NHTSA Complaint #10616600 — 2014 JEEP CHEROKEE

I DRIVE A 2014 JEEP CHEROKEE WITH STANDARD CRUISE CONTROL WHICH THEY REFER TO AS ELECTRONIC SPEED CONTROL OR ESC. THE CAR MANUAL STATES THAT ONCE THE CRUISING SPEED IS SET, IT CAN BE REDUCED IN 1 MPH INCREMENTS BY PRESSING THE "SET -" BUTTON. IT DOESN'T INDICATE THAT PRESSING THAT BUTTON COULD RESULT IN MORE RAPID DECELERATION OF THE VEHICLE OR THAT IT MIGHT ACTUALLY CAUSE THE SYSTEM TO APPLY THE BRAKES. ON OTHER VEHICLES I'VE OWNED, PRESSING AND HOLDING THE "SET -" BUTTON SIMPLY CAUSE THE ENGINE TO BACK DOWN AND THE VEHICLE ESSENTIALLY COASTS UNTIL THE BUTTON IS RELEASED AT A NEW, LOWER SET CRUISING SPEED. HOWEVER, ON A NUMBER OF OCCASIONS WHILE USING ESC I HAVE HELD THE "SET -" DOWN HOPING TO DECREASE SPEED BY A FEW MILES AN HOUR. WHAT HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THOSE INSTANCES IS THAT AFTER A SECOND OR SO, THE VEHICLE BEGINS RAPIDLY DECELERATING AND IT APPEARS THE BRAKES ARE ACTIVATED BY THE SYSTEM. AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, THAT COULD BE A VERY DANGEROUS OUTCOME IF THE DRIVER DOESN'T KNOW IT'S COMING AND THERE IS OTHER TRAFFIC FOLLOWING BEHIND. I'M FORTUNATE THERE WAS NO TRAFFIC FOLLOWING ME ON THE OCCASIONS ON WHICH THIS OCCURRED. I WENT BACK AND REREAD THE MANUAL ON THE USE OF ESC AND SAW NO REFERENCE TO RAPID DECELERATION OR BRAKE APPLICATIONS IN THIS SCENARIO. I THEN E-MAILED CHRYSLER ABOUT IT, AND FINALLY RECEIVED A RESPONSE TELLING ME THAT WHEN USING THE ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL ("ACC") SYSTEM, HLDING DOWN THE "SET -" BUTTON WILL RESULT IN DECELERATION IN INCREMENTS OF 5 MPH, THOUGH IT DOESN'T REFER TO APPLICATION OF THE BRAKES BY THE SYSTEM. HOWEVER, I DON'T USE THE ACC SYSTEM WHICH IS ACTIVATED BY A SEPARATE BUTTON. EITHER I HAVE A MALFUNCTION OF THE ESC SYSTEM OR CHRYSLER HAS FAILED TO DISCLOSE A VERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF SAFETY INFORMATION AS TO THE FUNCTION OF THE ESC FEATURE IN THE MANUAL, AND I'M LUCKY IT DIDN'T GET ME INTO A SERIOUS ACCIDENT. *TR