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Uconnect and iphone

summerjenny2025

New member
I have a 2021 Grand Cherokee. It’s been great. Yesterday my iPhone stopped taking calls in my car when plugged in. It’s the first time this has happened. Took the car to the dealer and the dealer said it’s my phone. That Uconnects technology can’t accommodate the new phone. I call BS. It’s worked fine until now. I have an iPhone 13.
Any advice on next steps. I have 2 1/2 years left on my lease and can’t put up with this or want to deal with this for that long! Thanks.
 

Sarge

Well-known member
Mine worked for about a week, and ever since then the whole Uconnect system has totally defacated the bed. It's completely FUBAR now. No wireless carplay, occassional wired carplay, but usually the Uconnect screen is constantly resetting itself, going dark, volume not adjustable, calls dropping if the phone even connects in the first place, it won't save settings, can't adjust settings, no volume at all, volume sometimes comes on a a fixed volume but won't go up or down despite the numbers indicating it's being turned up or down, no navigation screens or functionality, etc etc etc; It's just totally FUBAR.

It worked ok for the first couple days of ownership, just an occassional dark screen from Uconnect that was reset by cycling the headlight switch, then got worse with wireless carplay not connecting or dropping, and just got worse and worse and worse, and is now unusuable 99% of the time. I'm lucky if I can get music via wired carplay that I control via the phone, but sometimes there's no volume at all, sometimes it won't adjust the volume (fixed volume), sometimes no volume at all, sometimes the screen constantly resets... the whole system is just a total LEMON POS.

The dealer ordered "a new stereo" (not sure what parts) and hopes to fix it mid January if Jeep sends the parts. Zero outreach from Jeep or @JeepCares (they don't care at all).

I'm now reading of RAM owners who have had Uconnect problems for YEARS, so to anyone contemplating dropping a bunch of money on any of this corporation's products: DON'T DO IT until you read a lot of posts on here from owners saying the problems have been resolved and everything actually WORKS as promised. I am not getting the benefit of my bargain whatsoever, neither are a lot of other people, and the whole corporation apparently has no idea how to solve it.
 
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hcl

Well-known member
Mine worked for about a week, and ever since then the whole Uconnect system has totally defacated the bed. It's completely FUBAR now. No wireless carplay, occassional wired carplay, but usually the Uconnect screen is constantly resetting itself, going dark, volume not adjustable, calls dropping if the phone even connects in the first place, it won't save settings, can't adjust settings, no volume at all, volume sometimes comes on a a fixed volume but won't go up or down despite the numbers indicating it's being turned up or down, no navigation screens or functionality, etc etc etc; It's just totally FUBAR.

It worked ok for the first couple days of ownership, just an occassional dark screen from Uconnect that was reset by cycling the headlight switch, then got worse with wireless carplay not connecting or dropping, and just got worse and worse and worse, and is now unusuable 99% of the time. I'm lucky if I can get music via wired carplay that I control via the phone, but sometimes there's no volume at all, sometimes it won't adjust the volume (fixed volume), sometimes no volume at all, sometimes the screen constantly resets... the whole system is just a total LEMON POS.

The dealer ordered "a new stereo" (not sure what parts) and hopes to fix it mid January if Jeep sends the parts. Zero outreach from Jeep or @JeepCares (they don't care at all).

I'm now reading of RAM owners who have had Uconnect problems for YEARS, so to anyone contemplating dropping a bunch of money on any of this corporation's products: DON'T DO IT until you read a lot of posts on here from owners saying the problems have been resolved and everything actually WORKS as promised. I am not getting the benefit of my bargain whatsoever, neither are a lot of other people, and the whole corporation apparently has no idea how to solve it.
I hope you'll post an update after your radio is replaced. It seems like nearly all of the functionality is now managed by the Uconnect head unit, so hopefully flaws in that unit account for the barrage of issues you've encountered. I don't know if the difficulties you've described are more specific to your dealer than others, and it sounds like you've finally got some more expert participation but, unless Jeep does a full court press to fix the problems you've enumerated, your ordeal is giving me second thoughts about my plan to purchase this model.
 

Sarge

Well-known member
I hope you'll post an update after your radio is replaced. It seems like nearly all of the functionality is now managed by the Uconnect head unit, so hopefully flaws in that unit account for the barrage of issues you've encountered. I don't know if the difficulties you've described are more specific to your dealer than others, and it sounds like you've finally got some more expert participation but, unless Jeep does a full court press to fix the problems you've enumerated, your ordeal is giving me second thoughts about my plan to purchase this model.
I would personally recommend waiting until later in the 2022 or 2023 model year. It's a great vehicle in that there is nothing else with a V8 engine at this price point that also has all of this available technology (driving assist, night vision, phenomenal McIntosh sound, massage seats, nicely styled interior, air suspension, and it drives and handles better than any full size SUV (ie Tahoe, Expedition, etc), but none of that matters if it's just a total mess. I've got water spots inside my poorly manufactured headlights, misalighed/stamped body panels, the air suspension doesn't always work right, and almost none of the tech works right, save for the night vision. On top of that, the dealer can't get parts to repair the myriad of things wrong with it.

So, all of that said, absolutely avoid buying one until they prove they can make it all work in the first place, or at least make timely repairs if things go wrong. What's worse is the depreciation on the first couple of model years will probably be in Range Rover territory if not worse. I bought the 8/125 extended warranty, and had planned to keep it for a long time, but the conjunction of all these concerns (inoperability, inability to repair promptly, terrible prospective resale) make this one of the worst cars you could by at this point.
 

hcl

Well-known member
I would personally recommend waiting until later in the 2022 or 2023 model year. It's a great vehicle in that there is nothing else with a V8 engine at this price point that also has all of this available technology (driving assist, night vision, phenomenal McIntosh sound, massage seats, nicely styled interior, air suspension, and it drives and handles better than any full size SUV (ie Tahoe, Expedition, etc), but none of that matters if it's just a total mess. I've got water spots inside my poorly manufactured headlights, misalighed/stamped body panels, the air suspension doesn't always work right, and almost none of the tech works right, save for the night vision. On top of that, the dealer can't get parts to repair the myriad of things wrong with it.

So, all of that said, absolutely avoid buying one until they prove they can make it all work in the first place, or at least make timely repairs if things go wrong. What's worse is the depreciation on the first couple of model years will probably be in Range Rover territory if not worse. I bought the 8/125 extended warranty, and had planned to keep it for a long time, but the conjunction of all these concerns (inoperability, inability to repair promptly, terrible prospective resale) make this one of the worst cars you could by at this point.
I hope the lack of response to the issues you listed is entirely due to staffing shortages in these unusual times, and that they'll snap to it when they stabilize. I assume it's corporate's decision more than your dealers for how thoroughly they remediate your car. It seemed that the vast majority of the issues originate from a defective Unconnect control center, so it will be interesting to see how much of it clears up when the replacement you say they've already arranged occurs. While the spots inside the headlights seem curable, (they're not vacuum sealed are they?), I imagine it would be a tough slog to realign the body panels, so hopefully you're talking about microns.
I have always purchased Jeeps in the past but, based on the raft of issues cited by you and others, it seems like a 2-3 year lease, then a buy out if it appears to be reliable might be the way to go, unless Volvo or Range Rover present a better deal.
 
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