2014 Jeep Wrangler
This year drew an ordinary 651 complaints for a Jeep Wrangler — the model's median is 649. What they were about is the unusual part: 46.4% of them mention oil, against 6.5% 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 | 651 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 649 |
| Involving a crash | 21 |
| Involving a fire | 24 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- oil — 46.4% of this year's complaints, against 6.5% across the other years of this generation (7.2×).
- filter — 26.7% of this year's complaints, against 1% across the other years of this generation (27.5×). Owners wrote it as: filter, oil filter, adapter, top engine.
- housing — 28.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation (16.5×). Owners wrote it as: housing, filter housing, cooler housing, housing cracked.
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
OIL FILTER ADAPTER COOLER ON TOP OF THE ENGINE, LEAKING, FILLING THE VALLEY WITH 2 INCHES OF OIL IN SOME PLACES. COULD CAUSE FIRE AND OIL SPILLING OVER THE EXHAUST. OIL RUNS DOWN THE BELL HOUSING DOWN THE TRANSMISSION AND ACROSS THE CROSSMEMBER. WHEN YOU STOP…
THE PLASTIC OIL FILTER HOUSING CRACKED AT ABOUT 26,000 MILES CAUSING A MAJOR ENGINE OIL LEAK FROM THE TOP OF THE ENGINE. OIL HAS LEAKED DOWN AND SPLATTERED ALL OVER THE UNDERCARRIAGE OF THE VEHICLE AND ONTO THE TRANSMISSION AND EXHAUST PIPE CAUSING SIGNIFICANT…
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.
- 16V288000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V632000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
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 2014 Jeep Wrangler? What happened to yours?
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