Some time ago, FCA announced that it had improved its nine-speed automatics for the 2016 model year. The company issued software releases for both the Chrysler 200 and Jeep Cherokee in the past two months.

Chrysler-Jeep nine speed automatic transmission updates

An update issued in April 2016 for the 2015 Chrysler 200 (made on or after April 1, 2015) covers low speed drivability and shift quality; another, from May 2016, covers the 2016 200 for upshift and downshift quality during both normal driving and uphill / downhill conditions.

The Jeep Cherokee, which uses the same transmission, had similar improvements, detailed in a service bulletin released on May 10, 2016 (TSB 21-001-16, Revision C).

These updates, according to a contributor, “greatly improve” transmission performance, and seem to resolve most outstanding software issues on the ZF automatics. Other companies using these transmissions have also had issues with them.