Jeep Gladiator reliability by year
18 recall campaigns and 978 owner complaints across 7 model years. Best year to buy: 2024. Year to avoid: 2021.
Worst model years to avoid → — the single year to avoid for every model line we track, ranked side by side.
Years to avoid — and why 2 flagged on the NHTSA record
Cleaner on the data: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 . Still verify the specific vehicle.
At-a-glance: every year color-coded
Each cell shows the last two digits of the model year and its 0–10 reliability score from NHTSA data. Click any year to see the full record. ★ best year · ✕ year to avoid.
Year-by-year reliability 7 model years · newest first
Per-year recall counts add up to 34, more than the 18 campaigns above, because a single NHTSA campaign often covers several model years and is counted once in each.
Common trouble spots across the Gladiator aggregated across 7 model years
Common questions
What's the best year to buy a Jeep Gladiator?
Based on NHTSA complaint volume and severity weighting, the 2024 Jeep Gladiator scores 8.0/10 — the strongest in the 2020–2026 range. 23 complaints on file, 2 active recalls. Reliability scores reflect the federal complaint record, not subjective owner reviews.
Which Jeep Gladiator year should I avoid?
The 2021 Jeep Gladiator scores 5.6/10 — the weakest in the lineup. 289 owner complaints with NHTSA, 8 active recalls. That doesn't mean every 2021 is a problem — it means failure rates run higher than peer model years on the same platform.
Which years of the Jeep Gladiator should I avoid?
On the NHTSA complaint and recall record, the model years to be most careful with are 2020 (avoid — the powertrain — powertrain: 45 complaints, classified severe, failures cluster 4,900–38,700 mi); 2021 (high-risk ownership — steering: 94 complaints, classified severe). The cleaner years on the data are 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022. This is our read of the federal data, not a substitute for a pre-purchase inspection of the specific vehicle.
How many years of the Jeep Gladiator are tracked?
7 model years (2020 through 2026) with NHTSA records on file. Total across the lineup: 18 distinct recall campaigns and 978 owner complaints. Those campaigns land on 34 model-year entries in total, because one campaign often covers several years at once — which is why per-year recall counts add up to more than the campaign count.
What's the most-reported problem on the Jeep Gladiator?
steering is the most-reported category — 326 complaints across 5 model years. Average shop repair runs about $700.