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.
My Jeep was parked facing down a hill in a parking lot. I went to get into it, started it and then exited the vehicle as it was hot and I was letting the ac get going. As I exited the vehicle it started to roll down the hill and proceeded to hit 2 parked cars, jump a curb throwing my sister in law out as she was not all the way in then continued down the hill until it hit a tree and stopped. I never took it out of park and when we got to it the gear shift was in neutral. My sister suffered a broken clavicle, torn ligaments in her knee, severely bruised ribs and pelvis and my Jeep is totaled. Apparently this is not a new problem as I have been doing my research. When will this be stopped and how many more people have to die or be injured?
My 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo shifted by itself out of park after engine was started, hit 2 parked cars, jumped a curb and threw my sister out of car and stopped when it hit a large tree.
While parallel parking, with my right foot on the brake pedal, I shifted the automatic transmission out of reverse. Immediately the engine rapidly revved up and lurched forward. I pressed more firmly on the brake, causing the car (a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee) and motor to pause, then the motor rapidly revved up again, overcoming braking. Horrified, and unable to stop the car, I watched as the car raced into the vehicle ahead of me. Immediately after the impact, the engine returned to normal idle. I then checked the car: Cruise control was off, my hands were still gripping the steering wheel in order to provide additional leverage for my foot on the brake pedal, my right foot was still firmly in the middle of the brake pedal and not near the accelerator pedal, and the gear shift lever was in neutral. The vehicle ahead of me sustained damage to its bumper and tailgate. This is the 4th time this has happened with this vehicle, the first two of which were reported to you earlier. In all three earlier cases, I was able to barely avoid an accident, but not this time. As noted earlier, the Jeep mechanic was not able to find any causative problem.
2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Started engine, with foot on brake, put transmission in drive. The car suddenly accelerated, couldn't stop it and it rear-ended another vehicle. This was in a shopping mall parking lot.
My husband forgot his keys so I shifted to park and exited the vehicle and left it running because I was only going to be out a few seconds. I exited the vehicle and it shifted to into gear and took off knocking me down and running over me before hitting a truck that stopped it. I was hospitalized for three days with my injuries.
- Beckley, WV, USA
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Torque converter wore out or went out causing transmission damage. Noticed vehicle stalled and jerked when trying to accelerate after slowing down and/or stopping. Initial thought vehicle needed a tune-up, but problem existed afterwards. Torque converter warpage caused transmission fluid to leak which lead to damages to transmission. Added transmission fluid at one point, ran well for a while then problem returned. Very expensive to repair.
While on the website of Consumer Affairs I noticed that there was an issue with automatic acceleration on the 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo which I own and have experience this happening luckily I have always been in control of the situation, and frequent stalling. Either it jumps at a red light or it stalls, stalling is better, not being able to bring it to a shop due to financing, I try to stay on top of it, this already has caused some deaths I see on the site, when are they going to recall this vehicle due to this situation, or are they waiting to get a height body count" this happening once to anyone is too much! what is this country coming to"
: the contact stated while driving 10 mph, there was a loud clicking sound coming from the transmission. When the contact parked and exited the vehicle, it spontaneously shifted into reverse, and accelerated backwards, striking the side of the residence with the front left door of the vehicle. It was taken to a service dealer, who was unable to determine the problem. The manufacturer was also notified
I was in a car wash. When I was to move to the drying position I could not get the Jeep out of park. I turned the engine off and wiggled the shift level. I then started the engine and tried to move out of park, but the engine roared and took off like a rocket. I could not stop the car or turn engine off. I crashed into a block wall of a store. The car was totaled. It was like being on a rocket with no control. According to police report I traveled about 60 yards. Have no idea of speed attained. The car was accelerating all the way. I reported the incident to daimler-Chrysler on 10/27/06. They said they would inspect Jeep, but have not heard back from the yet.
2004 grand Jeep Cherokee (trail rated) drove through drive way. Put Jeep in park got out to close gate behind Jeep. The Jeep went into reverse by it's self. Rolled over a persons feet knocking him to the ground. Fighting with my insurance now because they don't want to pay damages or for injuries. The Jeep continued to roll until it rolled over small trees and a big tree stopped it. Doing about $4,000 damage.
Shifts out park with out motor running; and even without pressing on brake pedal. Jeep Grand Cherokee can be shifted out park by pulling it back to either reverse or neutral or drive; without the emergency brake applied my Jeep rolled out of the driveway into the street; did not hit anything; dealership has had vehicle twice in the last year and still has not been able to fix it; this will be the 3rd time it has gone in for the shifter problem.
2004 Grand Cherokee rolled backwards while the shift lever was in park. The consumer think the problem is with the transmission. When the vehicle rolled backwards the driver's door crashed into the middle section of the consumer's garage doors. The driver's door buckled and the window shattered.
