NHTSA Complaint #11060928 — 2014 JEEP CHEROKEE

MY VEHICLE HAS ALWAYS HAD DIFFICULTY SHIFTING AND WOULD OFTEN HAVE HARD SHIFTS BETWEEN GEARS. AT 22,562 MILES I BROUGHT MY CAR IN FOR THIS ISSUE, PROMPTING JEEP TO UPDATE MY VEHICLE'S SOFTWARE. THE PROBLEM PERSISTED, BUT I WAS TOLD IT WAS JUST THE PERFORMANCE OF MY 4-CYLINDER ENGINE. AT MILEAGE 58,160 WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY AND MERGING LANES, MY VEHICLE COMPLETELY LOST ANY ABILITY TO ACCELERATE AND LOST ALL POWER FUNCTIONS. I WAS ABLE TO USE THE VEHICLE'S MOMENTUM TO GET INTO THE BREAKDOWN LANE. THE VEHICLE HAD A MESSAGE ON MY DRIVER'S DASH INSTRUCTING ME TO SHIFT THE CAR TO PARK. AFTER DOING SO THE VEHICLE STILL WOULD NOT START UNTIL I SHUT IT OFF AND RESTARTED THE VEHICLE.AGAIN, JEEP RE-PROGRAMMED MY COMPUTER. ONE WEEK LATER, ON 9/25/2017, THE VEHICLE HAD THE ENGINE SEIZE AGAIN WHILE DRIVING AT APPROXIMATELY MILEAGE 58,511. JEEP DETERMINED THAT THE OIL LEVEL WAS VERY LOW, EVEN THOUGH A FULL-SYNTHETIC VALVOLINE 5W20 HAD BEEN COMPLETED AT 53,335 MILES AND THE FLUID LEVELS WERE CHECKED AT THE DEALERSHIP ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT. THE DEALERSHIP PERFORMED AN OIL CHANGE, INSTRUCTED ME THAT AFTER 50,000 MILES IT IS ACCEPTABLE FOR THE 2014 JEEP CHEROKEE MODELS TO BURN OFF 1 QUART OF OIL EVERY 1,000 MILES AND TO MONITOR THE OIL LEVELS GOING FORWARD. I MENTIONED TO THE DEALERSHIP THAT THE OIL LEVELS HAD JUST BEEN INSPECTED AT THE DEALERSHIP ONE WEEK EARLIER, ON 9/18/2017, AND WAS TOLD THAT FLUID LEVELS WERE NORMAL. AS A RESULT, THE VEHICLE WOULD HAVE BEEN BURNING OIL MUCH FASTER THAN THE 1 QUART PER 1,000 MILES ACCEPTABLE THRESHOLD. I WAS ASKED TO SEE IF THE NEW OIL CHANGE WOULD RESOLVE THE ISSUE, AND TO BRING MY CAR IN AT AROUND 60,000 MILES TO CHECK THE OIL LEVELS. AT 62,052 THE VEHICLE SEIZED AGAIN AND, UPON DIAGNOSIS, OIL LEVELS WERE FINE. JEEP CAN DETERMINE THE PROBLEM AND CANNOT OFFER A SOLUTION. IT HAS HAPPENED TWO MORE TIMES OVER THE LAST MONTH.