2011 Jeep Compass Latitude has a CVT transmission that continually overheats when outside air temperature is high and driving long distances on the interstate. Light comes on and car will not accelerate making a very dangerous situation in heavy high speed traffic. This is the 4th time this has occurred and I have been to the dealership with it twice before and they cannot find the problem. In speaking with transmissions shops most if not all refuse to work on these transmissions and recommend replacement. Question is why replace with the same when you know it will also break down usually starting between 40,000 and 70,000 miles. Appears that Subaru recognized the problem in their 2011 vehicles with the same transmission and extended the warranty to allow their customers to seek relief if they already spent the money fixing or replacing the transmission. Jeep aka Chrysler Corporation needs to take a lesson in Customer Service! I was told by several transmission shops to let the car cool down and as soon as problem goes away sell the Car!!

Traveling at 75 - 80 miles per hour on the highway, whining sound with dragging and loss of ability to maintain speed, the transmission overheated warning light came on and I pulled over to the side of the road. I called the dealership and spoke to the service department. They said to let it sit for 15 minutes and I should be good to go. I let it sit for 15 minutes and started out again. I didn't even get five minutes down the road and it did it again. I called the sevice department again and he told me to let it sit for 15 - 20 minutes and I should be good to go. I asked him if he was sure it would be okay, because I didn't want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere (i.e., HWY 70 from Denver, Colorado to Salina, Kansas). He said to let it sit for 15 - 20 minutes and it "should" be okay, he did not say it "would" be okay. While I sat there baking in the sun, I got out my manual and read about what to do when the transmission overheated indicator lights up. It said to put the car in neutral and let it iddle for 15 minutes. I did that and it was okay for the rest of the trip to my destination; however, on my return trip it happened several more times.

The problem is kind of dangerous, because you lose the ability to maintain speed or accelerate and it happened to me once when I was passing a slower moving vehicle. Fortunately, whenever it occurred I was able to pull over without incident, but that could very easily have not been the case.

Needless to say, I took it to the dealership when I returned from my trip, but they were not able to find a problem. They acted clueless about what the issue could have been, even though I Googled the problem and found that they had had this problem with the Jeep Compass, as well as the Patriot.

Not the end of the story, per site directions I need to list all occurences separately. Stay tuned...

Again...traveling at 75 - 80 miles per hour on the highway, whining sound with dragging and loss of ability to maintain speed, or accelerate, the transmission overheated warning light came on and I had to pull over to the side of the road. Since, this had already occurred, I repeated what the manual directed to do, which was to let the vehicle idle in neutral for 15 minutes. The problem occurred again a couple more times in route to my destination in Kansas and many times on my return trip to Colorado. I tried driving at a slower speed (60 - 65 miles per hour) and that seemed to help some, but I still had the issue.

I took it to the dealership when I returned and they said that the transmission fluid had broken down and said that the transmission fluid needed to be changed and it would cost about $400.00. I was upset because I felt that the transmission fluid had gone bad due to the transmission overheating and that I shouldn't have to pay for it. The service tech said he'd speak to his manager and he'd call me back. Meanwhile, I called a transmission repair place and spoke to one of their techs about the problem and what the Jeep service department had said was the problem. He said, that the Jeep Compass has a CVT transmission and that they have had a lot of problems with them overheating. He said that changing the transmission fluid was not going to solve the problem. He said that the CVT transmission could not be repaired that it needed to be replaced and that changing the transmission fluid would not prevent the transmission from failing.

Since my vehicle was at the shop and I did not have access to the manual, I pulled up the maintenance schedule on-line. The maintenance schedule indicated 48,000 miles for a transmission fluid change, the mileage on my vehicle at the time I took it to the shop the first time was about 40,000 miles, this time the mileage when I brought it in was around 46,000 miles.

The Jeep service tech called back and said that the service manager said that it was a maintenance issue not a warranty issue and it would not be covered. I asked to speak to the manager and told him that this was the second time I brought the vehicle in for this issue and that the first time the mileage was at around 40,000 and they did not find anything wrong. I told him that I had spoken to a tech at a transmission repair shop and the tech said that it had a CVT transmission and that they had had a lot of issues with them overheating. I told the service manager that the maintenance schedule indicates a transmission fluid change at 48,000 miles and my vehicle was currently only at around 46,000 miles. I told him that if the transmission fluid had "broken down" that is was probably due to the transmission overheating issue that I'd been having. I got nowhere with the service manager and had to pay for the transmission fluid change.

I highly recommend not buying a Jeep Compass, or for that matter any vehicle with a CVT transmission. And, I highly recommend not buying a vehicle from Centennial Jeep on Arapahoe Rd, Centennial, Colorado.