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- After months of arbitration over the 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4XE, a family is suing Jeep parent Stellantis.
- The vehicle lost power on the highway in May and has been in the shop ever since.
A Monroe, Michigan man has been paying more than $1,000 a month since May for a car he can’t drive.
PJ Phillips, 34, said his 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4XE, which he bought to support his growing family (the couple recently had a child), became stranded on the highway in May when his wife “just turned off” while driving in the passing lane.
The family’s car had been sitting in the store for several months, prompting a lawsuit against Jeep’s parent company, Stellantis.
Phillips and his wife aren’t the only hybrid Jeep Grand Cherokee drivers facing problems related to sudden loss of drive. More than 91,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees equipped with 4XE technology are currently being recalled for this issue. Prior to this, in October 2024, the same vehicle was subject to a separate recall due to the risk of spontaneous combustion.
Although the power loss recall was only announced last month, Phillips said his car lost power in May. Since then, Phillips said he has been paying more than $1,000 a month in insurance and car payments while his car is on the dealership lot. Meanwhile, Phillips has been in arbitration with Jeep’s parent company, Stellantis, which is currently in litigation, a process Phillips described as a “nightmare.”
“I’ve been trying since day one to do this honestly, outside of the public legal system, and (Stellantis) has thwarted me every time,” Phillips said.
Hybrid Grand Cherokee that lost power
Stellantis was the first to formally identify the problem and filed a recall with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration on September 4th.
According to recall documents, 2022-2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee plug-in hybrid vehicles may experience a software error in an internal technology called the hybrid control processor. As Phillips’ wife experienced, this error can lead to a sudden loss of drive power and, in some cases, a collision.
In response to this issue, Stellantis has issued a discontinuation notice to dealers, and unless the issue is resolved, dealers will no longer be able to sell PHEV Grand Cherokees from the past five model years.
Frank Machok, Stellantis’ safety and manufacturing spokesperson, said remedies are available for at least some affected models. Grand Cherokees from 2022 to 2024 models are ready for repair. Fixed versions of the 2025 and 2026 Grand Cherokees, which are also subject to the recall, will be available “in the coming weeks.”
Stellantis and NHTSA estimate that about 1% of the more than 91,000 hybrid Grand Cherokees recalled are affected by this issue.
Stellantis said the only Stellantis vehicles affected by the sudden loss of power are 2022-2026 plug-in Jeep Grand Cherokees. Although the Wrangler 4XE shares the same hardware, the root of the problem was a software communication error unique to the Grand Cherokee.
Still paying
Phillips said his family’s Grand Cherokee spun out of control in May while his wife was driving.
Phillips and Stellantis went to arbitration between May and July. This is a standard private proceeding under Michigan’s lemon law and takes place outside the regular court system. Phillips and the automaker went back and forth over the vehicles, and the arbitrator settled with a repurchase agreement that Phillips deemed unfair.
At the end of July, Phillips took the matter to court and filed a lawsuit. A circuit court judge subsequently reversed the arbitrator’s award, finding that the arbitrator had overstepped his authority and rendered an unjust award.
Meanwhile, Phillips’ car remains in the shop, paying more than $1,000 a month in car payments and insurance for an unusable car. Missing lease payments will hurt your credit score, he said, so you need insurance in case your vehicle is damaged while it’s at the dealership.
“We’re now paying $1,000 a month on a car that we lost ownership of,” Phillips said, adding that he currently drives a 2012 Scion XB from college with 146,000 miles and his wife a 2010 Ford Edge with 200,000 miles.
“It’s kind of gut-wrenching for a middle-class family, right?” Phillips said.
“I just want fairness and safety for my family and other people in the same situation,” Phillips said. In September, Phillips began communicating directly with Jeep customer service representatives. The agent told Phillips he could expect to hear from him, but text records reviewed by the Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, show the agent read Phillips’ texts and stopped responding.
“He assured me that he would contact me and that they were going to resolve this issue,” Phillips said. “But now they ignore me.”
Mr. Stellantis told the Free Press that Mr. Phillips had stopped replying to messages because he had “unresolved legal issues” with the company related to a recent arbitration settlement and lawsuit filed alleging fraud.
The company said that in accordance with its protocols, future communications must be made through an attorney.
Regarding the Philips experience, Machok said, “Stellantis is committed to providing a positive customer experience. … We remain committed to remaining engaged and working towards a solution that is acceptable to all parties.”
Stellantis technicians officially began repairing Phillips’ car on September 29, about five months after it first lost power on the highway and less than a month after the NHTSA recall began.
Despite a near accident, lawsuits and a “frustrating” arbitration, Phillips said he would consider driving a Jeep again.
But as he spends more days without a car and more and more car bills arrive, Phillips said his trust in the brand is wavering.
“I’m from Toledo and I’ve always loved the Jeep brand,” Phillips said. “But the way I was treated in this situation was really unfair and it will be a while before I can give them another chance.”
Liam Rapley covers Stellantis and the UAW for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.
