NHTSA complaint: 2019 JEEP CHEROKEE — ENGINE
My family and I drove from San Antonio, TX to El Paso, TX on [XXX]. In the car were 4 passengers, including a 11 month old child. At the start of the drive, a warning message that read "4WD overheated. Temporarily unavailable" was seen. The alert showed 1 time and upon a quick search online, was seemingly insignificant. It never showed up again during the drive. We did leave around 4pm so the sun was out and hot, we believed it to be a temporary warning that would not affect our drive as we did not need 4WD during the drive. The jeep did not have a lot of miles on it and was only serviced at the dealership at appropriate windows as recommended by professionals. Once we reached El Paso, a strong smell occurred. Followed shortly by fire and flames coming from the front area, under the hood, near the engine. We pulled off to the side of the road while the flames grew bigger. The infant and all 4 adults were able to exit the vehicle timely but the fire was very large. Many onlookers stopped to check on our welfare. There was an investigation done but all that was said was that there was in fact a fire, and it did in fact start near the front of the vehicle by the engine. Chrysler said they could not determine anything further as there was damage from the fire. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — Office of Defects Investigation