Stelllantis issues "park outside" recall of 132,099 cherokees MY 2014-2016 for fire risk

sqenixs said:

Consumer Alert: Important Jeep “Park Outside” Recall for Fire Risk | NHTSA

Recall for 2014-2016 Jeep Cherokee. Chrysler strongly urges vehicle owners to park their cars outside and away from homes and other structures.

www.nhtsa.gov

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It's surprising just how many 'park outside away from structures' recalls across different manufacturers and models there are. My wife's 2018 Hyundai Tucson has a similar recall for potential short in the ABS hydraulic actuator module. Pretty much anytime a recall involves a potential spark/fire it comes with a 'park outside' recommendation. Good thing of course because if it were to happen in someone's garage in the middle of the night when the owner is sleeping the results could of course be tragic. Looks like some early Cherokee's now have one too. Using the link above I ran my VIN. I have a very early 2014 model (date of manufacture-Oct 2013) and it's not listed as part of the recall so perhaps they changed lift gate module manufacturers at some point and those had the issue.

From NHTSA recall site:

Defect Notice 573 Report

Recall Acknowledgement

The problem is "vehicles were built with a PLGM located in a spot vulnerable to water intrusion", so the natural thing for the short-term is "Customers are advised to not park these vehicles inside of buildings or structures, or near other vehicles until the vehicle has the final repair completed." (from the Defect Notice report)

So, water intrusion causes the issue and you need to park it outside - where it rains. Oh, and don't park it by any other cars. I suppose that's better than burning down your garage or carport, and you probably don't want your insurance to pay for the car parked next to yours when your car becomes a flaming wreck. 🔥 At least your car won't be a rolling fireball even if your PTU splines are sheared off (assuming you got that recall "fix" too).

Gary Kline said:

Using the link above I ran my VIN. I have a very early 2014 model (date of manufacture-Oct 2013) and it's not listed as part of the recall so perhaps they changed lift gate module manufacturers at some point and those had the issue.

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I don't think you are out of the woods just yet:

"The suspect period began on February 27, 2013, when vehicles were built with a PLGM located in a spot vulnerable to water intrusion, and ended on September 9, 2015, when the PLGM was made more robust to water intrusion. Vehicle production records were used to determine the suspect period."

Maybe the recall VINs are not all up to date yet. Or, maybe you are lucky.

Glad neither of our KLs have a power lift gate...

AZJeeper said:

I don't think you are out of the woods just yet:

"The suspect period began on February 27, 2013, when vehicles were built with a PLGM located in a spot vulnerable to water intrusion, and ended on September 9, 2015, when the PLGM was made more robust to water intrusion. Vehicle production records were used to determine the suspect period."

Maybe the recall VINs are not all up to date yet. Or, maybe you are lucky.

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You're probably right with "VINs not all up to date yet". I bet in a month from now I'll see it on the list 😢

that's fine I need a another new Cherokee anyway. let it burn. I think we had one in Boston this week, but can't find the story. the fire chief? was saying once the battery goes into a death spiral, of some kind, from overcharging, it takes a certain amount of constant water, to keep it from going nuclear (my words)

When it comes to 'park outside' recalls, we haven't seen anything yet. Wait 'till the lithium battery powered cars become popular. At least with a gasoline vehicle, the fire department knows how to put it out.

Apparently even if Recall R27 is complete, the PLG module can still develop a short circuit and start a fire.
All R27 did was put a shield over the PLG module so water can not drip down onto it.
If the trunk gets filled with water then the shield no longer helps.
Apparently the PLG module can have an internal short and cause a fire even without water intrusion? (Part 573 Safety Recall Report 23V-338). New FCA Recall 49A.

