Stop Sale Ordered For Jeep Gladiator Models Over Driveshaft Failure

One thing that an automaker never wants to deal with is a recall. Most obviously, a recall is pretty expensive. Once a vehicle has been sold, the last thing that a manufacturer is going to want to do is sink money into fixing their product. What isn’t quite so obvious is that their reputation will almost certainly take an impact. If they can keep the recalls under control, it might not be a massive deal. However, as we might remember, it took Chevrolet quite some time to shake their reputation for recalling all sorts of things.

This time, Jeep is one of the latest to be plagued with one of the auto industry’s dirty words. The Jeep Gladiator is the affected model. In the recall, we find that rear driveshaft failure is going to be what Jeep is raring to get fixed. It appears as if someone forgot to do a little bit of greasing where necessary. FCA released the following explanation:

Some of the above vehicles may have a rear driveshaft that was manufactured without grease in the monoblock joint within the center of the rear driveshaft. This condition may result in a fractured driveshaft. A fractured rear driveshaft could separate which may result in loss of motive power or possible road debris. Either condition can cause a vehicle crash without prior warning.

We are told that this should only affect about 5% of total Gladiators. However, they have found the issue so pressing as to put a stop sale on the potentially affected vehicles. This will last until dealers complete the necessary repairs. For owners of the Gladiator, we would recommend contacting your local dealer. They should know more about if you need to stop by for inspection or not. Driving with this issue could potentially leave the vehicle stranded and/or give rise to a dangerous situation when the debris erupts.