The Jeep Patriot's quality issues haven't done the brand justice, with many fans and customers hoping the new "baby Jeep", namely the 2015 Renegade, will come to change all that. Unfortunately, it seems the Renegade is not without its quality problems.
A small group of owners on the jeeprenegade forum complains about a poor job being done on multiple underbody fronts. This includes the seam sealant, corrosion and sound mitigation coating, as well as the plugs for the chassis holes.
One of the users has even posted the images in the gallery bellow after inspecting a pair of Renegades and it doesn't look good.
In most cases, the chassis plugs are added by the dealer during the pre-delivery inspection, but it seems the process was done in a rush. The sealant primer appears to have been barely brushed around these plugs.
You can easily notice cracks in the primer, which means it has not covered its task, allowing plugs to move about. It's not difficult to understand that such spaces allow moisture to accumulate, facilitating corrosion.
FCA produces the Jeep Renegade in two factories, one located in Italy and the other in Brazil. At first, the community members thought these issues only take place with US dealers, with a German member even insisting no such problems appear in Germany.
Nonetheless, an user from the UK, a country whose environment favors corrosion just as much as that of the problematic US states, confirmed the problem is present across the pond too.
This is where the entire story becomes even more complicated, as another user claims to have really nasty details from "a family friend, who is a service manager for Jeep."
The man claims he was told the Renegade managed to gather over 180 warranty claims over six weeks of market presence. The problem here is that he doesn't provide any evidence to back up the claim. Nor does he explain how many dealers the statistic includes. This means that, until we receive further proof on this part of the story, we'll take it with a grain of... salt.
Regardless, the rest of the issues seem legit. We've reached out to FCA to see if they plan to address the matter. No brand in the world escapes early flaws when a new model is launched, but this seems like too much. By definition, a Jeep should shine in terms or underbody protection, be it based on a Fiat platform or not.
One of the users has even posted the images in the gallery bellow after inspecting a pair of Renegades and it doesn't look good.
In most cases, the chassis plugs are added by the dealer during the pre-delivery inspection, but it seems the process was done in a rush. The sealant primer appears to have been barely brushed around these plugs.
You can easily notice cracks in the primer, which means it has not covered its task, allowing plugs to move about. It's not difficult to understand that such spaces allow moisture to accumulate, facilitating corrosion.
FCA produces the Jeep Renegade in two factories, one located in Italy and the other in Brazil. At first, the community members thought these issues only take place with US dealers, with a German member even insisting no such problems appear in Germany.
Nonetheless, an user from the UK, a country whose environment favors corrosion just as much as that of the problematic US states, confirmed the problem is present across the pond too.
This is where the entire story becomes even more complicated, as another user claims to have really nasty details from "a family friend, who is a service manager for Jeep."
The man claims he was told the Renegade managed to gather over 180 warranty claims over six weeks of market presence. The problem here is that he doesn't provide any evidence to back up the claim. Nor does he explain how many dealers the statistic includes. This means that, until we receive further proof on this part of the story, we'll take it with a grain of... salt.
Regardless, the rest of the issues seem legit. We've reached out to FCA to see if they plan to address the matter. No brand in the world escapes early flaws when a new model is launched, but this seems like too much. By definition, a Jeep should shine in terms or underbody protection, be it based on a Fiat platform or not.