Yeah, this is not up to date yet. my 2015 Cherokee was part of the earlier recall. Nothing was actually repaired but they had to inspect it for a damage to the wiring. From that I would expect that my car is part of the new recall but the vin shows nothing yet. Will check in a few days again. I'm living and parking in the city so my car is on the street away from buildings. But no way I can stop people from parking next to me🤦‍♀️

sanghill said:

Apparently even if Recall R27 is complete, the PLG module can still develop a short circuit and start a fire.
All R27 did was put a shield over the PLG module so water can not drip down onto it.
If the trunk gets filled with water then the shield no longer helps.
Apparently the PLG module can have an internal short and cause a fire even without water intrusion? (Part 573 Safety Recall Report 23V-338). New FCA Recall 49A.

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You beat me to it, I was wondering if it would be the same KLs that had R27 done and that never really fixed the issue. I never had any trouble with the power lift gate Functioning correctly until after they did R27 to mine, then I had to pull the fuse constantly to get it to reset to work correctly. The Dealer then had to do a reprogramming TWICE on it , but still would act up occasionally. The trick I found was to either open or close it manually depending which way it failed and it would close or be open then it would function correctly again till it stopped again randomly in either a couple weeks or months later.
Well I hope none of you members that still have your KL ,have no issues and it gets fixed for you . 😎

Skidmark said:

When it comes to 'park outside' recalls, we haven't seen anything yet. Wait 'till the lithium battery powered cars become popular. At least with a gasoline vehicle, the fire department knows how to put it out.

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Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. That's the clock working down to the massive BEV/PHEV battery recall. You think the airbag recall was big? You ain't seen nothing yet! 🔥

meanwhile Dad's 1994 Camry is still humming along ... watching the casualties, fall by the wayside

Skidmark said:

When it comes to 'park outside' recalls, we haven't seen anything yet. Wait 'till the lithium battery powered cars become popular. At least with a gasoline vehicle, the fire department knows how to put it out.

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That's why I now carry two fire extinguishers in my jeep, plus one CO2 tank. One fire extinguisher for other people (the dry chemical kind that destroys your vehicle), and one for myself (super expensive halon gas).

This recall reminds me I need to look into how to fix the squealing sound my power liftgate makes now when I close it. Hopefully I can just add some grease. If not, then I will just wait for it to break and buy a new one.

sqenixs said:

That's why I now carry two fire extinguishers in my jeep, plus one CO2 tank. One fire extinguisher for other people (the dry chemical kind that destroys your vehicle), and one for myself (super expensive halon gas).

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I carry one. I figure it won't put out a car fire, but might help buy someone some time, long enough to get out of whatever they are in

At least if the KL bursts into flames it won't burn for 3 weeks like EVs can. In PHX we had a self-driving WAYMO Jaguar EV, sitting in a large warehouse with other EVs, burst into flames all by itself. The FD got it out of the building with a fork lift and put it in a wet sand filled garbage dumpster in WAYMO's parking lot!

I thought just getting rid of a PTU was a good move, now I'm also glad my '22 doesn't have the power tailgate as well!

Maybe your neighbor @ArizonaFred can help us out on this one, as he was a firefighter for at least a few decades...😉😎

In a previous life, I was a firefighter. Most data I've seen says that average EV fire takes about 25,000 gallons of water to completely extinguish. Average for non-EV vehicle fire is somewhere around 500-1000 gallons. Many agencies are now keeping open containers on-hand (used to place the vehicle in and fill with water) to fully immerse the EV after the fire is extinguished as they can re-ignite even days later.

Some articles report much higher water usage and extremes that agencies can take when fighting EV fires. One article mentioned that over 60,000 gallons of water was needed to contain a Tesla fire, and another agency kept having problems with re-ignition, so they dug a hole for a makeshift pond used to submerge the vehicle.

Tesla Fire Needed 40 Times More Water Than Regular Car After Crash (businessinsider.com)

DRYHEAT said:

The FD got it out of the building with a fork lift and put it in a wet sand filled garbage dumpster in WAYMO's parking lot!

I thought just getting rid of a PTU was a good move, now I'm also glad my '22 doesn't have the power tailgate as well!

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terrifying
& those power liftgates are too darn slow anyway