Here Are The Biggest Complaints About The Jeep Gladiator From Owners

The Jeep Gladiator has a lot going for it. As America's only midsize pickup truck with a solid front axle, removable doors and roof, a fold-flat windshield, and real off-road capability, it delivers just about everything Wrangler fans could want in a truck. It's been on U.S. roads for almost six years now, and on paper, it looks like it should be one of the best trucks in the segment. So, it's only natural to wonder how reliable is the Jeep Gladiator? The answer lies in the biggest problems owners keep bringing up.

So far, three problems have stood out more than the rest. The first and most serious complaint involves underhood engine fires, which have reportedly happened while the truck was parked and turned off. It's rare, but not rare enough to be classified as a one-off defect. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating more than 781,000 Gladiators and Wranglers from 2021-2023. Next up is the widespread problem with dead instrument clusters. When the screen fails, drivers lose speed, fuel, or warning lights altogether, and some say they've waited weeks or even months before replacement parts are available.

And finally, steering complaints — often described as "death wobble" or "steering wander" — that have followed the Gladiator since its launch. Owners say the Gladiator feels loose or unresponsive at highway speeds, making it difficult to keep the truck steady and in a straight line. Taken together, these complaints point to a frustrating gap between what the truck promises and what drivers are getting. Here's what each complaint shows, what Jeep has done about them so far, and why they should matter to anyone considering a Gladiator.

Stellantis — the corporate parent of Jeep — isn't new to fire-related complaints. In 2024, it recalled about 194,000 Grand Cherokee and Wrangler PHEVs after a high-voltage battery failure led to 13 fire incidents — some of which occurred while the vehicles were parked and not even plugged in to a charger. But the Gladiator's fire complaint has crossed into a different territory. The NHTSA launched an evaluation, covering over 781,459 Gladiators and Wranglers, after nine confirmed under-hood fires, including multiple injuries caused by the fire. Though the investigation covers both Gladiators and Wranglers, at least two injury reports come from Jeep Gladiator owners.

One of those owners described their terrifying experience in an NHTSA complaint: "I parked my [2022 Gladiator] car ... After approximately 5 minutes I heard a car horn sounding. I went outside to check and saw flames coming from the passenger side of the car ... I was burned on my arm, neck and head. The car was completely burned." NHTSA's investigation, since then, has identified (though not officially confirmed) a small but critical component — the electrical connector to the power steering pump on the front-passenger side — as the likely origin of the fire. Its location matches the fire's starting point as the owner described, and it's consistent with what other owners have reported.

The most recent filed complaint came in July 2025 and involved a 2021 Gladiator model that caught fire at around 60 mph after smoke from the engine bay filled the cabin. While Stellantis hasn't issued a recall yet – partly due to ongoing investigations – the legal side is moving faster, though; a class-action lawsuit was filed in late 2024, seeking reimbursement for destroyed trucks and property damage.

The Gladiator's second biggest complaint has been its instrument cluster failure. When it happens, the small digital panel between the two main gauges — the one showing speed, fuel level, temperature, and warning lights — can either fail to power on during startup or suddenly cut out while driving. In most cases, the gauge needles die along with it, leaving the driver with a completely blank panel and no vital information. Some say they had to rely on their phone's GPS to know how fast they were going. This has made it nearly impossible for some owners to use their trucks. 

Some drivers even pointed out they hadn't even taken their Gladiator off-road, ruling out rough use as a possible cause of failure. The defect became serious enough that in September 2024, Chrysler (under Stellantis) issued a recall, covering 11,554 Gladiators from 2020-2024 model years. The NHTSA filing traces the problem to a bad circuit board inside the 3.5-inch IPC display — made by Marelli — that can short out and leave the whole instrument display completely blank for good.

Owners didn't have to wait for the recall to know something was wrong, as NHTSA's database shows over 80 registered complaints for 2020 Gladiators alone, with owners describing their recalled trucks stranded at dealerships for months, while replacement parts were on indefinite backorders. Not every affected Gladiator was covered under the recall. Many owners were left out entirely, like this owner on CarComplaints, who wrote: "This is already a recall with other Jeeps but for some reason my VIN is not listed even though I have the same exact issue with my Jeep."

Perhaps the most infamous Jeep problem is the so-called "death wobble," which has plagued solid-axle Jeeps for years, and the Gladiator hasn't escaped it. On paper, the Gladiator's recirculating-ball steering is meant to handle off-road punishment as easily as on-road driving, but the sheer number of steering complaints tells a different story. NHTSA data shows over 170 steering-related complaints for the 2020 Gladiator, more than 75 complaints for the 2021, and at least 20 for 2022. Drivers describe the truck's steering as loose and unstable on windy highways, and often reacting unpredictably to bumps — forcing them to fight the wheel just to stay in their lane. Even SlashGear's own review of a 2020 Gladiator noted that "the steering feels like it has too much play in it."

Jeep did acknowledge the steering complaints and issued a Technical Service Bulletin in November 2020, directing dealers to replace the aluminum steering gear with a stronger gearbox, along with new mounting bolts. But because the TSB is not a formal recall, many owners say dealerships don't always feel obligated to do the fix. Some were told they had to demonstrate the steering issue during a test drive — even though the problem usually shows up at highway speeds, where it can't be safely demonstrated.

Like the IPC display, complaints describe month-long waits for the updated steering and mounting bolts, which are central to the TSB's fix. And for the few who did get the fix, the new box didn't solve the wandering at all, leaving them still wrestling with the wheel on longer trips.