2019 Jeep WranglerJL (2018–present), second year — JK production has ended

Updated 2026-09-22NHTSA counts read on this date — 738 complaints. They rise over time.

The Death Wobble Recedes on the 2019 Wrangler. What Takes Its Place Is a Steering Box Problem Jeep Answered With a Bulletin.

132 of the 738 filings on this model year describe the death wobble. That is 17.9 percent, against 25.0 percent on the 2018 car.

The complaint that grows is quieter and harder to see on a test drive. 155 filings describe the steering as loose, wandering, or having play — 21.0 percent of this record, against 12.9 percent of the 2018 one.

Owners describe the car drifting toward the lane line on a straight road and having to steer it back, over and over.

Five filings name the part and the paperwork. Jeep’s answer to it is TSB 08-074-20, a technical service bulletin that replaces the steering gear.

A bulletin is not a recall.

It tells a dealer how to fix something. It doesn’t put anyone on the hook for the bill, and it isn’t a customer campaign either.

ODI 11352521:

“JEEP HAS ISSUED A TSB 08-074-20 FOR A STEEL STEERING GEAR (REPLACING STOCK ALUMINUM PART). BECAUSE IT IS A TSB AND NOT A RECALL, THERE IS TOO MUCH SUBJECTIVITY IN DEFINING “LOOSE STEERING”. ALSO, BECAUSE ALL 2018 AND 2019 JEEP WRANGLERS HAVE THIS ALUMINUM GEAR THE DEALER CAN SIMPLY SAY “THEY ALL DRIVE LIKE THIS”.”

That is the pattern of this generation so far. On the 2018 car the wobble was answered by a customer satisfaction notification. Here the wandering is answered by a service bulletin. Neither shows up when a buyer runs the VIN.

One thing did become a recall. 19V201000, filed March 2019, covers 52 vehicles with improperly machined steering column stub shafts that may break — “possibly causing the steering wheel to detach from the steering column.”

Jeep sold 228,042 Wranglers in calendar 2019 and 240,032 in 2018, and 2019 cars were sold across both years. 738 complaints against a few hundred thousand vehicles is not a failure rate, and 738 filings are not 738 owners.

The basics

The JL’s second year, and the first year it is the only Wrangler. The carryover JK that made the 2018 model year two vehicles is gone. NHTSA’s ratings database lists two 2019 entries instead of four. EPA drops the “New Wrangler” label it used to tell them apart. Every VIN in this record decodes to Wrangler.

Two engines, unchanged. The 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 is standard. The 2.0-liter turbo with the 48-volt eTorque system is optional, and it is a larger share of this record than it was on the 2018 car — 246 of the 738 filings decode to it, against 214 of 1,816. The 3.0-liter EcoDiesel is not here yet.

Specs

Output figures are from Stellantis’s 2019 fact sheet. Displacement comes from NHTSA’s vPIC catalog. Fuel economy is EPA, city / highway / combined, in mpg.

What owners filed

Sections below are sorted by count. Each complaint is counted once, under a two-step rule. Step one: if a filing names a specific failure — the death wobble, the high-voltage battery, the instrument cluster — it goes to that section. Step two: everything left over gets sorted by NHTSA’s own component labels, in a fixed order — steering, suspension, driver assistance, brakes, engine, transmission, fuel, electrical, body.

The same rule applies to every year in this series. The cross-year table on the model page uses NHTSA’s labels alone, so a section here can come out bigger or smaller than the matching row on that page.

The sections below add up to 694. The remaining 44 are spread across the smaller categories, and the last section breaks them out.

Steering — 335

Everything NHTSA labeled steering except the death wobble, which gets the next section to itself. On this model year it is where the story is.

155 describe the steering as loose, wandering, or having play. 46 call it play in the steering, a dead spot, or slop. 31 describe holding a lane as work — constant correction, both hands, drifting toward the line and being steered back. Five say wind or a passing truck moves the car out of its lane. Those three overlap. The other 88 say the car will not hold a line and the filing stops there.

