What 453 owners told NHTSA about the 2016 Jeep Wrangler 4-door 4xe

Pulled into parking space. Applied brakes and came to a complete stop. Could hear engine revving up.. Thought ok, that gas pedal seem to be pressed. Look at my foot wasn’t pressing the pedal. Looked at floor mats. It was laying flat on floor, not manipulating the pedal. I thought what’s happening? And lifted foot off brake ever so slightly and car jumped 6 inch high curb and hit the building.. Pretty hard. Caused structural damage to the wall. I went to the hospital, driven by husband. Swelling of my right leg on the shin. Released and told to stay off leg for few days, no fractures.After doing research, It seems other jeep riders have had this experience. I have no idea how fast the jeep was going.

NHTSA ODI 11722819

While driving my vehicle on Monday, February 16, 2026 I heard a loud pop come from the front of the vehicle. Right after that smoke began to come through the hood vents. I stopped the vehicle to inspect and at that point the engine compartment was burning heavily. I could barely get out of the vehicle and away before the whole front end of the vehicle was engulfed with fire and heavy black smoke. It looked as if the fire started somewhere on the righthand side of the engine compartment because the right front tire was the first to blow out in the fire. The vehicle is with the insurance company to inspect, but it was in perfect running condition, all maintenance performed. There were no dash warning lights that came on, no odd sounds heard and the vehicle ran until I stopped and shut it office. There has to be something that was wrong with the manufacturing of this specific engine to make a loud pop and burn as hot as it did. I wanted to report this before the vehicle is sent away to be demolished due to it being a complete loss.

NHTSA ODI 11719624

I started my Jeep. After a few minutes I could smell smoke and something burning. The alarm started going off, wipers came on, radio etc. smoke came inside cab . I tried to shut everything off but it wasn’t working. I started seeing flames around the hood. My husband was able to disconnect the battery and the fire died out. Insurance would not cover it and said it was electrical. The fuse box was melted and wire harnesses. The vehicle was right by our garage and could’ve caught our house on fire. My son and I were in the vehicle when the fire started. Thank God we weren’t hurt. I did report this but was told it wasn’t Jeeps fault. A week later another jeep caught fire in the small town I live in. Something isn’t right.

NHTSA ODI 11497677

Parked vehicle outside corner of home at 9:00 pm. Awoken by loud popping and hissing sounds at 4:45AM. Looked outside to notice a bright orange hue by vehicle. Realizing the car was on fire, we called 911 and proceeded to use garden hose to water down both the vehicle and the home that the car was next to, in order to try to prevent the house from also catching fire. Vehicle was not moved nor accessed during those 7 overnight hours. It was locked and we were all asleep. There were two other vehicles parked next to and behind the vehicle that caught fire - those two other vehicles sustained no damage to them. The house sustained some minimal siding warping from the heat of the fire. Fire chiefs reviewing the damage in person as well as viewing photos have stated that it appears to be battery or fuse box related as that side of the engine's damage was greatest as well as the battery and fuse box being completely destroyed by the fire. No warning lights or indications of system failures or malfunctions prior to parking the car. Vehicle was towed away from scene by insurance company. Unsure if vehicle is still at that lot or not. Insurance deemed vehicle totaled and issued check for losses.

NHTSA ODI 11493798

The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Wrangler. The contact stated that upon replacing the engine oil himself, he noticed that oil was leaking onto the transmission. The contact stated that there was no smell of oil burning or any smoke coming from the oil leak. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the oil filter housing was cracked. The dealer replaced the oil filter housing and repaired the vehicle; however, while the mechanic was test driving the vehicle, the vehicle caught on fire under the hood. There were no injuries sustained. The fire was extinguished with the assistance of the fire department. A fire department report was filed. There was no police report. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and sent an inspector who diagnosed that the fire started under the hood. The contact stated that he believed the fire started out as an electrical fire. The manufacturer advised the contact that the vehicle could not be repaired under warranty; and that the repair would be at his own expense. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 65,700.

