NHTSA Complaint #10574794 — 2009 JEEP LIBERTY

ENGINE SUDDENLY STARTED RUNNING EXTREMELY ROUGH, AND MAKING LOUD NOISES. IMMEDIATELY PULLED OVER AND TURNED ENGINE OFF. WAITED A FEW MINUTES AND ATTEMPTED TO RESTART ENGINE, BUT AGAIN IT MADE LOUD NOISE AND WOULDN'T TURN OVER. HAD IT TOWED TO OUR MECHANIC. HE TOLD US ROCKER ARM JAMMED, LIFTER AND CAMSHAFT TOASTED, AND HEAD BLEW, AND MORE THAN ONE CYLINDER IS INVOLVED. HE ALSO TOLD US THIS IS THE THIRD LIBERTY ENGINE HE'S HAD TO REPLACE FOR CUSTOMERS IN THE PAST FEW YEARS - AND THAT'S IN A COMMUNITY OF LESS THAN 250,000 PEOPLE.WHEN I GOOGLED THE ISSUE I FOUND MANY LIBERTY ENGINE FAILURES REPORTED ON SEVERAL BLOGS - EDMUNDS, CARTALK, ALLPAR, TOPIX, ASK, ETC., BUT NOT ON THE NHTSA SITE. DON'T KNOW WHY PEOPLE DON'T LODGE COMPLAINTS HERE FIRST! REGARDLESS, WE'RE NOW LOOKING AT ~$4000 REPAIR/REPLACEMENT ON A WELL-MAINTAINED VEHICLE WITH LESS THAN 55K MILES ON IT. WE WENT TO OUR LOCAL JEEP DEALER, WHO TOLD US THE JEEP LIFETIME POWER TRAIN WARRANTY DOESN'T COVER THE DAMAGE AS WE'RE THE SECOND OWNER. THIS IS RIDICULOUS. THERE IS OBVIOUSLY A DESIGN FLAW IN THE 3.7L ENGINES THAT CAUSES THEM TO BLOW, AND CHRYSLER/JEEP MUST BE AWARE OF IT, AND SHOULD REPLACE THE FAILED ENGINES. IF THE ENGINE HAD BLOWN AT FREEWAY SPEEDS IT COULD HAVE EASILY CAUSED A DANGEROUS SAFETY ISSUE RESULTING IN A CRASH. NHTSA NEEDS TO INVESTIGATE THESE ENGINE FAILURES! *TR