1998 Jeep Wrangler problems
The 1998 Jeep Wrangler has 401 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (15%) concerns electrical system. After that come engine (12%) and air bags (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 401 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 28 and 9
- Injuries and deaths
- 19 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 71,000 miles 126 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 12 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 25 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 17 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 24 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 17 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 11 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 12 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 126 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 71,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 64,000 miles (26 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 28 complaints mention a crash; 9 complaints mention a fire; 19 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 22nd most-complained-about out of 35 model years of the Jeep Wrangler with enough data (255 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
My son was killed when the 98 jeep wrangler lost control and flipped. The air bags did not deploy. I have noticed that this has been an issue since this vehicle was built in 1998. Many complaints since the year of 1998 and no recall or fix?
While driving on rt 84 in new york state steering went out causeing the jeep to be thrown across three lanes of the interstate.the jeep then rolled over down the medium strip. Driver was ejected from jeep the other three passengers remianed in jeep sustianing bruises. Airgags never deployed while jeep was rolling over.
Purchased my jeep new in 1998 and I only drove it about 5000 miles per year..in about 2009 I began to have some trouble with the gauges/speedometer..they would stop functioning for periods of time...in about 2010 I there was an odor coming from the vents when I used my heater or AC..each time I took it to the dealer where I purchased the vehicle and the last time I had it checked was the end of september 2011.
The air bag light comes on. All the other dashboard indicators do not work when this happens. This problem occurs intermittently.
Airbag light stays on while driving and the tachometer/ speedometer dropped to zero... All other gauges display properly and I had no power loss.....it was really tense because I did not know how fast I was going down the freeway.... I cannot get this repaired because there is not a code to check (check engine light does not come on) this has happen 5 times since october 2007.... After researching I found that I am not the only one having this problem.....