In December 2018 I purchased the car with 50,000 miles. Ever since, I have had repeated problems with the transmission not shifting properly on a intermittent basis. I purchased the car in Virginia and asked Jeep dealers in Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada about the problem. No Recommendations. The repair history now reflects complaints of issue. It has come to my attention, after the fact, that this DFH-9Speed 948TE Automatic Transmission has been cited in an amended class action lawsuit with The Chrysler Group LLC, which is now known as FCA US LLC. In November 2015 there was a settlement, but a vehicle purchased a month later is not part of the settlement. I now have over 95,702 miles on the car. The transmission software has been updated in April and May 2020. I have driven over a thousand miles since and the transmission continue to hesitate between gears on a random basis. I should not have to tolerate the intermittent hesitating when accelerating from stop. I want buy back credit or an extended warranty on this transmission offered in November 2018.

I purchased my Renegade from Dick Hannah in Vancouver, a well advertised car dealership that I soon found out had a terrible reputation for ripping people off. Immediately after bring my car home, I noticed that my Jeep would pause and then surge while shifting. I didn't know think it was that bad until a few times, I was pulling out into heavy traffic and my car would pause and surge and I nearly got hit by other cars. My partner drove my car once and complained about it which is when I decided this was something to have them look at as its still under warranty.

I took it in and they told me all cars with new transmissions do that. I said, no way, let me drive one of those new cars and see. I test drove another Jeep and it did not surge at all. They took it in and proceeded to do a software update. I took it home that same day and there was absolutely no change.

The 2nd time I took it in, they replaced some shifting module and when I picked it up, they assured me that they test drove it and it was fine. The surging seemed ok as I drove it home but over the course of the following week, it returned to the way it was before. At this point, I was pretty upset about this issue and researched online to find out that this is a common problem and I wasn't seeing any resolution. I called Dick Hannah and the sales manager assured me they would make it right. They told me to come in and they would do everything they could to make me happy with my car.

That was a huge mistake. There sales manager 1) told me to pick a car I loved as he didn't want me to be unhappy with the car choice 2) assured me that I wouldn't lose any money on this 3) told me that their estimator could tell right off the bat that the car had a problem (why couldn't their service people???) 4) wasted 6 hours of my day pointlessly looking/test driving other cars 5) offered me $7000 less than my purchase price to trade in the lemon I bought from them 3 months earlier.

I was livid. He even had the nerve to tell me that if they took my car back, they would never sell it on their lot as it is basically garbage. At this point, I was so angry and felt so taken advantage of that I got very emotional and walked out. I took my car back to the service desk and told them they needed to fix it.

I don't recall what they did the third time but they told me that they recognized the problem, fixed it and it wasn't surging anymore. I took it home really hoping it was fixed and that this ordeal would be over. I filed a complaint to the BBB and not surprisingly, haven't heard back from Dick Hannah. I drove the car for a week and felt it surge occasionally but not as bad as before. Into the 2nd week, it was surging more and my partner noticed it as well so I took it back for the 4th time. I've just been told that the transmission was replaced and am picking it up today. If it's not fixed now, I'm not sure what the next step will be.

I have complaints here about the 2015 Jeep Renegade transmission, the overall quality of the car and also about my experience with Dick Hannah sales and Dick Hannah service. No one should ever buy a car from Dick Hannah. I've now heard from other people who have had negative experiences with that dealership so my experience wasn't a one-off. They even tried to charge me Washington sales tax in my contract even though I'm an Oregonian. Had I not caught it and called it out to them, I fully believe they would have pocketed that money. Hopefully the car is fixed now. I'll update this if not.

My dad purchased this vehicle new in May, 2015. He took it in right away and early for the first oil change the next month and complained about the surging that happened after he stopped (feeling like something had run into his back-end); the hesitations when leaving a stop sign or speeding up and the hard/rough shifts as the “automatic” transmission shifted, that he noticed as he drove it. The dealership, which was where he purchased it brand new, with cash, told him, “That’s how this car is built, there isn’t any way to change it”.

Then 6-7 months later, when my Dad became sick and I was driving him to doctor appointments or around town, I asked him about the surging, hesitations and rough shifting that seemed to happen off and on while I was driving it. Dad let me know what the dealership had told him.

Unfortunately my dad passed away in August, 2016. He had signed his Renegade over to me and instead of selling it, I decided to keep it, since it was my dad’s. I had moved to South Carolina and hadn’t driven the car in quite a few months. So, I drove the vehicle home with me and used it for my daily 65 mile round-trip commute to work. Of course, on my journey back to South Carolina, I was reminded about the issues with surging, hesitating, and rough shifting that I had experienced before.

