Every time we fill the gas tank... the vehicle will stutter / shake when at idle or die completely at idle like at a stop sign or drive through window. It will restart after about 30 seconds. After it has been driven about 25-40 miles it stops happening. We have paid for total vehicle inspections, we have also paid $1300 to have every single problem a certified Chrysler dealership can find fixed. This did not help the problem at all and the dealership says there is absolutely nothing wrong with the SUV. This is the car our son drives and we are very concerned. We are not in a financial position to replace the vehicle and have now emptied our savings to have the vehicle completely serviced, inspected and repaired.

- Omaha, NE, USA

The Aspen lurched backwards approximately fifty feet at a very high rate of speed, just after being put into reverse. It was stopped when it crashed into a garage and a Toyota prius. The prius was totaled, the Aspen severely damaged, the garage doors were yanked out of the ceiling and shattered, and other parts of the garage were damaged. Anyone who would have been behind the vehicle at the time would have been severely injured or killed. For approximately three weeks prior to this incident, there was an intermittent problem with the reverse transmission. Occasionally when placed into reverse, the car would only go a short distance in reverse, as if the clutch was not catching. The engine would rev up, and then the car would come to an abrupt halt. The halt was very abrupt and "mechanical" as if something was being caught - the first time this happened a passenger in the car thought the car struck something in reverse. There were never any issues with the transmission going forward, and this reverse issue only happened about 10% of the times the car was put in reverse. In between the car was fine in reverse. This never seemed like a safety issue because the car stopped abruptly when going backwards in previous instances - it did not go backwards uncontrollably as occurred in the incident. A Chrysler investigator came out the day following this incident. He concluded that the driver of the car accidentally put her foot on the gas pedal rather than brake. We are quite certain this is not what happened. In spite of emphasizing that there was a problem with the vehicle reverse, Chrysler told the owners on 4/4/11 that this was a driver error based on their evaluation. However, they never even looked at the transmission. We now have the vehicle in storage and are trying to get an independent evaluation of the problem.

- Ann Arbor , MI, USA

We purchased a 2007 Chrysler Aspen Dec 23, 2006. The next day the car suddenly lurched while I was backing out of the driveway at my inlaws' home. It was shocking & my family was shouting out for me to stop the car. I was able to control it & keep from hitting other vehicles but it was very difficult. The next week I went to exit the parking lot of our safeway store to go on to the main street. I was stopped to turn right when the car lurched into oncoming traffic. Horns blared & cars swerved to avoid hitting me. I was just waiting to be hit! I took the car to dealer w/466 miles on it. They said they "could not verify concern; operating as designed at this time." In Feb while I was backing out of our garage the car lurched violently when I put it in reverse & jumped about 3 feet. My wife was standing in the doorway & began screaming. She called the service rep crying because she believed I would be killed if I continued to drive it. I took it to dealer. They kept it, & were "unable to verify concern; vehicle is operating as designed at this time; miles out 1040." My wife refuses to drive the car because of this life threatening defect. Also when you insert key in the ignition it starts @ 1300 RPM's. the dealer says we should let car settle down to about 600 RPM's which requires a full minute of waiting in the car before you can start to move. They think this might be part of the problem but tell us there is no way to fix it. So we have a car that must sit before you can use it; you absolutely cannot ever valet it for fear the attendant might be involved in a lurching incident. On June 4, 2007 service advisor told me 3 other Aspens are reporting this problem. We are setting up a mtg w/GM to arrange to turn in this car. My wife has set up a file on the car & advised family members where it is in the event we are killed in an accident while driving this car so they can investigate if the lurching/bucking action of the car caused the accident.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

I own a 2007 Chrysler Aspen with 1500 miles on this vehicle. I turned off the main highway on to a secondary road, when then accelerator was pushed the engine shuttered briefly then accelerated to a high speed on it's own. I pushed the brake pedal down very hard and it would not stop the vehicle, I had to place the transmission into neutral and switch the ignition off to stop the car. Luckily I was not at the school yard were I had just picked my child up. I called a tow truck to pick my car up and carry to the dealership as I was too scared to try and drive it again. The dealer said they would check out the problem and would have. *jbto contact Chrysler to see what could have caused the problem and that a mechanic would drive it to see if they could recreate the problem. The car is still at the dealership with no response to what the problem might be. This is a very serious safety hazard that could have injured someone and needs to be investigated to prevent future incidents!

- Ridgeland, SC, USA