Vehicles becoming "smarter" over the past few years have brought many advantages, but there are some cases in which this reliance on software has introduced some disadvantages too. One such incident happened recently where an official over-the-air (OTA) update left Jeep vehicles stranded during the middle of their journeys.
As reported by Ars Technica, Jeep Wrangler 4xe hybrids received an OTA software update over the weekend in order to improve the Uconnect infotainment system installed in the vehicles. However, this update evidently wasn"t tested thoroughly enough as the vehicles soon experienced a loss of power while driving, leading them to eventual stops while in the middle of their respective journeys.
Affected Jeep owners have taken to various online platforms to recount their experiences and it seems like the software update doesn"t result in an immediate "soft-brick". Rather, it only occurs when the car is already moving, making the loss in power even more dangerous. Some customers report that the powertrain failure happened when they were slowly going back home, while for others, it occurred when they were driving at high speed on the highway.
Jeep did pull the update after these reports, but by then, many cars had already been soft-bricked. Customers who had received the update notification already were asked to ignore it. Meanwhile, those who had installed the update but had not experienced a power failure yet were instructed to avoid the use of hybrid or electric modes.
The good news is that a patch is now available, but the incident itself does shine a light on instances where software may fail you in critical situations. Jeep likely had a tough weekend too, investigating the problem and issuing a fix over the holidays, but perhaps this is also a lesson in software development about not pushing out updates on a Friday.