Stratuscaster said:
Where does the disconnect lie here? The ignorance of the consumer for not understanding what their vehicle is capable of, or the blind faith of the consumer that if one model can do something then ALL the models should do it, too?Then again, every time it floods out here, we see story after story of people driving standard family sedans through flooded viaducts with catastrophic results - I'm talking regular Camrys and Accords and Impalas and such, not even Jeeps or other SUVs.I recall a bunch of "tuners" would mount cone air filters on pipes that put the filter right above the road surface to "get the cooler intake air from outside the hot engine bay" and/or "to take advantage of the ram air effect" when moving. More often than not, they'd post pictures of destroyed blocks and pistons because they drove through some standing water.It's not just a Jeep problem - but I can see where it could be more prevalent.
Don't think there is a disconnect at all. The Jeep is trail rated, she was on a trail. Many trails have water. It's incumbent upon Jeep to ensure that fording water within the parameters of the owners manual doesn't result in a design that allows water to enter the air cleaner.
It's pretty basic to design an air intake that prevents that from occurring. The water she crossed wasn't more than 5" deep at that time of year. She wasn't off roading, she was on a graded and designated Forest Service road, that can easily be traversed by any two wheel drive sedan.
If Jeep is showing videos and commercials of water fording, they should make darn sure the vehicles can water ford.
A Jeep tour company in Ketchikan, Alaska, went out of business when 9 of their 15 Wrangler JK's lost engines while water fording, in one year.Granted that was a Daimler design short cut, but it's still a fail.
AEV makes good money selling Wrangler snorkels, that prevents the problem, but a simple re-packaging of the air intake would prevent the problem from happening in the first place.
