This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
I have a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee limited which I took into the shop for optional maintenance while I was away on vacation. Merely one day after picking up the car, my power steering mounting bracket broke completely away from the engine assembly. I lost all steering capability. Fortunately I was only 2 blocks from home in a 35mph zone, and had not gotten on the freeway at that point. I managed to drive it to a point in the road that curved in and got the vehicle haphazardly to the curb where I called aaa. The car was towed back to the dealership that had just done the maintenance. They informed me that they had never seen the steering bracket/pump come fully away from an engine before. Not having any options, I had them repair and replace whatever parts were necessary. But I'm shocked that this happened, and I'm just thankful that no one was killed or injured including me. Because this is (in the words of the service manager) an "extremely rare" occurance which they had "never seen before", I have to suspect one of two things, 1. either faulty equipment on the part of Jeep, or 2. tampering by the mechanic to cause failure. If this occured regularly, there would be death tolls in the thousands every day from losing all steering on one's vehicle. The steering malfunction also caused other damage to my cooling system and my fan cover due to the serpentine belt coming loose. While the vehicle was running the belt spun around freely at about 1000 rpms according to the technician he suspected that this was what caused the other damage, so the car was also overheating.
The detail around this is that the bracket holding the power steering pump failed and the pump fell and knocked off the steering drive belt causing the power steering to fail. The car was not controlable even at these low speeds. If this would have happened at freeway speeds, this could have disastrous with fatalities. Because one half of the bolt remained, it had to be drilled out from the engine, block, rethreaded and then a new bracket put on costing $290.32.
Vehicle was parked, consumer started up vehicle, and it felt odd, the steering wheel was heavy, he lifted up hood, and fan belt was wrapped around the fan. Dealership was aware of problem.. consumer stated the power steering motor was found hanging loosely, upon inspection, it was discovered that a bolt had sheared off and the bracket holding the power steering motor had cracked at the top leaving it hanging, that loosened the serpentine belt which ended up wrapped around the fan.
Consumer was traveling about 20mph on a side street and heard a metal noise. Then, power steering went out. Dealership was aware of problem. Consumer was unable to steer, consumre was told by dealer that this type of vehicle where the brackets bolts fall out are common.
This pitman arm assembly failed at low mileage. Consultation with mechanics indicated this as very unusual and could pose a serious safety hazard if left unattended.
Cost for me to replace is $760. Do not understand this component failing with this low mileage. Dealer has this part on national backorder. Was informed by dealer that there is over 100 of these units on backorder. It would seem there is a problem with this part if there is such a high backorder amount. No safety defect mentioned in summary.
Fracturing of defective power steering bracket lead to sudden and complete loss of power assist; serpentine drive belt also slipped off of pulleys, rendering generator, water pump, and other mechanical devices inoperable.
While driving around a curb, driver heard a noise that came from the engine compartment and lost steering control. When driver opened the hood he found the air conditioner bracket broke which caused the sepentine belt to be dislodged. The Jeep was towed to dealership, where the bracket was replaced at owner's expense.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Los Angeles, CA, USA