An Over-The-Air (OTA) update to the infotainment system in some Jeeps appears to be causing certain models to go into a limp mode or otherwise fail to operate. The update appears to have gone out on Friday.
OTA updates have become more popular recently as automakers try to avoid the costly and annoying requirement that customers schedule service merely for something that involves updating software. This was first popularized by Tesla, but the practice of doing OTA updates is becoming increasingly common.
There’s an entire category of new cars and trucks called “software-defined vehicles,” which are vehicles that offer advanced software-based features that somehow supersede the driving experience. The downside of all of this software is that cars seemingly ship now with more issues than in the past, similar to what’s long been common with phones and other devices. Tesla repeatedly sends OTA updates, both to add features and to fix bugs.
It’s not clear what the most recent update from Jeep was supposed to do, though owners are referring to it as a “U-Connect update,” which is to say that it’s possibly related to the infotainment system.
How that results in the vehicle’s powertrain failing is not yet obvious, though this happened before with at least one other automaker.
Back in 2023, Rivian pushed out an update for its electric trucks that failed. The vehicles would get to 90% and then not complete the installation. While this was an annoyance, we reported at the time that the vehicles could still be driven. Rivian blamed the incident on a “fat finger” coding mistake. In 2023, some Lucid owners also reported that an update caused their cars to “brick,” which is to say the vehicle stopped functioning.
With the Jeep issue, this seems to have made it so that some owners have difficulty driving their vehicles. It’s unknown the full extent of the issue, but it seems to be impacting primarily the Wrangler with the 4Xe plug-in hybrid system.
How It’s Happening
A Jeep owner behind the Wrangler 4XEFans/Jeeps On The Run group decided to take one “for the team” and attempt to drive his Jeep after accepting the U-Connect system update on Friday.
As you can see in the video above, he was able to get his Jeep started and drive a short distance before encountering a power loss.
“We just came to a screeching halt. Every light in the thing came on… service stability control… now we’re stuck. I can’t even come out of Drive now.”
The gauge cluster throws a check engine light as well as other warnings. You can see the driver has an issue getting the vehicle to shift gears, though is eventually able to turn the vehicle off and get some power in the hybrid drive mode.
“Do not drive your vehicle if you’ve got this,” he warns.
He’s not the only one. A reader wrote into our tipline this morning complaining of the same issue:
I had this happen to me after the software update ran last night. I was able to limp in electric mode to get where I needed to be this morning (After our ‘17 Pacifica wouldn’t start, but that is probably bad timing with just a battery)
If you go on Reddit, you’ll see plenty of complaints, like this one claiming that the loss of power happened while on the highway:
I was driving 65 on the left lane of the highway when my car started slowing down. It started saying to put it into P and to push to start. The car was off and I couldn’t accelerate! I almost crashed trying to get onto the right lane shoulder. 4 lanes over before it completely stopped and caused a huge accident They are saying it’s something with an update jeep is doing and the cars are just stopping! There were 4 jeep wranglers on the side of the highway as I tried driving to the nearest dealership 25min. It turned off 3 times
Because this is a Reddit post, it’s not possible to verify it, but I did speak with a large Jeep dealer on the East Coast, and they confirmed, on background, that they were aware of multiple customers experiencing this issue.
The poster above said the dealership told them not to update their vehicle.
Should You Update Or Not?
Until you hear from Stellantis, I’d be tempted not to update your vehicle.
However, JeepOnTheRun posted a YouTube Short saying he was told by someone that if you park the vehicle in an area with good cell service, you should turn on your Jeep for ten minutes and that it’ll automatically download a fix with no pop-up.
His vehicle is at the dealership, so he couldn’t confirm. Multiple commenters on his video did say that the fix seems to have worked.
Again, this doesn’t appear to be an update, but rather a fix that’s automatically downloaded.
Photo: Jeep/Reddit user Raider222x
I was mad at my 1988 car for an intermittent fuse blow every once in a while. poor 8amp fuse is holding so much in that old E28…. anyway… after reading this… I am so glad I drive something that just needs gas and a fuse lmao… love you my old 528e
I cannot imagine having this kind of shit beyond my laptop and phone. they just got themselves an action lawsuit because people will just start running over everything with the ignition shut off while driving.
Ota is only possible while park. They’re not THAT stupid
And people look at me like I’m insane when I’d say I want a “dumb” ev.
Hey no problem I just got a fix.
1. Make sure you have paper in your vehicle
2.Turn your vehicle off and then on 3 times
3. Open the drivers door and roll down the window of the passenger side door, close the window and close the door.
4. Take off the rear passenger side tire.
5. Eat a PBJ sandwich
6. Replace the tire in the opposite direction.
7. Call customer service.
Wasn’t there an old joke about computers replacing ICE that predicted the unreliability of computer cars?
There’s an old onion article with the headline something like “New Microsoft Commercial Crashes TVs Across the Country.” At the time, it was meant as absurdist satire. And here we are . . .
Hey I just heard from a reliable source at my last Stonecutters Meeting Lucas has branched out of Electronics and into wireless computer software.
Nice guy to take it for the team but maybe test it in the day time and allow your son to film. Totally useless.
y’know i just hop in my car and turn the key and it works and stuff
like what’s wrong with that
it even has a button on the key to go beep and unlock the doors
Needs more computers. Manufacturer needs to be able to study your driving habits, and sell your data to insurance companies. All while charging buyers really high prices for the vehicles.
You better Not Connect
Or you’re gonna cry
You better reject
I’m telling you why
Stellantis is coming to town
It’s making a patch
Not checking it twice
Likely going to lock up tight as a vise.
Stellantis is coming to town
It patches when you’re sleeping
Your car will never awake
It doesn’t care if you’ve be bad or good
so….
<SYSTEM ERROR, PLEASE TOW TO NEAREST DEALERSHIP>
Love this