After Jeep recently sent out an over-the-air software update, some Wrangler 4x models had problems. The owners said that the power plant often shut down while they were driving on the highway. Before the company allegedly fixed the problem over the weekend, Jeep told customers to be careful and stay away from the hybrid and electric drive modes. Over-the-air updates are available for many new car models. This lets manufacturers change everything from how the powertrain works to how the software interface works without the customer having to leave their garage. Some Jeep Wrangler 4xe users were left stranded after installing an over-the-air update this past weekend, though, according to Ars Technica. This shows that these much-talked-about over-the-air updates may not always work as planned. The patch was meant to fix the UConnect infotainment system, but a bug in the new software hurt the engine, so owners couldn’t get their cars to run. Based on what owners have said on forums and social media, the update didn’t cause any problems right away; the issues started while the owners were driving. Sometimes this happened while the driver was on the highway. The power plant almost shut down, and the system told the driver to park the car before pressing the start button again. Ars Technica says that Jeep took down the change because it caused problems. But by that time, a lot of owners had already put the fix in. A Stellantis representative told Jeep forum users who hadn’t upgraded their cars yet to put off the change if they saw the pop-up message on their infotainment screen. The agent also told customers not to use the hybrid or electric drive modes and to be very careful if they had installed the update. A forum post from the same person on Saturday said that a patch came out that evening. For the update to work, the post says that the car must be “turned on and in good cellular coverage.” “Turn the vehicle off and back on, and make sure there is no code/fault on the instrument cluster, and you see ‘Ready.'” This had to be done after at least 10 minutes of driving.
