Stellantis has issued a stop-sale order on 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L’s. It’s all because of an issue that can cause the cars to brick and become inoperable with no notice at all... which isn’t great.
The Drive reports it has received multiple emails from owners tipping them off about the issue. The outlet then found a notice from Stellantis that was sent to dealers about a stop-sale order for faults electronics. Oddly, the issue only seems to impact cars that have been sold in February 2022.
Specifically, the document reads that a “Radio Frequency Hub Module” can cause some pretty major issues between the car and the key fob.
Owners said after locking the car their key fobs would stop working. They would try to unlock the car with the physical key. At that point brand new SUVs would react as if they were being stolen.
“We have identified a solution and are expediting delivery of the appropriate parts to our dealer network. This issue affects a limited number of vehicles and does not require a safety recall. We are contacting customers to advise them that free service is imminently available,” a Jeep spokesperson told The Drive.
It’s a stop-sale order because Stellantis wants to take care of owners’ vehicles first, which is nice of them. The company will be in contact with owners to figure out a way to get their bricked Grand Cherokees fixed.
Stellantis will reportedly be the replacing faulty RFHM, and that process is supposed to start in March.
The issue of dead SUVs has already proved to be an issue with quite a few owners if you turn to the forums.
“[My] Grand Cherokee will not recognize the keyfob. Apparently something [is] wrong with the antenna or module in the vehicle. After the disconnected checked out some items, [the dealership] reconnected and the keyfob was working fine,” a user wrote on the forum Jeep Garage forum. “They tested it for a day, all working, kept it overnight… this morning, same problem.”
Some of them even reported the problems persisting after it was “fixed” by Jeep. An owner even said he wasn’t able to drive his new SUV off the lot he purchased it at. That means he must have really liked the new Grand Cherokee if he was willing to buy a car he couldn’t even get to move.
A March timeframe to fix the issue may prove to be a pretty big issue for owners of these SUVs – owners who would be without their brand new car for over a month.