NHTSA Complaint #11115428 — 2012 JEEP COMPASS

MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER WAS RETURNING HOME FROM WORK ON A BUSY CITY STREET WHEN SHE WAS STARTLED BY A LOUD ABRUPT NOISE. SHE LOOKED OVER AND SAW THE PASSENGER-SIDE ACTIVE HEAD RESTRAINT HEADREST HAD SHOT OUT. QUITE SHAKEN, SHE ARRIVED HOME TO TELL ME SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED IN THE CAR. UPON EXAMINATION OF THE HEADREST, IT WAS CLEAR THAT IT HAD NOT 'DEPLOYED' OR 'TRIGGERED.' THE CLAMPS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO RELEASE THE BAR WHEN DEPLOYING WERE STILL IN PLACE, HOLDING THE BAR. INSTEAD, THE PLASTIC THAT HOLDS THE BAR IN PLACE HAD BROKEN, ALLOWING THE HEADREST TO VIOLENTLY SHOOT OUT. FORTUNATELY, NO ONE WAS IN THAT SEAT AT THE TIME. AND EVEN MORE FORTUNATELY, IT DID NOT HAPPEN ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE WHILE MY DAUGHTER WAS DRIVING, AS THE RESULTS COULD HAVE BEEN CATASTROPHIC. I CALLED THE JEEP CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER, THINKING THAT THEY WOULD HELP REMEDY THE SITUATION AND WANT TO KNOW THAT THIS CAN HAPPENED. TO MY DISMAY, THEY SAID THERE WAS NOTHING THEY WOULD DO. I WAS TOLD TO TAKE IT TO THE NEAREST JEEP DEALERSHIP AND PAY TO HAVE IT REPAIRED. NATURALLY, I WAS STUNNED AT THEIR INDIFFERENCE TO SUCH A SERIOUS FLAW IN THEIR VEHICLE. A WRITTEN MESSAGE TO JEEP WAS NEVER RESPONDED TO. I CALLED A JEEP DEALERSHIP, BUT THEY TOLD ME TO CALL JEEP. CLEARLY WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HEADREST SHOULD NOT HAVE. IT SEEMS THERE IS A FLAW IN THE DESIGN THAT ALLOWED THIS HAPPEN. I ONLY HOPE JEEP TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS PROBLEM AND ADDRESSES IT BEFORE SOMEONE IS SERIOUSLY INJURED'OR WORSE.