5/25/05 the Jeep was parked in the driveway and running without the emergency brake on, with the boys inside. We were hurrying them to school. The weather was clear and dry. I ran back into the house, which took less than 3 minutes, to get betsy to hurry up. When I was heading back to the car the boys were yelling. The car was rolling backwards and rolled into the brick retaining wall around the driveway. When I got to the car the gear shift was slightly out of park. Over $1500 in damage was done to the car. A claim was filed with insurance company. I assumed the fault was mine due to being in a hurry. 1/17/06 I was moving cars around the driveway and had the Jeep parked in the driveway. The engine was running, the car was in park with the emergency brake on. The weather was clear and dry. I had the driver's door open, because I was only going into the garage for a second. I happened to turn towards the Jeep and noticed that it was rolling backwards. I ran to the Jeep, intending to stop it by putting the emergency brake on. When I jumped into the Jeep I looked down and noticed that the brake was already on, and that the car appeared to be fully in park. I was able to stop the car by putting my foot on the brake, with no damage to the car this time. I called daimler Chrysler that afternoon to tell them of my story. I was told that someone would be contacting me soon to look at the car, and not to have any work done on the vehicle before the person was able to look at the Jeep. 1/18/06 Mr. W contacted me to meet to look at the car. 1/19/06 met Mr. W at berglund Jeep at noon; he spent one hour looking the car over. He said that he was not allowed to tell me anything, and that Chrysler would be contacting me. He did state to me that I should keep the emergency brake on the car, and to take the key out of the ignition.
1. exceptionally hard downshift under acceleration. 2. under light or moderate acceleration, would start in 2nd gear. Possible to move selector to 1st gear. 3. at full stop would hunt from 1st to 2nd gear. Unintended forward movement with foot on brake. In one instance pedestrian walked in front of vehicle when this unintended movement occurred nearly pinning pedestrian between 2 vehicles 4. under acceleration Jeep vehicle seemed to go out of gear and into neutral at about 60 to 65 mph. Loss of forward momentum and fuel shut off occurred. The transmission resumed acceleration but with very deliberate and extended gear selection. While accelerating to pass a semi on a 2 lane highway with long uphill grade I got alongside the semi and could see the drivers door in my peripheral vision. The Jeep vehicle kicked into neutral, the fuel shut off occurred and I lost enough forward momentum to not complete the pass safely. Another vehicle appeared over the crest of the hill some distance away and I was able to brake hard enough to get back in line with the semi. A head on collision was averted. While traveling on a federal highway in Colorado with a long gradual uphill grade and cruise control set to 65 the Jeep vehicle selected neutral causing rapid increase in RPM to fuel shutoff point and loss of forward momentum to about 35 or 40 mph. After transmission returned to a gear I was able to resume travel and click the cruise back on. This type occurrence became frequent. Jeep vehicle svc tech drove vehicle over 160 miles and was able to replicate the occurrence. The bands were tightened and various other little fixes. Jeep vehicle now selects 1st gear to start. Jeep vehicle no longer hunts from 1st to 2nd. Jep vehicle has started to kick into neutral again. Repairs started at about 5 or 6000 miles and have now totaled 6 attempts to repair this unsafe (in my opinion) variety of complaints all centered on malfunctions in (apparently) the transmission.
I drove into my driveway a short distance and put the Jeep into park. I got out of the Jeep walked behind it to go get the mail, before I reached the mailbox I noticed that the Jeep had started rolling backwards. It rolled across the road, down into a very large ditch and hit a tree. I ran after it to try and stop it but I was unsuccessful. I had just begun to push the brake as the back tire went into the ditch. The force of the Jeep going down the ditch knocked me on my back and my foot got caught in the door so I was dragged down the ditch with the Jeep. Luckily I didn't receive any serious injury just sore and shook up but the Jeep has extensive damage to the rear end.
Wife was dropping off son at swim practice. Wife noticed son had left a drink in the Jeep. Wife placed the vehicle in park and was walking up the sidewalk to take my son his drink when she heard a noise (popping) from the direction of the Jeep. She turned to see the Jeep rolling backwards across the parking lot. My wife attempted to stop the Jeep but was knocked to the ground. The Jeep continued backward until it hit a fence and a sign pole. Damage to the Jeep includes the drivers door and hinges, scratches to the paint on the rear door, bumper and most of the drivers side of the vehicle, and a broken tail light cover. I talked with the dealer(pomoco Chrysler, Jeep in hampton) and they told me that they would not do anything but check out the transmission once the Jeep was drivable. The service manager sent a message to the factory service technician who responded the same as the dealer. The dealer indicated that I needed to contact my insurance company to start a claim.
Transmission failed while shifting, a loud grinding noise was coming from the front. Consumer was able to maintain control of the vehicle, and drove it home. Consumer had the vehicle towed the same day. Mechanic determined that transmission needed to be replaced. The consumer stated that the transmission needed to be rebuilt. The consumer stated that the vehicle is now having a steering problem.
When traveling in cruise control at 55-60 mph and encountering a hill the automatic transmission will rapidly downshift a couple of gears. This results in the engine RPM going from about 1800 to 5000 RPM very suddenly. This is the same result as pushing the gas pedal to the floor. This occurred on a curve and resulted in a momemtary loss of vehicle control. Fortunately an accident was avoided this time. The vehicle was taken to two different Jeep dealers who said there was nothing they could do because it was a design/ programming problem with the computer that controls transmission shift points.
While in cruise control at 60 mph and traveling uphill the automatic transmission suddenly down shifted from over drive into 2nd gear causing a violent lunge forward (approx 2000 RPM to 5000 RPM). This RPM change was so violent that lost of vehicle control happened momentarily.
While driving vehicle stalled. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. This car stalled no less than 12 times. Afraid to pull into traffic with this car. Power steering leaked, clicking noise from transmission when put into gear.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Marcellus, NY, USA