A lawsuit filed by an Illinois couple against FCA US over a fire involving their 2022 Jeep Gladiator can move forward in federal court after a judge rejected the automaker’s request to send the dispute to arbitration. Sandra and James Teuber argue that the fire started at the electrical connector for the power steering pump, the same component that later became the subject of a recall covering more than one million Wrangler and Gladiator vehicles.
Jeep Gladiator fire lawsuit moves forward as recall affects more than 1 million vehicles
The Teubers leased the pickup in September 2022 and parked it outside their home in Bull Valley, Illinois, on July 5, 2024. According to court documents, James noticed black smoke near the house and discovered the Gladiator already engulfed in flames. The fire destroyed the truck and everything inside it while also damaging the garage door and parts of the home’s exterior.
Firefighters had to lift the pickup to fully extinguish the blaze. The couple claims an electrical failure at the power steering pump connection caused the fire. Their lawsuit includes allegations involving product liability, negligence, warranty obligations and consumer protection laws. The court, however, still has to determine whether the defect identified by the Teubers actually caused the fire.
In June 2026, FCA US recalled 1,076,999 Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator vehicles from the 2021 through 2025 model years. The electro-hydraulic power steering pump wiring can develop excessive resistance at the connection point, creating enough heat to ignite nearby materials even when the vehicle is turned off.
At the time of the recall notice, the NHTSA had identified 51 fires and one injury potentially linked to the same issue. FCA advised affected owners to park their vehicles outside and away from buildings and other vehicles until dealers completed the necessary repair.
The Teubers’ Gladiator fire occurred almost two years before the recall and the related safety instructions, a timeline that now plays an important role in the lawsuit. The fact that both cases involve the same component does not automatically prove that the technical cause was identical.
The federal court will therefore need to rely on expert analysis, technical evidence and the specific condition of the Teubers’ vehicle to determine whether the July 2024 fire belongs to the same group of incidents associated with the wiring problem later identified by FCA.
