The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Chrysler are recalling 161,450 2007 and 2008 model year Jeep Wrangler s with automatic transmissions over a transmission fluid temperature warning system that was not activated on the vehicles.
To address the issue, Jeep dealers are instructed to install a program that shows a “Hot Oil” message in the instrument cluster, as well as a chime, should the transmission fluid reach an excessively high point.
The recall says that the too hot oil could cause a fire, although it is unclear whether any fires have occurred as a result of the lack of operator warning.
Owners of Wranglers built between June 2006 and July 2008 with the automatic transmission should receive notice soon from Jeep . Dealers will begin retrofitting the system in December, but concerned drivers can contact Chrysler at 1-800-835-1403 or NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236.
