Anybody else have a run in with a remote immobilized Jeep JL somewhere yet? I didn’t know that was a thing till 7/4/20 this year. Long post to follow which is a copy paste that I wrote nearly 3 months ago. The guy I sent the following rant to is in Moab right now trying to help remove a POS JL that decided to shut itself down in the hole on the escalator, Hells Revenge trail.
4th of July this year I was at the Eureka mine campground between Silverton and Animas Forks. We’d already been over to Lake City and back that day. Now drunk at camp someone shows up looking for immediate assistance.
“A friend of my family has some adult step sons in their 20s. He's got a canam utv and was trying to talk these inexperienced kids into renting a SXS to go for a cruise in the mountains for the 4th of July. Kids puss out and rent a new JL diesel.
They drove past our camp on their way up so Mike knew we were there, we didn’t know he was there. They make it a few miles past our camp and the kid, not paying attention just drives the Jeep off the side of the road. It turns upside down and luckily didn't go any further than that. Mike tried to pull it with the canam but it wasn't heavy enough. So he leaves the kids with the Jeep and hauls ass to our camp to ask for help. My fam and I had parked it for the day, were already in no position to drive.
When we get there, Dan Mick from Moab had already been there with two of his tour Jeeps and tried with two 12,000 pound winches together to pull it back up on the road and it wouldn't budge. They said they dogged out both trying to pull it and it wouldn't roll. We couldn't get the transmission or t-case in neutral.
It's somewhere in the 12,000 ft elevation area, way up above Animas Forks, on a pretty crappy part of a trail. We tried to pull it with 4 vehicles and rolled it again with Kevin in it trying to steer it. Because what we didn't know, was that as soon as it went upside down, the computer locks everything up.
While it was upside down again, Kevin was able to get the t-case in neutral so the tires will roll. So we use the tracker and pull it back on it's wheels again, and left the tracker holding it so it can't roll down the hill any more. Then using dad's LJ, and Shawns Vitara they towed it back on the road to safety.
This is the part that bothers me. We spent the next hour trying to get the computer to stop freaking out so it can be driven or towed down to Silverton. Disconnected the battery, reconnected. Looked for crash switches. The computer would not let go. Fiat made it so if it's been rolled, it has to be dragged up onto a roll back with all 4 wheels locked up, and dropped off at a dealership.
So if we pushed on the brakes, the pedal would go to the floor like it had no brakes. But when we would tow it, the traction control would kick in and stop the tires from turning. We dragged it down the mountain anyway. It would roll down the road for a second then the brake lights would come on and the tires would lock up with no input from the brake pedal. We dragged it about 5 miles like that to get it where a tow truck could pick it up.
I don't know if a JK is the same but I'm on a mission to find out what is the first year the computer system has that much nonsense to it. Another thing I forgot to mention. As soon as it went over it sent out an SOS with injury to the nearest search and rescue. So we're working on it when two suvs with flashing lights on pull up looking for injured persons. Not a good sight for what looked like cops to find. Luckily they had no interest in helping once they found out there were no injuries.”
TL;DR? Jeeps are now so complicated that they can’t easily be driven or towed off the trail if you piss off the computer. Since we normally take these things where tow trucks can’t exactly get to, I see it as an enormous problem that’s going to cause trail closure issues down the road.
4th of July this year I was at the Eureka mine campground between Silverton and Animas Forks. We’d already been over to Lake City and back that day. Now drunk at camp someone shows up looking for immediate assistance.
“A friend of my family has some adult step sons in their 20s. He's got a canam utv and was trying to talk these inexperienced kids into renting a SXS to go for a cruise in the mountains for the 4th of July. Kids puss out and rent a new JL diesel.
They drove past our camp on their way up so Mike knew we were there, we didn’t know he was there. They make it a few miles past our camp and the kid, not paying attention just drives the Jeep off the side of the road. It turns upside down and luckily didn't go any further than that. Mike tried to pull it with the canam but it wasn't heavy enough. So he leaves the kids with the Jeep and hauls ass to our camp to ask for help. My fam and I had parked it for the day, were already in no position to drive.
When we get there, Dan Mick from Moab had already been there with two of his tour Jeeps and tried with two 12,000 pound winches together to pull it back up on the road and it wouldn't budge. They said they dogged out both trying to pull it and it wouldn't roll. We couldn't get the transmission or t-case in neutral.
It's somewhere in the 12,000 ft elevation area, way up above Animas Forks, on a pretty crappy part of a trail. We tried to pull it with 4 vehicles and rolled it again with Kevin in it trying to steer it. Because what we didn't know, was that as soon as it went upside down, the computer locks everything up.
While it was upside down again, Kevin was able to get the t-case in neutral so the tires will roll. So we use the tracker and pull it back on it's wheels again, and left the tracker holding it so it can't roll down the hill any more. Then using dad's LJ, and Shawns Vitara they towed it back on the road to safety.
This is the part that bothers me. We spent the next hour trying to get the computer to stop freaking out so it can be driven or towed down to Silverton. Disconnected the battery, reconnected. Looked for crash switches. The computer would not let go. Fiat made it so if it's been rolled, it has to be dragged up onto a roll back with all 4 wheels locked up, and dropped off at a dealership.
So if we pushed on the brakes, the pedal would go to the floor like it had no brakes. But when we would tow it, the traction control would kick in and stop the tires from turning. We dragged it down the mountain anyway. It would roll down the road for a second then the brake lights would come on and the tires would lock up with no input from the brake pedal. We dragged it about 5 miles like that to get it where a tow truck could pick it up.
I don't know if a JK is the same but I'm on a mission to find out what is the first year the computer system has that much nonsense to it. Another thing I forgot to mention. As soon as it went over it sent out an SOS with injury to the nearest search and rescue. So we're working on it when two suvs with flashing lights on pull up looking for injured persons. Not a good sight for what looked like cops to find. Luckily they had no interest in helping once they found out there were no injuries.”
TL;DR? Jeeps are now so complicated that they can’t easily be driven or towed off the trail if you piss off the computer. Since we normally take these things where tow trucks can’t exactly get to, I see it as an enormous problem that’s going to cause trail closure issues down the road.
![[486]](https://data.irate4x4.com/avatars/m/0/94.jpg?1700178133){kind=avatar}
