NHTSA Complaint #10454246 — 2007 JEEP COMMANDER

WHILE DRIVING 65 MPH ON THE INTERSTATE, VEHICLE LOST POWER. DASH DISPLAY MESSAGE APPEARED "SERVICE PARK ASSIST SYSTEM" AND VEHICLE GEAR DISPLAY INDICATED THE P R N D WERE ALL ILLUMINATED. THE ENGINE STAYED RUNNING BUT WOULD NOT RESPOND TO THE GAS PEDAL, DECELERATING. TURNED ON HAZARD LIGHTS AND PULLED OVER, PLACED VEHICLE IN PARK, SHIFTED TO DRIVE, AND CONTINUED AS NORMAL. A SHORT TIME LATER, THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. THE PROBLEM IS INTERMITTENT, AND HAS HAPPENED MANY TIMES SINCE THEN AND IN MANY DIFFERENT DRIVING SITUATIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, AFTER PULLING INTO TRAFFIC ON A HIGHWAY, THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT ACCELERATE, CAUSING THE TRAFFIC BEHIND TO NEARLY SLAM INTO US. IF ACCELERATION HAD BEEN AVAILABLE AS NORMAL, THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AN ISSUE. ANOTHER EXAMPLE, THE PROBLEM HAPPENED DURING HEAVY RUSH HOUR INTERSTATE TRAFFIC, CAUSING THE NEED TO CROSS SEVERAL LANES TO REACH A BREAKDOWN LANE. IT HAS HAPPENED IMMEDIATELY UPON STARTING THE VEHICLE AND AFTER THE VEHICLE HAS BEEN RUNNING NORMALLY FOR A LONG TIME. IT IS VERY UNPREDICTABLE. THE VEHICLE IS DANGEROUS AND CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO PROVIDE POWER OR ACCELERATION WHEN IT IS NEEDED. PRIVATE SHOP CHECKED THE FAULT CODES AND REPLACED THE TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE WHICH DID NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. INTERNET RESEARCH SHOWS THIS EXACT PROBLEM WITH THESE EXACT SYMPTOMS IS COMMON AND WIDESPREAD IN THE 2007 JEEP COMMANDER AND APPEARS TO INDICATE A FAULTY ELECTRONIC SHIFTER MODULE. CHRYSLER RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM IS HIT AND MISS, SOME DEALERS ACKNOWLEDGING THEY HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE, OTHERS CLAIMING THEY HAVE NEVER SEEN IT AND THE PROBLEM IS ISOLATED AND NOT WIDESPREAD. THERE NEEDS TO BE A SAFETY RECALL ON THIS DANGEROUS ISSUE BEFORE SOMEONE IS HURT OR KILLED, IF THEY HAVE NOT ALREADY. WE USED THIS VEHICLE TO TRANSPORT OUR CHILDREN AND NOW WE CAN'T EVEN TRUST IT TO SAFELY GET US TO THE SHOP TO HAVE IT REPAIRED. *TR