My 2021 Jeep Wrangler Loses Power For No Reason

DEAR SUZANNE

By Suzanne Henderson
LETTER 138 – October 2023 | Furious

Dear Suzanne, 

When I first found out that I had to take my car in for repairs so soon after I buying it, I was quite furious. You may think it was a bit of an overreaction, but after you hear what I went through with my car, you’ll understand. 

I haven’t had a car due to the problems I’ve had. I’ve had to take cabs, Ubers, and ask friends to come pick me up and drop me off. It’s been stressful and embarrassing beyond belief. 

FINALLY A JEEP OWNER!

I’ll start with when I purchased my 2021 Jeep Wrangler. I was trying to decide between purchasing a brand-new car or a used model. After weighing the pros and cons I went for a brand new one. I wanted to avoid any issues that may be present in a used car, and this was what the Wrangler dealership seemed to promise. 

Little did I know that purchasing a brand-new vehicle doesn’t guarantee that it would be free of any issues. I found this out the hard way. 

A couple of months after I got my Jeep I hit the 5,000 mile mark, so I took the car to the dealership for its first visit. It was a scheduled visit, but I was also having an issue where the engine light would come on and there would be a slight loss of power. 

AN ACCELERATION SITUATION

This usually happened whenever I stopped at a traffic light. As I began to accelerate, the car would lose power before picking up again. One time it was so bad that I almost got into an accident. 

I was driving to work and came to a red light at a busy intersection. Since I saw the light was about to turn, I left the engine idling. As soon as the light turned green, I took off, but as I reached the middle of the intersection, my car shut off. Oh boy! You should have seen me in panic mode. 

Now this is a very busy intersection famous for having accidents and I didn’t want to end up like one of those. I prayed to every deity I knew of, and tried starting the engine multiple times. Finally, my prayers were answered and the car started. I was ecstatic and I drove off to work. 

Looking back at the incident, I realize there were several ways things could have gone wrong. Luckily for me, it worked out fine in the end, but I knew I had to get that checked out. 

When I took it to the dealer they told me they would keep the car for a while to examine it. But a couple of days later, they called me to tell me they couldn’t duplicate the issue. I had to go pick up my defective car that was probably going to lose power again. 

After the visit the power loss problem seemed a little less persistent, almost bearable. But last week a new problem popped up and I had to take my car in twice for the same issue. 

THAT NEW CAR SMELL… IS OIL?

The reason for visiting this time was I woke up one morning to find fluid leaking all over my driveway. The leak seemed to be coming from the front area of the driver’s side. I took it in and it was a quick fix, and they also did an oil change. 

I thought everything was fine, but unfortunately I awoke to another oil leak the next morning. This time, however, it was coming from the front passenger’s side. I had to wait a couple days since it was the weekend, so Monday I took it back to the dealership.

When I arrived they said they couldn’t find anything that was leaking oil. They did notice that the axle housing was covered in oil. They said their best guess was that oil was leaking out from the loose axle housing and the residual oil was running down the axel. 

To fix it, all they did was screw the axle tight and clean the housing. This seemed like a good solution at the time but I’ve already seen a couple drops of oil on my driveway since. 

I would appreciate it if you could explain to me like I’m a five-year-old, since I am not familiar with lemon law and have never had to sue anyone for anything. Thank you, and I hope your week has been better than mine.

Furious

YOUR LEAKY 2021 JEEP WRANGLER IS ANOTHER DROP IN THE BUCKET

Dear Furious, 

I wanted to thank you for reaching out and sharing your story. I know it must have been frustrating finally getting the Jeep you always wanted just to have it fizzle out after 5,000 miles. No one should have to risk an accident because the automakers built a defective vehicle. Hopefully I can shed some light on lemon law and help you decide how to move forward.

From everything you said it sounds like you are dealing with a lemon vehicle. Since you’re not familiar with lemon law, I’ll break it down for you. 

LEMON LAW QUALIFICATIONS

In order for your vehicle to qualify as a lemon in California, you need at least two visits to the dealership to fix the same issue. It also qualifies if you take it a minimum of three times to fix different issues. All these repairs must occur under the manufacturer’s warranty.

So with that said, you’re good to go because your car is still very much under the warranty period for both warranties. Your car has 3 years or 36,000 miles for the basic warranty as well as 5 years or 60,000 miles for the powertrain warranty. The basic warranty covers anything bumper-to-bumper like electrical systems, steering, or brakes. The powertrain covers any issues relating to the engine and transmission. 

Now, assuming you qualify for the lemon law, you can choose from a few options in terms of compensation:

CASH AND KEEP

This is, in simple terms, cash compensation for the issues you are having with the car. With this, you get to keep your vehicle without forfeiting the warranty on it. If you decide to sell the car later on, you may do so without tagging it as a lemon to the next person who buys it. 

The amount you stand to gain as compensation is dependent on various factors. These include the severity of the issues you’re dealing with, your vehicle’s mileage, and the number of times the car has been to the dealership as a result of the issue. 

BUYBACK

With the buyback option, the manufacturer buys back the car from you and pays you back what you’ve spent on the car. When they do this, they pay you back your down payment, monthly payments, taxes, and interest. If you took out a loan on the car, they will refund that to the finance company. Your credit will not be affected as a result. 

There is a deduction the manufacturers can take off of the settlement called the mileage offset. This allows them to charge you for the period you drove the car with no issues. They often base this on the number of miles you were at when you took the vehicle to the dealer for its first repair attempt. 

However, your attorney can waive this in in half or in full. In your case the amount is negligible since you had so few miles, but your attorney will still try to avoid this. After all, the main point of filing a case is to get you as much compensation as possible.

With all that said, you should also note that you get certain benefits when you file a lemon law case in California. One such benefit is that you have your case filed under full contingency. This means that you won’t have to pay any attorney fees. Instead, the automakers pay the attorney fees on your behalf. As such, the entire original settlement goes to you.

I hope you were able to take something away from this and decide what your next step is. If you have any other questions or need some advice, reach out to your attorney, they’re there to help! Best of luck!

Suzanne

PS. If you think your vehicle sucks and want to actually do something about it, you definitely can! Find out quickly if you have a case by visiting www.yourvehiclesucks.com right now. This website is owned by our partner law firm Quill & Arrow LLP, California’s #1 “settled” Lemon Law attorneys.

Free Legal Advice About Your 2021 Jeep Wrangler Lemon Law Claim

Dear reader, are your vehicle problems ruining your life? Confused about what legal route to take? We’re here to help! Find information about California’s lemon law protections here, fill out the form on this page, or give us a call at (323) 553-7525 to discuss your situation with someone who understands how frustrating it can be to have a lemon car, and what to do about it.

DEAR SUZANNE is a weekly column written by Suzanne Henderson and published in LemonLawyers.ORG. If you have a defective lemon vehicle and have questions about California Lemon Lawyer or how to file a claim in California, please write to help@lemonlawyers.org. While not guaranteed, we will try to feature your letter in this column to provide you the answers you need, as well as enlighten other consumers who may have lemon problems similar to yours.

Disclaimer: Suzanne Henderson is not a lawyer and the points discussed here are intended for general information and reference purposes only and not to be construed as legal advice. Please consult a CA Lemon Lawyer to get proper legal advice about your lemon law claim.

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• Lost My Faith In Jeep After Purchasing My 2021 Wrangler

Featured Image:

• 2021 Jeep Wrangler ©Alexander Migl (CC BY-SA 4.0 License)