ODI 11221351:

“2019 JEEP WRANGLER UNLIMITED MOAB JL - NO MODIFICATIONS, ALL STOCK, THE STEERING SEVERELY WANDERS. NOTICED AFTER, ABOUT 1500 MILES THE JEEP WILL DRIFT OR WANDER INTO OTHER LANES FOR NO APPARENT REASON. SOME TIME THE JEEP WOULD DRIVE STRAIGHT, OTHER TIMES NOT SO MUCH. THE VEHICLE IS HARD TO KEEP STRAIGHT WITH IN A SINGLE LANE. TOOK THE JEEP TO MY LOCAL DEALER AND THEY COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG, EVEN WITH ALL THE JEEP TSB’S CONCERNED THAT COULD LOSE CONTROL OF VEHICLE AS IS WANDERS INTO OTHER LANES. NOTE: I HAD A 2017 JEEP UNLIMITED JK WITH NO STEERING ISSUES.”

Ten of the 155 mention a service bulletin, and five filings across the record name 08-074-20 by number — two of them in here. 18 say the steering box or gear was replaced or should be.

15 say a dealer told them the car was within spec, that it was operating as designed, or that they couldn’t find anything.

The dispute in these filings is not about whether the car does it. It is about who pays. ODI 11518825, at 47,000 miles:

“As it turns out Jeep is aware of this issue and has a tsb (08-074-20 REV. B) to replace a poorly designed steering gear box but will only do so if the vehicle is under the 3/36 warranty.”

That is the whole problem with a bulletin as an answer.

It lands squarely on a used buyer. The three-year, 36,000-mile new-car warranty ran out on every one of these cars back in 2022.

91 of the 155 were filed in 2019 and 44 in 2020, and it is close to gone after that — six in 2021, seven in 2022, three in 2023.

Two of the biggest failures on the 2018 car barely show up here.

Seven filings across this record say the steering locked or seized, against 43 a year earlier. 22 say the power steering failed, against 45. Both counts are taken across the whole record rather than inside this section, and neither number gets added to the section counts below.

Death wobble — 132

Counted the same way as on every year in this series: filings that use the words “death wobble,” or that describe the front end or steering wheel shaking violently and name what set it off in the road. 84 use the name and 48 describe it without.

45 name the steering damper or the steering stabilizer, 9 say it was replaced and the shaking came back, 6 name the track bar, 6 say the dealer could not make it happen.

Ten filings name FCA’s Customer Satisfaction Notification V41 — the steering damper campaign covered at length on the 2018 page. Ten out of 738 is a higher rate than the 13 out of 1,816 there.

The shape of the count is what separates this year. On the 2018 car the wobble arrived in a wave and collapsed: 109 filings in 2018, 213 in 2019, then 33. Here it never spikes and it never really stops.

2018   1     2021  18     2024  15
2019  29     2022  14     2025   6
2020  31     2023  16     2026   2

Nothing in the record explains why.

A steady trickle over seven years is what a problem that was never fixed looks like. It is also what a problem confined to a small number of cars looks like. The filings cannot tell those apart.

Instrument cluster — 50

Counted as filings that name the instrument panel, the gauge cluster or the dash display, or say the speedometer went dark. 17 say the screen went black or stopped working entirely, 12 that the speedometer went with it, 10 the fuel gauge.

50 out of 738 is 6.8 percent of this record, against 3.1 percent of the 2018 one. Jeep’s recall 24V652000 covers both years and every year through 2024.

Transmission — 45

18 name the clutch, and Jeep has recalled the clutch on this car three times. The recall section below has the sequence.

Engine — 25

Four mention coolant or overheating, four a check engine light, three oil. Nothing groups.

The head gasket and valvetrain thread that shows up late on the 2018 car has exactly one filing here, and it arrived in 2026.

Visibility and lighting — 24

11 mention the windshield, 8 defrosting or fogging, 5 the wipers, 2 the headlights. Those overlap rather than add up: six of the windshield filings name defrosting too, and all five wiper filings name the windshield. Nine of the 24 name none of the four.