NHTSA ODI 11454565

AFTER TURNING INTO A LARGE PARKING LOT FROM A CITY STREET WHILE STILL DRIVING THE 2016 JEEP WRANGLER JKU SPORT'S CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON FOLLOWED ABRUPTLY BY THE ENGINE QUITTING AND NUMEROUS DASH LIGHTS ILLUMINATING. THE NOW DEAD VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY COASTED TO A STOP AS SMOKE STARTING BILLOWING FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT AND THE VEHICLE WAS QUICKLY ENGULFED IN FLAMES. THIS JEEP WAS PURCHASED BRAND NEW 3 YEARS AND 3 WEEKS AGO AND HAD LESS THAN 16,000 MILES ON IT. TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO THE FIRE, THE BATTERY ABRUPTLY DIED AND WOULD NOT HOLD A CHARGE. AFTER A NEW TOP-OF-THE-LINE BATTERY WAS INSTALLED, THE DASH RED SECURITY LIGHT WOULD FLASH CONSTANTLY WHILE THE ENGINE WAS RUNNING. JUST ONE DAY PRIOR TO THE FIRE THE JEEP WAS SERVICED AT THE DEALERSHIP TO ACCOMPLISH TWO SAFETY RECALL ITEMS RELATED TO AN AIRBAG WIRING HARNESS AND AIRBAG MODULE. THE JEEP'S WIRELESS CONTROL MODULE (WCM) WAS DIAGNOSED TO HAVE AN INTERNAL FAILURE BUT WAS NOT REPLACED AT THAT TIME DUE TO A WARRANTY DISPUTE AND ALSO AVAILABILITY OF THE MODULE. PRIOR TO THE BATTERY FAILURE, WHICH WAS JUST 1 WEEK BEYOND THE 3-YEAR WARRANTY DATE, THIS 2016 JEEP WRANGLER WAS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND HAD ZERO MECHANICAL OR ELECTRICAL ISSUES AND HAD NOT RECEIVED ANY SERVICING OUTSIDE OF ROUTINE OIL CHANGES AND SERVICE CHECKS. THE FIRE STARTED QUICKLY AND BURNED EXTREMELY HOT BURNING THROUGH THE FIREWALL AND INTO THE CABIN IN A MATTER OF MINUTES. FORTUNATELY THE OCCUPANT WAS ABLE TO EGRESS WITHOUT INJURY. THIS JEEP, WITH LESS THAN 16,000 MILES, IS A TOTAL LOSS. THE HOTSPOT ON THE HOOD APPEARS TO BE AROUND THE LOCATION OF THE FUSE BOX. ATTEMPTS TO EXTINGUISH THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT FIRE WITH A PORTABLE FIRE EXTINGUISHER WERE FUTILE.*DT *TR

NHTSA ODI 11232955

MY 2016 JEEP WRANGLER RUBICON WAS ORDERED AND PURCHASED ON 8/18/2016 AND ORDERED STRAIGHT FROM THE CHRSYLER PLANT THROUGH LEITH JEEP DEALERSHIP IN RALEIGH, NC. WHILE TRANSPORTING MY DAUGHTER FROM A DR. APPOINTMENT THE JEEP CAUGHT ON FIRE WHILE TRAVELING ON AVIATION PARKWAY IN RALEIGH, NC ON 9/8/2017 AT APPROXIMATELY 10:45AM. THE JEEP SUDDENLY HAD SMOKE COMING INTO THE MAIN CABIN FROM THE RIGHT PASSENGER SIDE OF THE VEHICLE UNDER THE GLOVE BOX AREA. I QUICKLY PULLED THE JEEP TO THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY AND REMOVED THE KEYS FROM THE IGNITION HOPING THE SMOKE WOULD STOP. AS I TOOK THE KEYS OUT OF THE IGNITION THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE DASH WAS MELTING AT MY DAUGTHERS FEET AND FLAMES WERE COMING INTO THE CAR AND UNDER THE HOOD FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT. WE QUICKJLY EXITED THE JEEP AND CALLED 911. BY THE TIME WE GOT 10 FEET AWAY THE CAR BECAME ENGULPED IN FLAMES. THE FIRE OCCURRED WHILE THE CAR WAS IN MOTION. WE KNOW THE FIRE STARTED ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT AROUND THE MAIN WIRING UNIT DUE TO WHERE THE SMOKE STARTED. THE FIRE DEPT ALSO STATED THAT THE ORIGIN WAS NOTED ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE VEHICLE DUE TO THE MORE SEVERE BURN PATTERN TO THE RIGHT PASSENGER SIDE OF THE JEEP COMPARED TO THE LEFT SIDE. ALL SERVICE WAS COMPLETED BY OUR CHRYSLER DEALERSHIP AND THERE WERE NO PROBLEMS NOTED. THERE WAS 1 RECALL (FRONT IMPACT SENSOR) ON MY VIN # AND THE DEALERSHIP COMPLETED THE REQUIRED WORK. PLEASE SEE ALL SERVICE RECORDS ATTACHED.

NHTSA ODI 11025476

MY SON CAME HOME FROM SCHOOL TO GET HIS WALLET TO GO FILL UP HIS JEEP WHEN HE CAME OUT BACK OUTSIDE THE FRONT OF HIS JEEP WAS SMOKING, WHEN HE OPENED THE HOOD HE FOUND THE RADIATOR FAN ON FIRE. HE QUICKLY RAN AND GOT THE HOSE AND PUT OUT THE FIRE BUT IT CONTINUED TO SMOKE FOR ABOUT 5 MINS. THE JEEP WAS RUNNING PARKED IN THE DRIVEWAY THE JEEP ONLY HAS ABOUT 4000 MILES ON IT THE AIR-CONDITIONING WAS ON. HE ONLY DROVE IT FROM SCHOOL ABOUT 1 MILE AWAY. WE HAVE NOT TAKEN IT TO THE DEALER YET. THE FANS CURRENTLY ARE NOT WORKING THE REST OF THE VEHICLE SEEMS TO BE FINE. I HAVE PICTURE AND A VIDEO I CAN TRY TO UP LOAD.

NHTSA ODI 10863497