We bought a 2018 Grand CHerokee Limited 11/30/18 with 60 miles on it. The under carriage has rust and corrosion on drive axles, shocks, sway bar links, hardware, and the heating elements under the back seat.
This is unacceptable and CFA US LLC nor the dealer care.
We tried Arbitration twice Do I have any recourse?
I guess you can hire a lawyer but anonymous replies on a web site will not mean much .
No, you don’t. These parts are not painted by the factory. Learn to live with it or sell the Jeep.
Go to a car dealer and look under new cars and trucks. You will see surface rust.
Surface rust is normal
you’re expecting too much
none of those components will rust through in the 5 or 6 years you’re likely to keep the car
The dealer and CFA don’t care because there is literally no problem here
Here’s some advice for you . . . stop worrying about and don’t spend any time looking at that surface rust. The car is meant to be driven, so put it to use already
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This I don’t understand . It can’t be heated seats because you can’t see the elements in the seat.
Then it’s the springs that are corroding
Frank , not sure how you can confuse heating elements with springs . It might be worth while to find a body shop and pay for an inspection of your vehicle and get a written report . That will give more leverage with Fiat / Chrysler.
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If someone can’t tell the difference between coil springs and heating elements they need to have an expert third party guide them. @VOLVO_V70 makes a good suggestion to have a body shop look the car over. I guess that the reason arbitration ruled in FCA’s favor twice is because there is no problem and the rust the OP see’s is normal. When I shared this with my wife we were both laughing hysterically. We needed some humorous relief with this blistering heat we are dealing with. I try to be polite and factual with my posts, but just could not resist with this one.
The first time the undercarriaqge gets wet you are going to see surface rust on things like springs , control arms etc . There is nothing wrong with this .
Thanks I’ll do just that!
Do you have the warranty? https://msmownerassets.z13.web.core.windows.net/assets/publications/en-us/Jeep/2018/Cherokee/8615.pdf
Any part that fails to function is covered for 3/36. Body panels are covered for 5 years (outer) and 3 years for the rest, to not perforate (rust thru). Oh, and if you use the vehicle primarily for commercial use, FCA voids any warranty.
The good news is there are shops that clean the rust and paint, but it’s not inexpensive.
Rust on the seat springs on a 2018 is not normal unless the car has been in a flood. Find a body shop that can determine id the car was flooded and give you a written report. The undercarriage things you see are not important but the wheel bearings, abs unit and electrical connections are and all can fail early if the car has been flooded.
I have cleaned and painted the control arms on my Mopars when replacing the bushings and ball joints, they were not painted from the factory but I want them to look good. Also I have paint axle housings, differential covers and power brake boosters. In retrospect it seems to have been a waste of time, the only time I get to see most of these parts is during an oil change.
I have dealt with warranty complaint about unpainted suspension and drivetrain parts rusting but never heard of a buy-back situation. Unpainted parts are going to rust.
There are SUVs that have all of the suspension components painted but you will spend more, thousands more.
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It’s easy to be upset about that rust but it really is everywhere on all cars that spend time in humidity. You should see the transformation that happens when a used vehicle comes to Maine from South Dakota. One year and a good looking used vehicle that 's fifteen years old shows all kinds of aging. It doesn’t have to flood here; there’s an ocean in the sky all the time. I saw a freshly sanded piece of sheet metal when rain fell on it. Ten seconds and the drops of water turned brown.
Without even seeing the parts, I can almost guarantee none of the parts mentioned will even come close to rusting through as long as op owns the car
And so far nothing has failed to function
Yep. A person on the Wiki showed the underside of his 3 y.o. FCA product. My thought was OMG. He spent a couple hours cleaning, then brushed on POR-15. The change is amazing. Rust freaks some of us out… probably doesn’t phase someone from the rust belt.
Many times there is surface rust on parts as they are assembled at the assembly plant.
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