Air Suspension Problems

[mpboats]

So in preparation for the upcoming Dolphins Challenge Cancer bike ride this weekend, I decided to mount my hitch reciever bike rack to my new (2 week old) 2022 Summit Reserve Hemi 2-row this morning. To make the task easier, I started the jeep and raised the suspension to Off Road 2 height, turned off the ignition, and left the drivers door open so it would stay in the raised height while I got under the rear bumper to remove the hitch cover. Once I was done, I closed the tailgate and door, locked the Jeep and went inside to get ready for work. I expected that with all doors close the Jeep may return to entry/exit height, which is a setting I have activated when it's in Park, or just stay in OR2.

Going outside to leave for work I found the rear suspension all the way down and the front all the way up. Once I got inside and started the vehicle the front lowered down to entry/exit and I thought all was well until I was greeted with a "Service air suspension immediately" message. I tried numerous restarts with no success, it was stuck in entry/exit mode with the warning message still there. I was about to try a battery disconnect/reset and decided against, as I shouldn't have to be doing this to a 2 week old $70k vehicle. I limped it to the closest dealer ~ 5 miles hoping they could look at it on the spot, or try to reset it, but that just wasn't in the cards. While they were nice enough to arrange alternate transportation through enterprise, it did take 2 1/2 hours out of my morning. Unfortunately my selling dealer was ~300 miles away, so I'm not expecting anyone to do any backflips for me, and I was warned it may not even get looked at today, and if parts needed to be ordered I was in big trouble.

Before I left I used the Jeep app to set a boundary alert, a small circle I drew around the vehicle where it was parked in the service lot, and not too long after I had many alerts that the vehicle had been moved so hopefully it's in the bay of a competent technician ( the dealer said the only had 1 capable of working on air suspensions).

This is the reason why I chose to lease the vehicle for 3 years for fear of stuff like this happening out of warranty. Oddly enough, my prior 4 vehicles dating back to 2015 were (3) Grand Cherokee Overland and a Ram 1500 Limited, all of which had air suspensions that never gave me a problem.

Anyone have any ideas, or similar experiences?

 

[hamada128]

Following & good luck having it fixed.

@barthalamute; that could be a reason not to get the air suspension.

 

[mpboats]

To my surprise they were able to look at it right away and diagnosed passenger rear airbag blown out due to, they think, coming into contact with the axle. When the advisor first called back, he asked me to answer a question that would stay between us: "have i towed any heavy boats with the vehicle?" The answer is no, my boat is a 33 Grady-White, which I do not have a trailer for, and if I did I wouldn't dream of trying to tow it with anything less than a F350.

What's strange is that since I have had the vehicle, upon startup, I could here a whining type noise coming from the passenger rear of the vehicle and I suspected it was the air suspension. It would happen 75% of the time and wasn't quite loud enough to complain about.

Even more strange is this morning when I raised the suspension to OR2 and climbed under the back bumper, I looked at the suspension and thought the pass side looked strange. Strange enough to stop and take a picture of each side.

 

[Vontes_vibe]

To my surprise they were able to look at it right away and diagnosed passenger rear airbag blown out due to, they think, coming into contact with the axle. When the advisor first called back, he asked me to answer a question that would stay between us: "have i towed any heavy boats with the vehicle?" The answer is no, my boat is a 33 Grady-White, which I do not have a trailer for, and if I did I wouldn't dream of trying to tow it with anything less than a F350.

What's strange is that since I have had the vehicle, upon startup, I could here a whining type noise coming from the passenger rear of the vehicle and I suspected it was the air suspension. It would happen 75% of the time and wasn't quite loud enough to complain about.

Even more strange is this morning when I raised the suspension to OR2 and climbed under the back bumper, I looked at the suspension and thought the pass side looked strange. Strange enough to stop and take a picture of each side.

oh wow,, yeah that doesn't look good

 

[SweetAndLow]

Our rear passenger air bag had a blow out at one point. Maybe related? I also know there is a TSB for the rear air bags being damaged.

 

[mpboats]

Our rear passenger air bag had a blow out at one point. Maybe related? I also know there is a TSB for the rear air bags being damaged.

Does anyone have access to this TSB? My theory is my air bag was installed incorrectly and/or had a slow leak since new, thus the noise I was hearing, and raising it to OR2 caused it to get pinched and blow, or exacerbated the small leak.

 

[Phoenix494]

You can find TSB's for Jeep on NHSTA.gov

 

[barthalamute]

Following & good luck having it fixed.

@barthalamute; that could be a reason not to get the air suspension.

