The One Thing I Hate About Almost Every Jeep Since 1941 - The Autopian

What the report says

The Autopian published an opinion piece by David Tracy on July 20, 2026, arguing that Jeep’s long-running rear-seat layout has been a major weakness since the World War II-era Willys. Tracy, a Jeep enthusiast and automotive journalist who says he recently assembled a WWII Jeep, focuses on the placement of the rear bench between the squared wheel housings rather than using those wheel housings as side-facing jump-seat locations.

According to Tracy, that choice limited passenger capacity and made early Jeeps less useful as people carriers than comparable Jeep-inspired off-road vehicles such as the Land Rover Defender 110 and Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-40, which he says allowed more passengers to share the off-road experience. He points to the WWII Jeep, CJ-2A and later CJ/Wrangler descendants, including CJ-3B, CJ-5, YJ, TJ, JK, JL, CJ-7 and LJ, as examples of a persistent configuration he considers inefficient.

The article notes a few exceptions and qualifications. Tracy cites President Ronald Reagan’s extended CJ-6, the Tuxedo Park CJ-5, and Egyptian military Jeeps as examples where jump seats appeared. He also acknowledges that later roll bars, and broader modern safety considerations, help explain why rear side seating became less practical on more recent models.

The piece matters mainly as historical and enthusiast commentary: it frames a familiar vehicle-design compromise around passenger capacity, cargo use and off-road social utility, rather than performance. The Autopian’s report does not present a new Jeep announcement or company response; it is a critique of design continuity across decades of Jeep models.