NHTSA Complaint #11541038 — 2022 JEEP WRANGLER

On the evening of August 19 I was returning to Katy Texas from a trip to Austin Texas. About half way home the Axle Locker Fault indicator light came on along with a blinking rear axle fault indicator. Just east of Sealy Texas on 1-10 I heard a clunk and saw smoke pour out from underneath the back of the jeep. I also lost forward momentum and had to make my way over from the far left lane 3 lanes to the emergency lane without power. I was fortunate to be near an exit and was able to roll off onto the feeder and into grassy area off the road. With a loss of power in heavy traffic this could have caused a fatal accident. The jeep, which is slightly over a year old was towed by AAA to my house. On Monday Jeep was called who towed it to autonation at 21777 katy freeway. They analyzed the problem and it was a broken pinion gear in the differential. The rear differential had been replaced by the dealer in March due to the same warning lights from the axel position sensor. As of the submittal of this report, the jeep is at the dealer waiting for an axle replacement.