Appreciated! Ya there’s lots of rumors this year especially has bad air suspension but people make strong points usually only complainers show up to forums and people who are happy are just driving their cars heh. https://www.reddit.com/r/GrandCherokee/comments/q7eo7d
That reddit post was actually why i avoided it, but in my experience youll find many more owners WITHOUT problems heh. Even this guy admitted his 3 cars before it were fine.

While it definitely sounds riskier and if it does break chip shortage sounds like itll take forever to fix, it does sound like fewer people have problems than we think overall. I asked my dealer for example and im the first person with an L to even bring it back in with a problem.

Other forums have made polls and youll actually see a substantially larger number of people without issues, some hitting 200k miles never needed to service it once.

 

[Nickrt]

Mine lost pressure at 250 or so miles. Hose was loose and leaked. had it set to easy exit in park and it stayed that way. shop tightened it all up and re-charged the system and. Ow at 6,000 miles with (knock on wood) no further issues.

 

[mpboats]

To update the thread with the progess, or lack of, that's been made:

2/25 was told ETA for part week of 2/28 by Jeep Wave
3/1 called dealer, was given new ETA of week of 3/7
3/3 Jeep Wave called saying new ETA is week of 3/14. At this point I asked to escalate this to the highest possible level to discuss a buy back, and the Jeep Wave case manager claims to have done so. I know I'm a bit premature as FL lemon law is 30 days out of service, but the Jeep Wave case manager seemed to agree that option should be put on the table regardless.
3/4 miraculously the part arrived at the dealer, for the tech to install the next Monday on 3/7
3/7 dealer service advisor said the new part was installed but failed during testing. It was ripped/torn/deflated like the original. They claim when they went to order a new part, a new part number appeared suggesting it was a redesigned part. Who know's what this means for the other 3 original airbags on my vehicle. Was again told by dealer to call Jeep Wave to request expedited part shipping. This whole back and forth game of phone is ridiculous. They seem to be getting slower and slower at returning messages, but perhaps the process is a bit bogged down at this point having requests for both expedited shipping and buyback on the table.

I have seriously lost faith in the Jeep brand, which is sad considering my history.

Really not sure where to go from here as I don't want a replacement vehicle and there's not much else on the market that checks boxes like my Summit Reserve Hemi did. Last week I found myself at a local Acura dealer exploring the MDX Type S Advance. I guess it never crossed my radar as I have zero interest in a 3rd row seat, but it's a fairly compelling package, that is until it came to discuss pricing. Most local dealers are "asking" MSRP + $10k. One dealer without a $10k market adjustment priced the car at MSRP plus a $3k "protection package" at 36/12k, $3k down, ~$1,300 a month, which is absurd. I'm easily ~$400 a month away from liking the vehicle that much. While the MDX Type S is sure to get better fuel economy, the need for premium fuel makes that a wash.

Any advise or suggestions?

 

[JeepGeek]

To update the thread with the progess, or lack of, that's been made:

2/25 was told ETA for part week of 2/28 by Jeep Wave
3/1 called dealer, was given new ETA of week of 3/7
3/3 Jeep Wave called saying new ETA is week of 3/14. At this point I asked to escalate this to the highest possible level to discuss a buy back, and the Jeep Wave case manager claims to have done so. I know I'm a bit premature as FL lemon law is 30 days out of service, but the Jeep Wave case manager seemed to agree that option should be put on the table regardless.
3/4 miraculously the part arrived at the dealer, for the tech to install the next Monday on 3/7
3/7 dealer service advisor said the new part was installed but failed during testing. It was ripped/torn/deflated like the original. They claim when they went to order a new part, a new part number appeared suggesting it was a redesigned part. Who know's what this means for the other 3 original airbags on my vehicle. Was again told by dealer to call Jeep Wave to request expedited part shipping. This whole back and forth game of phone is ridiculous. They seem to be getting slower and slower at returning messages, but perhaps the process is a bit bogged down at this point having requests for both expedited shipping and buyback on the table.

I have seriously lost faith in the Jeep brand, which is sad considering my history.

Really not sure where to go from here as I don't want a replacement vehicle and there's not much else on the market that checks boxes like my Summit Reserve Hemi did. Last week I found myself at a local Acura dealer exploring the MDX Type S Advance. I guess it never crossed my radar as I have zero interest in a 3rd row seat, but it's a fairly compelling package, that is until it came to discuss pricing. Most local dealers are "asking" MSRP + $10k. One dealer without a $10k market adjustment priced the car at MSRP plus a $3k "protection package" at 36/12k, $3k down, ~$1,300 a month, which is absurd. I'm easily ~$400 a month away from liking the vehicle that much. While the MDX Type S is sure to get better fuel economy, the need for premium fuel makes that a wash.