Electrical — 24

Seven mention the battery, four the touchscreen or radio, four the car losing power while driving, three the backup camera. Small and scattered, which is not what this section looks like on the later cars in this series.

Body and structure — 22

12 mention the frame, rust or corrosion and 5 mention welds — all five weld filings name the frame as well. Six mention a seat, five a door, four paint. None of these groups are exclusive, so they do not add up to 22 and are not meant to: 19 of the 22 name at least one of the five, and three name none.

It’s the same complaint as on the 2018 car, just thinner — 3.0 percent of this record against 4.2 percent of that one.

Six filings across this record describe corrosion or bubbling paint around the aluminum door and hood hinges, and every one of them was filed in 2023 or later. The same thing shows up on the 2018, 2020 and 2021 cars, always late.

It is a small count on a body panel rather than a safety item. It is also the only thing in this record that is still arriving faster than it did five years ago.

Brakes — 20

Eight mention ABS. Nothing else groups.

Suspension and wheels — 17

With the wobble counted separately, what is left is shocks, bushings, wheels and tires, and lift kits owners installed themselves.

The rest is thin

26 filings carry only NHTSA’s UNKNOWN OR OTHER label. Seven are air bags and seat belts, four driver assistance, three fuel, two cruise control, two the battery and charging. Nothing there forms a second story.

Recalls

Nine NHTSA campaigns reach a 2019 Wrangler. Sizes below are the manufacturer’s estimate of vehicles potentially affected across every model and year each campaign covers, not the number of 2019 Wranglers in it.

The steering column — 19V201000

March 2019, 52 vehicles, 2019 Wranglers and 2019 Ram 1500s. The steering column stub shafts were improperly machined and may break:

“If the steering wheel detaches from the steering column, the driver may lose control of the vehicle, increasing the risk of crash.”

Dealers inspect the column and replace it if needed. 52 vehicles is a build-date problem rather than a design one, and it is the only campaign on this car whose stated consequence is the wheel coming off the column. Seven filings on this model year mention the steering column.

The clutch, three times

Same three campaigns as the 2018 car, same defect, three different remedies.

All three cover manual-transmission vehicles only, and all three say an overheated clutch “may increase the risk of a fire.” The third says of the second:

“This recall expands and replaces previous recall 21V-028. Vehicles previously repaired under recall 21V-028 will need to have the new remedy completed.”

22 filings across this record name the clutch, 18 of them inside the transmission section above. Two of the 22 carry NHTSA’s fire flag, against eight on the 2018 car.

The track bar brackets — 18V675000

September 2018, 18,055 vehicles, 2018 and 2019 Wranglers. The front track bar brackets may be improperly welded and can separate from the frame, “reducing steering capability.” 18 filings across this record name the track bar, six of them inside the death wobble section above.

The seat belt retractors — 20V580000

September 2020, 2,114 vehicles. In a crash, a front seat belt retractor may not properly slow an occupant after locking. Dealers replace the front retractors. This is a small campaign and 2019 is the only Wrangler year in it.

The instrument cluster — 24V652000

September 2024, 32,863 vehicles, 2018 through 2024 Wranglers and 2020 through 2024 Gladiators. The cluster may short internally and fail, putting the vehicle out of compliance with FMVSS 101. Dealers replace it. Owner letters went out between October 2024 and January 2025.

The two camera campaigns

20V191000, April 2020, 319,610 vehicles across most of the FCA range with 8.4-inch or 12-inch displays. A software error can leave the reversing image on screen after the car is out of reverse, which fails FMVSS 111. The fix is a software update and owners could get it over the air.

24V676000, September 2024, 46 vehicles. The harness for the rearview camera and the center brake light may short. Every affected vehicle was repaired before the owner letters went out.

