Just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Stellantis issued a recall that advises owners of some Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrids not to plug in—and tells them not to park the SUV near buildings or other cars.
In 32,125 Wrangler 4xe models—certain models from the 2021-2024 model years—a potential battery issue could lead to a vehicle fire, according to the automaker.
Eight vehicle fires have occurred due to the issue, according to the company. All of these models were parked at the time, with six still connected to chargers.
2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe
The affected Jeep Wrangler 4xe models may be driven in the meantime, Stellantis says, albeit with those warnings to skip the charging and park the vehicle with some space around it.
Outside the U.S., Stellantis is also recalling Wrangler 4xe models—an estimated 3,856 in Canada, and 9,249 outside North America.
Drivers of the recalled Wranglers will need to schedule a service visit with the dealership, where diagnostic software will be flashed to the vehicle—determining whether or not the vehicle is among the one percent of the recalled group (roughly 300 vehicles) that Stellantis suspects have the defect and will need a new battery pack.
2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe
Stellantis confirmed to Green Car Reports that this is unrelated to last year’s recall of some 2023 and 2023 Wrangler 4xe models due to an assembly-related issue with the battery fuse that, Jeep cautioned, could generate excessive heat. That recall issue was expanded in April 2023.
An even larger group of Wrangler 4xe SUVs was recalled in November 2022—in that case, due to an issue that could throw the hybrid system into a failsafe mode and an engine shutdown.
All of these recalls cover a subset of Wrangler 4xe sales. In the U.S., the Wrangler 4xe is the top-selling plug-in hybrid—above models like the Toyota RAV4 Prime—and it got a price cut for 2024.
2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe
The Wrangler 4xe goes 22 miles in its electric mode, on plug-in energy, then gets 20 mpg combined as a hybrid, according to the EPA. In a 2023 Wrangler 4xe test drive, Green Car Reports found that this model’s efficiency came at no expense of capability, although its efficiency when not using plug-in energy isn’t much better than a non-hybrid. So owners may feel compelled to get this recall fix as soon as possible and get back to enjoying the electric side of the Wrangler.