Any advise or suggestions?

I hear what you're saying about nothing quite comparing to a loaded GC. It's kind of in a class of its own, with any alternatives either being more economic but less capable, or far more expensive to get anywhere near the same feature level in the luxury SUV segment.

FWIW, my second choice next to a GC would be a Ford Explorer, mainly because of the available horsepower with the twin-turbo EcoBoost V6. Almost every mid-size SUV out there that's not a high-end luxury model has a N/A V6 with about the same horsepower as the Pentastar 3.6L, or some kind of turbo I4 hybrid system. I'm not a fan of turbos, but the EcoBoost admittedly has superior horsepower, torque, and fuel economy to the GC with the Hemi. It falls short on towing, only handling up to 5300 lbs., but still relatively respectable for its class. And honestly the top trims look pretty nice, though I haven't seen them in person.

 

[mpboats]

I hear what you're saying about nothing quite comparing to a loaded GC. It's kind of in a class of its own, with any alternatives either being more economic but less capable, or far more expensive to get anywhere near the same feature level in the luxury SUV segment.

FWIW, my second choice next to a GC would be a Ford Explorer, mainly because of the available horsepower with the twin-turbo EcoBoost V6. Almost every mid-size SUV out there that's not a high-end luxury model has a N/A V6 with about the same horsepower as the Pentastar 3.6L, or some kind of turbo I4 hybrid system. I'm not a fan of turbos, but the EcoBoost admittedly has superior horsepower, torque, and fuel economy to the GC with the Hemi. It falls short on towing, only handling up to 5300 lbs., but still relatively respectable for its class. And honestly the top trims look pretty nice, though I haven't seen them in person.

I am admittedly a dash stroker. I like seeing leather in places where it's not normally found like dashboards, seatbacks, lower door panels, etc. Just makes an interior exude luxury. And while the Explorer ST is sort of on my radar now, I know it won't check any of those boxes. But, since it became a RWD platform, it does make a performance statement, and everytime I see a ST on the road, they do have a sinister look to them. So although it may be premature, I think I'll find my way over to a Ford dealer to drive an ST so I can either cross it off or make it a contender. I have a good friend who is a Ford dealer, so that combined with the lower MSRP it should have a good value statement as well. Good enough that I can probably make sense of a short term 24 month lease.

Shortly after my post yesterday I was contacted by my new case manager who is a Stellantis employee, not Jeep Wave, and she actually sounds like she knows what she's talking about. She said goal #1 is get the vehicle repaired and back to me. In the meantime she will start now to review my case for compensation of not having the vehicle for so long, as well as for a potential proactive buyback. She did say it would need to follow my states laws, but I appreciate that they will start building the case and timeline now, as opposed to starting that at the 30 day mark. Also no need to worry about my Jeep Wave case manager returning my calls, as my new Stellantis case manager was taking over from here, which felt refreshing to talk to someone that seemed a lot more competent.

In the meantime I continue to drive my Chrysler Pacifica rental...

 

[MrBreeze]

Good to hear your case has been escalated and you are getting a commitment from Staellantis to get it resolved. I sure hope they follow through for you. Trying to find a replacement for what the GC offers (particularly in our current market availability) would be a challenge. Coming from a Land Rover Defender, a comparable model to a GC SR with the 5.7 costs $30k more and the jury is still out on the Defender's reliability.
Got my fingers crossed for you.

 

[SneakyJeep]

Good to hear your case has been escalated and you are getting a commitment from Staellantis to get it resolved. I sure hope they follow through for you. Trying to find a replacement for what the GC offers (particularly in our current market availability) would be a challenge. Coming from a Land Rover Defender, a comparable model to a GC SR with the 5.7 costs $30k more and the jury is still out on the Defender's reliability.
Got my fingers crossed for you.

The new Toyota Sequoia is in the back of my mind as something that I'd consider in place of the JGC Trailhawk, but it's just so gigantic (and the wait time for one is tremendously long....). I don't need/want the luxuries, but it's hard to find a mid-sized SUV that has the same off-road capability that I want here in Colorado other than the 4Runner which is ancient and a pain around town. This will be my first vehicle that wasn't a Honda or Toyota, but for what I want/need, it's worth taking a risk with the reliability, for now. I know a handful of people with JGC ranging from 2 to 12 years old, and they haven't had any major issues, so let's keep crossing our fingers.

