Recall roundup: chassis and steering campaigns on early Wrangler JL, 2018–2022

Early JL Wranglers are now the affordable used trail truck, and a lot of them are changing hands this month as the high country opens. A used vehicle inherits every recall the previous owner ignored, and the early JL has a cluster of chassis and steering campaigns that a buyer should run before the first mountain trip. This roundup walks through five of them.

The best-known is NHTSA 18V-675, on 2018 and 2019 Wrangler JL, where the front track bar bracket welds were the subject of the notice. Dealers inspect and repair the welds as necessary at no charge. The track bar locates the front axle side to side, and a bracket that lets go produces steering that wanders and then fails; on a shelf road that is not a fault you want to discover. The campaign is old enough that most vehicles have been done, but a VIN search is the only way to know.

Two steering campaigns sit alongside it. NHTSA 18V-343 covers the intermediate steering shaft on 2018 Wrangler JL, with dealers inspecting and replacing the shaft as necessary, and the brief also lists it against 2018 JK vehicles. NHTSA 19V-201 covers the steering column on 2019 Wrangler JL, again inspect and replace as necessary, with the campaign beginning in April 2019. Both are free. Both, if outstanding, are reasons to hold off on any steering or lift modification until the factory parts are confirmed correct.

NHTSA 20V-042 is filed under the front lower control arm but the remedy describes dealers inspecting the front axles on 2020 Wrangler JL and replacing them as necessary. A 2020 JL is a prime candidate for a lift and larger tires, and both add load to exactly the components this campaign inspects. Have it done first; a shop cannot tell you whether a recall part was fitted by looking at the outside of an axle.

The last is NHTSA 23V-191, on 2020 through 2022 Wrangler JL, where a stud on the frame is the issue. Dealers inspect and, if necessary, remove the stud and apply paint. Letters went out in April 2023. It is the least dramatic recall in this list and the one a used buyer is most likely to find still open, because it sounds too trivial to bother with. It is free. Bother with it.

The seasonal note is for anyone heading up. In the Rockies, high country opens late June and closes with the first heavy snow; the Sierra passes open late spring and gate with the first snow. Late June means many routes are technically open and still hold snowdrifts on north-facing switchbacks, and an early-season crossing of a drift is where a truck with marginal steering finds out. Confirm which roads are actually open with the managing agency before you go, because the map and the gate frequently disagree in June.

A used JL also deserves a fastener check that has nothing to do with recalls. The truck-class reminders on this site put steering and suspension joint inspection at ten thousand miles, with the note that impact loads find weak joints. A previous owner's lift install is an impact load in slow motion; every bolt they touched should be checked against the values in the service manual, which we do not print, before the first mountain run.

The reminder about tires applies too. Trucks and SUVs on the site's list get a tire rotation and sidewall inspection every five thousand miles because rock damage often shows on the sidewall before it shows anywhere else. A used JL arriving with a mismatched set, or with sidewall gouges from somebody else's rock garden, is carrying a failure that has nothing to do with any campaign and will find the same shelf road. Pressures for your tire and load are in the manual and on the placard, not in this roundup.

For buyers, the summary is short: run the VIN on the NHTSA recall page before money changes hands, and treat any open chassis or steering campaign as a condition of sale. The seller loses nothing by having free work done, and you avoid finding out on a shelf road what a track bar bracket does.