CarComplaints.com Notes: There's no way around it, the Cherokee's transmission is junk. There's no other explanation for why a vehicle, usually with under 40,000 miles, would have so many complaints
My wife and I just purchased our 2014 Cherokee less than 6 months ago from Auto Lenders in Williamstown NJ. The car was a one owner lease with 32,XXX miles on it. After 2 months of driving the car we noticed that a "service power steering" light would come on and then immediately go off. We didn't think anything of it because it was so intermittent and didn't effect anything. No check engine light or service light would stay on.
About a week ago, we were driving down an interstate doing about 70 mph (speed limit was 70) and the "service power steering" light popped on, then off, then back on and stayed on. I noticed that I had lost power steering completely and had to muscle the car off the side of the road. I shut the car off, turned it back on and regained power steering. Off we went. Not even 100 miles further into our trip, we lost power steering again. So I pulled over and recycled the engine again. Regained power steering once more, and continued on our way just to have the same problem happen once more. This time I dealt with it because I wanted to get it to the dealer to have them service it right away. Talk about a scary experience, we would lose and regain power steering in the middle of curves, violently shaking the steering wheel and almost causing accidents.
We made it to the dealer and left it for diagnostic. We called Fiat/Chrysler to find out if there was a service recall for this problem, but of course there wasn't, and they weren't going to help in any way. I guess multiple accidents have to happen before they look into safety issues with their vehicles. Almost a week at the dealer service center and $3700 dollars later, we find out that our gearbox rack and pinion had gone bad causing loss of power steering and needed to be replaced.
I fear for others that might potentially have this problem with their Cherokees. For anyone that is reading this, have your car looked at, you might not be as lucky as we were. God forbid we were on a switchback road and lost power steering in the middle of a sharp turn. We would have gone off the side of the mountain. Jeep needs to address this issue before anyone gets seriously inured.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
My wife and I just purchased our 2014 Cherokee less than 6 months ago from Auto Lenders in Williamstown NJ. The car was a one owner lease with 32,XXX miles on it. After 2 months of driving the car we noticed that a "service power steering" light would come on and then immediately go off. We didn't think anything of it because it was so intermittent and didn't effect anything. No check engine light or service light would stay on.
About a week ago, we were driving down an interstate doing about 70 mph (speed limit was 70) and the "service power steering" light popped on, then off, then back on and stayed on. I noticed that I had lost power steering completely and had to muscle the car off the side of the road. I shut the car off, turned it back on and regained power steering. Off we went. Not even 100 miles further into our trip, we lost power steering again. So I pulled over and recycled the engine again. Regained power steering once more, and continued on our way just to have the same problem happen once more. This time I dealt with it because I wanted to get it to the dealer to have them service it right away. Talk about a scary experience, we would lose and regain power steering in the middle of curves, violently shaking the steering wheel and almost causing accidents.
We made it to the dealer and left it for diagnostic. We called Fiat/Chrysler to find out if there was a service recall for this problem, but of course there wasn't, and they weren't going to help in any way. I guess multiple accidents have to happen before they look into safety issues with their vehicles. Almost a week at the dealer service center and $3700 dollars later, we find out that our gearbox rack and pinion had gone bad causing loss of power steering and needed to be replaced.
I fear for others that might potentially have this problem with their Cherokees. For anyone that is reading this, have your car looked at, you might not be as lucky as we were. God forbid we were on a switchback road and lost power steering in the middle of a sharp turn. We would have gone off the side of the mountain. Jeep needs to address this issue before anyone gets seriously inured.
- John P., Williamstown, NJ, US