 

[TRXGCGLR]

To update the thread with the progess, or lack of, that's been made:

2/25 was told ETA for part week of 2/28 by Jeep Wave
3/1 called dealer, was given new ETA of week of 3/7
3/3 Jeep Wave called saying new ETA is week of 3/14. At this point I asked to escalate this to the highest possible level to discuss a buy back, and the Jeep Wave case manager claims to have done so. I know I'm a bit premature as FL lemon law is 30 days out of service, but the Jeep Wave case manager seemed to agree that option should be put on the table regardless.
3/4 miraculously the part arrived at the dealer, for the tech to install the next Monday on 3/7
3/7 dealer service advisor said the new part was installed but failed during testing. It was ripped/torn/deflated like the original. They claim when they went to order a new part, a new part number appeared suggesting it was a redesigned part. Who know's what this means for the other 3 original airbags on my vehicle. Was again told by dealer to call Jeep Wave to request expedited part shipping. This whole back and forth game of phone is ridiculous. They seem to be getting slower and slower at returning messages, but perhaps the process is a bit bogged down at this point having requests for both expedited shipping and buyback on the table.

I have seriously lost faith in the Jeep brand, which is sad considering my history.

Really not sure where to go from here as I don't want a replacement vehicle and there's not much else on the market that checks boxes like my Summit Reserve Hemi did. Last week I found myself at a local Acura dealer exploring the MDX Type S Advance. I guess it never crossed my radar as I have zero interest in a 3rd row seat, but it's a fairly compelling package, that is until it came to discuss pricing. Most local dealers are "asking" MSRP + $10k. One dealer without a $10k market adjustment priced the car at MSRP plus a $3k "protection package" at 36/12k, $3k down, ~$1,300 a month, which is absurd. I'm easily ~$400 a month away from liking the vehicle that much. While the MDX Type S is sure to get better fuel economy, the need for premium fuel makes that a wash.

Any advise or suggestions?

If you really want to go the mdx route, check this out

🐶 AutoCompanion.com Mar Acura Deals Midatlantic - DMV - Northeast MDX/TLX/RDX/Integras 8-10% off MSRP

💯 💯 MARCH DEALS 💯 💯 MDXs @ MSRP including the Type S MDX A Spec @ 2% off MSRP TLX @ 3.5% off MSRP RDX @ 3% off MSRP ILX @ 2% off MSRP Spreadsheet Under Updates!

forum.leasehackr.com

 

[mpboats]

Most recent update for those following:

The call I was promised on Thursday last week from the Stellantis customer retention case manager never came. So, Friday I called her, left a message no return call. Monday morning I get her on the phone and she claims she emailed me Thursday. I got her initial email when she took over last week, so I know the email didn't go to spam, but I checked it and my inbox again, no email from her. Becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation, she has no ETA on the part other than to tell me it was shipped Thursday last week with a 3-5 day ETA and no way to track it, which I find hard to believe. She said that the people who review buyback cases were out last week but are back at work this week and looking at my file.

If they offer to buyback the car and I agree, I was advised it can take up to 30 days. Is there a way I can change my mind on that during the 30 days? I ask because finding a replacement vehicle is really becoming challenging. From the MDX Type S Advance I have tried to expand my horizons to include the Explorer ST (lacking interior quality), Lincoln Aviator (way overpriced) and possibly the new Toyota Tundra (if I can get over the looks of it). While this situation could be different in 30 days, if I had to pull the trigger now, the only vehicle that has available inventory ready to buy is the MDX Type S Advance. With that realization I decided to call other dealers and got the expected responses of anywhere from $3k to 10k over MSRP. To my surprise I was able to find two semi-local dealers willing to sell at MSRP, which makes me think that one of the two wouldn't say no to an offer a thousand or two under MSRP, which would probably allow me to make sense of the vehicle and the deal, as I think the MDX is somewhat overpriced.

 

[hamada128]

Most recent update for those following:

The call I was promised on Thursday last week from the Stellantis customer retention case manager never came. So, Friday I called her, left a message no return call. Monday morning I get her on the phone and she claims she emailed me Thursday. I got her initial email when she took over last week, so I know the email didn't go to spam, but I checked it and my inbox again, no email from her. Becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation, she has no ETA on the part other than to tell me it was shipped Thursday last week with a 3-5 day ETA and no way to track it, which I find hard to believe. She said that the people who review buyback cases were out last week but are back at work this week and looking at my file.

