NHTSA Complaint #11451758 — 2021 JEEP GLADIATOR

I was exiting the freeway with a speed limit of 75 mph. On the off-ramp I lost control of the Gladiator. The front end wobble was so bad that I could not hold onto the steering wheel for fear of breaking my wrist. Instead I had to wrap my arms about the wheel in an attempt to stop the wobble. I was unable to keep the vehicle in my lane, and finally ended up in a large ditch next to the off ramp. What happened appears to be a problem with the Mopar 1.5" lift kit installed by the dealer. The kit was installed 8/17/2021. This incident occurred in Jan 2022, about 4,000 miles later. I had the kit installed and then inspected about a month later specifically to check for any loose bolts, and to double check the torque for the bolts. The CV bar in the front lost a the bolt on the passenger side, dropping the cross bar and resulting in total loss of control of the passenger side front tire. I felt very lucky not to have been injured, and not to roll the jeep. It took about 150 feet to stop the vehicle in the ditch. I am attaching a photo of the bar held in place after the accident using bungie cords. This was done just to get the bar off the road and allow for moving the vehicle. The mechanic was able to secure the cross bar with a new bolt. The original bolt and nut were not found. We speculate that either the bolt was not torqued correctly or might have been missing a lock washer. At any rate, potentially this could have resulting in much worse. If this happened just a few seconds earlier on the freeway, the damage and injuries could have been much worse. Now the vehicle is driving like new, after new bolt and alignment. However, I will be checking those bolts more frequently, particularly if I notice any extra play in the steering. Before this happened, the play in the steering had increased. I thought I just needed an alignment, but it was much worse than that. Really I would think this cross bar needs redesign to ensure it can't break loose.