Buggy Software Update Bricks Some Jeep Hybrid Vehicles

Whoops! Some Jeep Wrangler 4xe hybrid owners were stranded after the company pushed out a buggy software update that prevented the vehicles from running, and, at least according to one Reddit poster, resulted in the vehicle shutting off in the middle of a highway:

I was driving 65 on the left lane of the highway when my car started slowing down. It started saying to put it into P and to push to start. The car was off and I couldn't accelerate! I almost crashed trying to get onto the right lane shoulder 4 lanes over before it completely stopped and caused a huge accident."

Several additional Reddit posters made unverified claims that they experienced similar problems.

According to Ars Technica, the company pushed out an uncooked telematics update for the JeepUconnectinfotainment system last Friday. Major Friday updates are generally not the best choice given a reduction in support staff for major companies over the weekend (see: last year's massive Crowdstrike outage).

Jeep pulled the update, but not before an unknown number of customers installed it. Jeep parent company Stellantis' social engagement team told 4xe ownersat a Jeep forumto ignore the update pop-up if they haven't installed it yet, and avoid using either hybrid or electric mode if they had:

Earlier today we had success with customers not using hybrid or electric mode. Please exercise extreme caution this evening if you have completed the update. If you have NOT completed the update and see the pop-up, please continue deferring so that the update does not go through. For a telematics box module update, you can defer infinitely, and it will expire within 30 days."

Jeep has issued a fix for impacted owners, who have, once again, realized that in the internet era, you don't always have control (or even have full ownership) over a lot of the stuff you own. For what it's worth, Jeep and other automakers also historically have an abysmal track record when it comes to over-collecting customer driving data, failing to secure it, and selling access to your insurance company.