NHTSA Complaint #11443104 — 2014 JEEP CHEROKEE

This vehicle has a known issue that has been ongoing for years. If the gas tank is filled (but not topped off) the car will stall when you begin driving when it sits idle at a traffic light or stop sign during the first 30 minutes of use until some gas burns off. When this car was purchased used in Dec 2017 it happened immediately after the first full tank. When idling or right as you step on the gas the car starts “puttering” and stalls. A message states something like “put car in park and restart”. The only way to restart the car is to put it in park, turn it off completely, and restart it. The when you try to go again, it might stall or it might not. This can happen over and over again. When we determined what was the cause we got in the habit of not filling the tank completely, but sometimes you forget. Then as you start driving, it stalls…multiple times. This is an extremely dangerous situation to be in when the car stalls in the middle of an intersection and will likely end up causing a fatal accident. During a recent recall appointment at Jeep service department, the car stalled as I was pulling into the service department parking lot, so they first hand experienced the issue…in fact the service advisor had trouble starting the car. Jeep service called me later and told me there was an existing “Star Case” with Jeep corporate. Case number S1814000002. This symptom in the document are exactly what I am experiencing. The suggested repair to is replace the fuel pump, fuel pump “O” ring, and the Evaporative Charcoal canister totaling about $1400. If you google “jeep S1814000002” you will find dozens and dozens of other complaints about the same issue, and not just for the Cherokee, it is other Jeeps as well. While this is a known issue, Jeep refuses to fix or issue a recall on this extremely dangerous safety issue.