If they offer to buyback the car and I agree, I was advised it can take up to 30 days. Is there a way I can change my mind on that during the 30 days? I ask because finding a replacement vehicle is really becoming challenging. From the MDX Type S Advance I have tried to expand my horizons to include the Explorer ST (lacking interior quality), Lincoln Aviator (way overpriced) and possibly the new Toyota Tundra (if I can get over the looks of it). While this situation could be different in 30 days, if I had to pull the trigger now, the only vehicle that has available inventory ready to buy is the MDX Type S Advance. With that realization I decided to call other dealers and got the expected responses of anywhere from $3k to 10k over MSRP. To my surprise I was able to find two semi-local dealers willing to sell at MSRP, which makes me think that one of the two wouldn't say no to an offer a thousand or two under MSRP, which would probably allow me to make sense of the vehicle and the deal, as I think the MDX is somewhat overpriced.

Try to join some of the Facebook pages for any car you are considering and you may find other dealers who are willing to sell at invoice price for factory orders or even for available inventory they currently have.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Most recent update for those following:

The call I was promised on Thursday last week from the Stellantis customer retention case manager never came. So, Friday I called her, left a message no return call. Monday morning I get her on the phone and she claims she emailed me Thursday. I got her initial email when she took over last week, so I know the email didn't go to spam, but I checked it and my inbox again, no email from her. Becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation, she has no ETA on the part other than to tell me it was shipped Thursday last week with a 3-5 day ETA and no way to track it, which I find hard to believe. She said that the people who review buyback cases were out last week but are back at work this week and looking at my file.

If they offer to buyback the car and I agree, I was advised it can take up to 30 days. Is there a way I can change my mind on that during the 30 days? I ask because finding a replacement vehicle is really becoming challenging. From the MDX Type S Advance I have tried to expand my horizons to include the Explorer ST (lacking interior quality), Lincoln Aviator (way overpriced) and possibly the new Toyota Tundra (if I can get over the looks of it). While this situation could be different in 30 days, if I had to pull the trigger now, the only vehicle that has available inventory ready to buy is the MDX Type S Advance. With that realization I decided to call other dealers and got the expected responses of anywhere from $3k to 10k over MSRP. To my surprise I was able to find two semi-local dealers willing to sell at MSRP, which makes me think that one of the two wouldn't say no to an offer a thousand or two under MSRP, which would probably allow me to make sense of the vehicle and the deal, as I think the MDX is somewhat overpriced.

You have into you turn over your keys to back out. You're doing the buy back option so it's your choice, they don't want the car back and will happely let you keep it.

 

[mpboats]

Well after 25 days out of service, I am finally back in possession of my Summit Reserve. The second airbag that finally arrived worked. The service advisor called at 2pm on Friday saying he had the part in his hand and the tech would try to squeeze it in before the day was over and he did. My hats off to the dealer as they did the best they could. One thing that was strange was upon initial diagnosis the advisor called and said I have a question and the answer will stay between us, have you towed any really heavy boats with the vehicle? I explained that in the 800 miles I had the vehicle, no I have not towed anything, my only reason for trying to utilize the hitch was for a bike rack. My personal boat is a 33' Grady White that weighs more than double the Jeep's towing capacity. I'm not that stupid and don't even own a trailer. Upon telling me it was fixed and ready he cautioned me again they don't advise towing anything heavy and especially not to use the air suspension in coordination with hooking up a trailer. The whole situation makes me feel like I'm dealing with a fragile air suspension system, which sucks. I prefer to use auto entry/exit mode when shifting to park and noticed the dealer had disabled that. I will likely re-enable it, but it's something that will be stuck in the back of my mind each time the system makes a move up or down. Still no word on whether a buyback will be offered, but I think they should, even though I didn't reach 30 days out of service. If they did I would shop hard for a replacement vehicle, but if the Jeep has no more issues, and the deals I'm able to find involve too much compromise (cost too high, not as luxurious, etc) I will likely back out of the buyback before the turn in day arrives and keep the Jeep.

 

[mpboats]

Figured I should also add that, on both occasions when parts were ordered which required my intervention in contacting Jeep Wave to get the part expedited, each time it took a few days for the expedited part to be approved, and then 3-5 business days for shipping. During numerous calls, no one ever had any more specific tracking information other than 3-5 business days. Maybe this is the covid/supply chain world, as I experience similar things in my own business. No one could even answer where the part was coming from. To me, expedited means a button is clicked that day and the part is sent OVERNIGHT. 3-5 business days make you feel like the average Joe getting no special care. Again, I wasn't dealing with my selling dealer, which is 250 miles from home, but I wonder if I did how the experience would differ. I know that in my past when I worked in the car business, we usually would not hesitate to steal a part from another new vehicle in inventory to get the customer back on the road quicker, but this would only be done for a good, loyal customer who bought the car from that dealership.

Just my $.02