2012 Jeep Wrangler
This year drew an ordinary 830 complaints for a Jeep Wrangler — the model's median is 649. What they were about is the unusual part: 29.9% of them mention train, against 9% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Jeep Wrangler, which began in 2007 and ran to 2017. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 830 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 649 |
| Involving a crash | 22 |
| Involving a fire | 19 |
| Recalls | 10 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- train — 29.9% of this year's complaints, against 9% across the other years of this generation (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: train, power train, train steering, attempted.
- notice — 9.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the other years of this generation (4.3×). Owners wrote it as: notice, recall notice, months ago.
- waiting — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: waiting, list, waiting list.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
HE ATTEMPTED TO HAVE THE VEHICLE REPAIRED UNDER NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 13V234000 (POWER TRAIN , STEERING ) BUT WAS INFORMED THAT THE PARTS WERE NOT AVAILABLE AND THAT THE DEALER WAS ONLY RECEIVING ONE PART EVERY TWO WEEKS. THE CONTACT FELT THAT BECAUSE THE FAI…
SHE ATTEMPTED TO HAVE HER VEHICLE REPAIRED UNDER NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 13V234000 (POWER TRAIN , STEERING) BUT WAS INFORMED THAT THE PARTS WERE NOT AVAILABLE AND THAT THE DEALERS WERE RECEIVING ONE PART EVERY PER WEEK. THE CONTACT FELT THAT SINCE THE FAILURE W…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V018000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V680000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V021000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V352000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V288000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 13E010000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 14V631000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 11V528000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 10. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Jeep Wrangler was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2012 Jeep Wrangler? What happened to yours?
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