep Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Fire Risk That Impacts Certain 2021-2023 Wrangler and Gladiator Vehicles

Four Jeep owners have joined together to file a class action lawsuit, following the launch of a federal investigation that is looking into why certain Wrangler and Gladiator vehicles from recent model years are spontaneously catching fire, yet the manufacturer has failed to initiate a recall.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began its investigation into 2021 to 2023 Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator vehicles following a number of reports involving spontaneous engine fires occurring while the vehicles are on and moving, or when they are parked and turned off.

The ongoing investigation has found evidence suggesting that the problems may be the result of a defective part in the Jeep vehicles, which appears to be the power steering pump electrical connector. A vehicle’s power steering pump helps reduce the amount of effort it takes for a driver to turn the steering wheel.

In the case of the affected Jeep vehicles, the power steering pump electrical connectors have the potential to spontaneously catch fire, leading to an increased risk of auto accidents, severe injuries or property damage.

Class Action Lawsuit for Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator Owners

While the investigation into the exact cause of the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator fires is continuing, a complaint (PDF) was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on November 11, seeking class action status to pursue damages for all individuals who purchased or leased one of the vehicles from the 2021 to 2023 model years. In addition, subclasses have been proposed for individuals from California, Kentucky, Oregon and Tennessee.

The Jeep class action lawsuit suggests that the automaker’s parent company, FCA US, should have known about the fire risk in the Wrangler and Gladiator vehicles, but has failed to issue a recall, despite the ongoing NHTSA investigation.

Named plaintiffs include Jeff Graves, Jeremy Reid, Wayne Hintergardt and Mike Crowell, who each indicate that they bought Jeep Wrangler or Gladiator vehicles within the past four years. The plaintiffs contend that Jeep’s marketing misled them into believing the vehicles were safe, indicating that they never would have purchased the vehicles if they had known about the accompanying fire risks they posed.

At least nine Jeep Wrangler or Jeep Gladiator fires have been linked to the 2021 to 2023 model year vehicles, including one death. The lawsuit indicates that the incidents reported to either the manufacturer or federal regulators suggest that the fires were linked to a power steering pump defect.

As a result of these spontaneous fires, passengers, drivers, neighbors and owners of cars parked near the vehicles are at risk of severe injury, death or property damage, the lawsuit states. As a result, until the root cause of the fires is confirmed and a fix made to impacted vehicles, all owners of Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator vehicles from the impacted model years are likely to have damages.

The plaintiffs also maintain that FCA US should have known about the danger and issued a recall, especially since the company has issued multiple recent recalls regarding similar situations.

“Because of FCA’s breaches of implied warranties of merchantability and its failure to provide a remedy for the Spontaneous Fire Risk once the fires began occurring amongst putative class members, owners and lessees of Fire Risk Vehicles are injured in fact, incurred damages, and suffered ascertainable losses in money and property,” the complaint says. “Had Plaintiffs and the putative class members known of the Spontaneous Fire Risk, then they would either not have purchased or leased those vehicles or would have paid substantially less for them.”

Graves and the other plaintiffs are seeking damages for all class action members, as well as a court order that would require FCA US to repair their vehicles and repay them either the purchase price, or the amount they overpaid for the defective automobiles.

Jeep Recalled Other Vehicles

The complaint comes weeks after Jeep and FCA US recalled more than 154,000 hybrid SUVs over battery fire risks in September 2024, which does not appear to be related to the spontaneous fires in Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator vehicles.

In this separate recall, the manufacturer said that certain Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler Hybrid Vehicles may have been built with battery packs that contained cells that were susceptible to separator damage. This defect could result in fires while the vehicle was in motion, or parked and turned off.

There were reports of at least two injuries related to the hybrid battery cell defect.