Back on July 16, FCA quietly made a safety update announcement. The update mostly went unnoticed until news broke five days later on Wired that two hackers were able to access many functions on a 2014 Jeep Cherokee remotely.

Professional hackers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek teamed up with a Wired reporter to hack into Jeep Cherokee’s system to remotely take control of the vehicle’s air conditioning, radio and windshield wipers, and they were also able to disable the brakes and shut off the vehicle’s engine. The hackers gained access through a vulnerability in FCA’s Uconnect infotainment system, which hooks up to the Internet using a cellular data connection.

The hackers notified FCA of the weakness and worked with the company to come up with a secure solution to protect the brand’s vehicles from hackers. According to a blog post today entitled “Unhacking the hacked Jeep,”  FCA reports that it is not aware of a single real-world incident.

“Similar to a smartphone or tablet, vehicle software can require updates for improved security protection to reduce the potential risk of unauthorized and unlawful access to vehicle systems,” said FCA in a statement.

FCA is offering a software update to the 8.4-inch touchscreen Uconnect system – available on all 2013-2014 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles – will be provided at no cost to customers and also includes other improvements to the system.  The update can be downloaded by customers or a local dealer can complete the one-time update at no cost to customers.
FCA also notes in today’s blog post that it has “been working with its suppliers to implement additional protocols to block remote access. These changes will not require any action by our customers.”

Here is a complete list of the vehicles that have an 8.4-inch touchscreen radio system:

•    2013-2014 Ram 1500 Pickup
•    2013-2014 Ram 3500 Cab Chassis
•    2013-2014 Ram 2500 Pickup
•    2013-2014 Ram 4500/5500 Cab Chassis
•    2013-2014 Ram 3500 Pickup
•    2014 Grand Cherokee
•    2014 Durango
•    2013-2014 Viper
•    2014 Cherokee
•    Some 2015 Chrysler 200s

For any questions regarding how to complete the software update, FCA suggests calling its Customer Care Center at 1-877-855-8400.