[Allpar News System]

Chrysler has publicly acknowledged delays in building the Jeep Cherokee in statements to Automotive News’ Larry Vellequette. Production had been meant to start in late May, but have been delayed to August or early September, as previously reported by Allpar. Some issues include heat problems with four wheel drive systems and the fit of certain body parts. In the distant past, Chrysler lost credibility by either cutting testing time or moving forward with production regardless, resulting in the disastrous 1957 cars, the 1976 Volare/Aspen quality/rust debacle, and the 1989-91 “Ultradrive” automatic transmission failures (which Consumer Reports held was second in severity only to the transmissions in the early Ford Taurus). Since Sergio Marchionne has taken over, however, Chrysler has tried to minimize quality gaffes and has taken broad measures to prevent problems from reaching customers. The company has also issued numerous recalls and advisories to deal with problems that do make..

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[RVC]

I thought the heat problem was separate from the 4x4 problem (that IIRC was rumored to be electrical/electronic)

 

[Stratuscaster]

I suppose that depends on which "heat problem" folks are referring to.

The "heat problem" I'm aware of has little to do with the driveline.

 

[RVC]

The only one I heard about was related to the exhaust system...

 

[Bionicrooster]

Well the extra delays cost at least one sale. My wifes lease was u pand we had to buy something to replace her car so we ended up with a new Sorento. Wish we could have held out for the Cherokee but with no firm date for production I just couldn't wait. Oh well 2 year lease on the Kia gives them 2 years to work out the bugs and then I can get the trailhawk I wanted

 

[Dave Z]

Different heat problems.

 

[RVC]

Well hell...

 

[tlc616]

I haven't heard all this about the heat issues. I thought I read that they were having trouble supplying the transmissions. I may be mistaken, but that is what I remember. I thought the article said that is why they bought the transmission plant in Tipton.

 

[MoparNorm]

I haven't heard all this about the heat issues. I thought I read that they were having trouble supplying the transmissions. I may be mistaken, but that is what I remember. I thought the article said that is why they bought the transmission plant in Tipton.

Completely different issues.
Yes they are having teething problems getting the transmission numbers to acceptable production levels, yes they have heating and durability issues with the car itself that are not transmission related.
In the final analysis, it will turn out they didn't need to rush that front end design into tooling, they had 9 more months than they thought, plenty of time to make a decent looking car.