NHTSA Complaint #11420653 — 2015 JEEP RENEGADE

Shifter won't work (won't move out of park) after battery dies. My vehicle's battery died at the end of April, we assumed it was just an old battery and had it replaced by AAA. Last week, the battery died again (this also co-occurred with the key fobs not working...if that's helpful). After AAA charged it, we turned it on but it wouldn't shift out of park. We followed the manual instructions to manually shift it into Neutral but then we couldn't turn the vehicle off. Eventually it was towed to the dealership while it was still running...and they said that it needs a new shifter (+$1300)?! The vehicle was purchased new and this series of events (battery dying / shifter dying) seems to be a recurring event....in some cases owners have had it happen in really inopportune and even dangerous places. https://www.jeeprenegadeforum.com/threads/transmission-wont-shift-into-gear.98673/ https://www.jeeprenegadeforum.com/threads/stuck-in-park.103031/ https://www.reddit.com/r/JeepRenegade/comments/gkt6ov/will_not_shift_from_park/ https://www.jeeprenegadeforum.com/threads/service-engine-and-service-transmission.73290/ https://www.jeeprenegadeforum.com/threads/battery-died-and-it-all-went-bad.46762/ https://www.jeeprenegadeforum.com/threads/replaced-battery-now-having-issues.98907/ https://www.jeeprenegadeforum.com/threads/battery-died-transmission-won%E2%80%99t-go-into-gear.101187/ My concern is that as the 2015 (the first year) Renegades get older, many more vehicle's will need batteries replaced and this will happen to all affected vehicles. Thank you for your time.