Dive Brief:
- Stellantis’ North American subsidiary FCA US has recalled over 80,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L SUVs, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- The recall is for rear coil springs that can detach due to being out of position as a result of an incorrect repair procedure performed during a previous recall — for a similar issue — in June 2023. Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, repair any out of position rear coil springs for free. FCA US plans to notify owners of the recall remedy beginning March 19.
- The vehicles include certain 2021-2023 model year Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L SUVs produced at various times between December 5, 2020 and May 31, 2023. Just 0.5% of the recalled population is estimated to have the defect.
Dive Insight:
The first recall in June 2023 included 331,400 model year 2021-2023 Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L SUVs for rear coil springs that may have been incorrectly installed during assembly. The issue can cause the springs to come out of position and detach from the vehicle while driving, creating a road hazard and potentially causing a loss of vehicle control that could increase the risk of a crash.
The Jeep models were built in Detroit at Stellantis’ neighboring Mack and Jefferson North assembly complexes.
Similar Jeep Cherokee models that were not included in the current recall were inspected in 2023, but had no repairs performed. These models were built after May 30, 2023, or the SUVs were equipped with rear air suspension, per the recall report.
The latest recall identifies rubber lower coil spring insulators as the suspect part, not the spring itself as in the 2023 recall.
The Jeep Cherokee rear coil springs were sourced from Alabama-based Daewon America, the U.S. subsidiary of South Korea supplier Daewon Kang Up Co. The rubber lower coil spring insulators were supplied by Michigan-based Airboss. The report notes that neither company supplied defective parts to FCA US, as the issues were solely related to installation errors.
The automaker’s Technical Safety and Regulatory Compliance organization opened its initial investigation in March 2023, after receiving a report alleging a rear coil spring detached from a 2023 Jeep Cherokee while driving. Based on the findings, FCA US elected to conduct a voluntary recall on June 1, 2023 to address the concern.
But on Sept. 30, 2025, the NHTSA notified FCA US of 20 complaints it received of coil spring separation in Cherokee models after the initial recall repairs were performed in 2023, as part of a pre-investigation request.
The automaker responded to NHTSA’s inquiry on Oct. 14, 2025, and shared with the agency an additional 70 claims of similar incidents identified in its internal data. On Nov. 20, 2025, FCA US’s Technical Safety and Regulatory Compliance group opened an investigation into the issue.
Between November 2025 and January 2026, the automaker’s compliance group met with FCA engineers to analyze the cause of the error, review customer incident reports and identify the suspect vehicle population.
On Dec. 11, 2025, NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened a query into the 2023 recall to “to assess the adequacy of FCA’s remedy procedure and to evaluate the root cause(s) of post-remedy coil spring detachments,” per the recall report.
Based on the findings, FCA US’s Vehicle Regulations Committee approved the recall on Jan. 22. The affected vehicles include those that received repairs as part of the June 2023 recall, as well as others that were not a part of the original recall.
As of Jan. 9, FCA US is aware of 20 customer records and 284 warranty claims potentially related to the issue, the first of which was submitted on July 15, 2023. The automaker is not aware of any crashes related to the problem.