What doesn’t show up in the complaints

IIHS rated the four-door as one group, 2018 through 2021, so this car is covered by that rating. Good in the moderate overlap front test, the original side test, roof strength and head restraints. The driver-side small overlap front test is Marginal:

“In both of the Institute’s tests, the vehicle tipped onto its passenger side after striking the barrier.”

NHTSA gave the four-door four stars in the frontal test and three on rollover, with a 26.7 percent rollover risk. It never rated the side impact, and it never rated the two-door at all.

Nobody files a complaint about a crash test. None of that is in the 738.

What the complaint curve says

2018    3     2021   62     2024   62
2019  208     2022   66     2025   74
2020  132     2023   80     2026   51

340 of the 738 arrived in 2019 and 2020, then the count settles between 45 and 80 and stays there for six years. Three arrived in December 2018, before the calendar year the model is named for. The 2018 record fell off a cliff after its second year. This one steps down and then holds.

The wandering steering is the part that behaves like the 2018 car — 91 filings in 2019, 44 in 2020, then nearly nothing. What holds the later years up is everything else, thinly.

A count that stops falling is not the same as a problem that keeps happening.

Filings arrive when owners find the complaint form, and 15 of the 187 filed since 2024 name a bulletin, a class action or a repair bill — which is to say, they were written by someone who had already gone looking.

Complaint databases collect complaints. Nobody files to say the steering tracked straight. You can’t compare these numbers across models unless both sets were counted the same way.

If you’re looking at one

Ordered by how much it hurts if it goes wrong, not by how many people filed.

Drive it on a highway, in a crosswind if you can, and see how much work the wheel is. 155 filings describe wandering and 31 describe constant correction. Unlike the wobble, this one is present the whole time rather than triggered, so a long enough drive will show it. It is also the one most likely to be waved off as how a Wrangler drives.

Ask whether the steering gear has been replaced, and get the invoice. 18 filings say the box or gear was replaced or should be, and five name TSB 08-074-20. It is a bulletin, so it will not appear on a recall check, and Jeep covered it under the 3/36 warranty — which expired on every one of these cars years ago. If a previous owner already paid for it, that is worth more than a clean recall report.

If it is a manual, ask which clutch recall was done, by number. 23V116000 replaces the clutch assembly and says vehicles repaired under 21V028000 need it again. A dealer service department can pull the completion record by VIN for free.

Go over a bridge joint or broken pavement at 55 or above. 132 filings describe the front end shaking after exactly that, and six say the dealer could not reproduce it, so one clean test drive doesn’t prove much. Ask the seller straight out: “Has the front end ever shaken after a bump?”

Check 19V201000 by number. It covers only 52 vehicles, so the odds are it never applied to the car in front of you — but it is worth thirty seconds because of what its consequence text says.

Run the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. It only lists recalls that are still open, so a clean result means either the work was done or the car was never covered.

Numbers worth writing down

The 2020 car is next. The death wobble falls to 9 percent of the record and the instrument cluster climbs to 17 percent.

Sources

• NHTSA complaint database — 738 complaints; quoted above by ODI number
• NHTSA recall API — nine campaigns; quoted from the campaign summaries, consequence and remedy text
• NHTSA vPIC — engine, decoded from the VIN attached to each filing
• NHTSA safety ratings — 2019 Jeep Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited
• IIHS 2018–2021 Jeep Wrangler 4-door ratings
• Stellantis media — 2019 Jeep Wrangler fact sheet
• EPA fuel economy — city / highway / combined
• GoodCarBadCar Jeep Wrangler sales figures

Complaint counts and quotes come from NHTSA’s public database, retrieved September 22, 2026; each quote lists its ODI number so you can look it up. Engine type comes from decoding the VIN attached to each filing — 723 of the 738 decode to a 3.6 or a 2.0, and 15 either carry no VIN, do not decode, or come back with an engine this car never had. TSB 08-074-20 is named by owners in their filings; the bulletin itself is not a public document and is not quoted here. Recall applicability depends on the VIN — check yours at nhtsa.gov/recalls. This summarizes what owners reported. It isn’t buying or repair advice.