Finally, several months later after searching for any recalls, I found there could be a software update that might help. So, I made a Saturday appointment, at the local Jeep dealership, to drop my car off and pick it up later after they could investigate it for me. When I returned for my car their "fix" was a couple of computer updates that might or might not help the problem. They told me to wait a couple weeks so that it could "adjust" to my driving. The vehicle seemed to work better for about a month, then the previous issues returned. When I called a few months later they told me they didn’t take Saturday appointments.

Now, I have moved back to Illinois and drive in stop and go Chicago traffic regularly, and I’ve become more and more frustrated that there has been no recall done on the transmission for the 2015 Jeep Renegade. I was happy to find your web site and find so many other 2015 Renegade owners that are experiencing similar and even worse problems. Therefore, I wanted to share my complaint about my horrible experiences with JEEP.

I finally found a dealership willing to help me with my 2015 Jeep Renegade transmission. It would shift very hard from reverse to drive, even with barely any acceleration. I started complaining about the transmission to the dealership I purchased the jeep from, but they would not do anything for me, so it has taken a little over 2 years to finally get the transmission replaced.

The problem now is the new transmission seems to be worse then the old one, before they did all the computer updates to it. My gas mileage went from 26 to 31, down to a highest of 22 mpg. The transmission does not want to shift into 9th gear most of the time, and the RPM's stay high, even when driving down the expressway at a steady speed, no hills or curves. It sounds even louder also, shifts hard in several gears, and downshifts hard sometimes too now.

So my next step is to talk with the dealership that replaced the transmission and see what I need to do from here to get Jeep to acknowledge my new issues. I really just want to get rid of this, and all the headaches that have come with it!!!!

So I first noticed this problem a year ago around 20k miles; transmission slaming into gear really hard, particularly at a stop, later I noticed slips and a progressive increase in incidents. Well, a year, 20k miles, and 3 trips to the shop with no solution. (the last time they said they couldn't replicate the problem) Just scheduled again. Called my service rep directly and he said (no exaggeration here) "I hear this all the time, all we can really do is make a note." I commend myself for remaining composed at this response. I mentioned that the severity of the problem is that there have been times when it has slammed into gear at a stop hard enough that I though I'd been rear ended. He maintained that there was nothing to do for it. Great.

Rough shifts, slips, failure to deliver power at critical moments (can't wait until that causes an accident).

I've seen on other forums that this is an "uncommon" problem, however, since the dealship hears about it all the time, it is obviously quite common.

Anyone have success with resolving the problem or with a buyback or compensation?

The jeep has numerous recalls, one being jerking with the transmission which was fixed with a software upgrade. The latest issue is will not go into 9th gear at highway speed. The dealership told it was locked out, not a good answer so I called jeep corporation and they called the dealership where I bought it new. I have an appointment next week to see what the actual problem is. It would go into 9th fine until the software upgrade was completed.

Update from May 22, 2017: Took the Jeep to the dealership this morning, the 9th gear is not locked out. Every thing checked out OK. Will have 9th gear has needed, they also called Chrysler. Wii advise if the issues comes back up again.

I purchased a brand new Jeep Renegade on 03/2016 and after one month i feel very hard shifts in the first shifts, acceleration while allowing down. Timing of shifts is long and a message appear in board about the transmission must be check. I send the car to be check and the service department "fix" the problem, and now the problem repeat, the same message about transmission must be check even two times after start engine shift was blocked. Now again make an appointment...

Physically i love this car but honestly i can not feel safety with this car.

Buyers be aware ! I generally never bad mouth a business unless is something that they aren't taking ownership about . I purchased a brand new Jeep Renegade on 12/28/2015 and I noticed that the vehicle started shifting weird at 100 miles . On 1/3 2016 I brought the car back because it wasn't downshifting . After riding with with the service people they told me that the transmission was defective. They replaced my vehicle with another one and after 500 miles it started doing the rough shifting again . I brought it back and they told me that the car was working as designed . It's 2/8/2016 and I'm back again after completing 800 miles on it and as I was driving it and turning left the traction control light came on and I lost complete power . I could speed up and I had 2 other passengers in the car . The display told me to put the vehicle in park and I restarted the car and the car acted normal again . I've called jeep corporation and they were pretty rude and useles .

Update from Feb 8, 2016: Here's the picture of the day I exchanged the car .

The 2015 Jeep Renegade had about 800 miles when the problem appeared. I was driving on a freeway around at 70 MPH. All the sudden, the car started jerking and the car would not accelerate even when I push the pedal. So I got off the freeway and started driving local at lower speed, and the car was acting even worse. The car was jerking and came to a stop. The engine was on but the car would not go. Luckily, it was at night time and in a residential area. I changed the automatic 'D' to the semi-manual mode. The frequency of the jerking reduced but the car came to a stop again while I was driving around 6 miles to drop the car off at the dealer. This could have cause serious property damage and bodily harm. The dealer performed some software updates and it seems okay? but it has been only a day, and I test-drove only for about 5 miles. When I stepped hard on the pedal from stop position, 0 to about 3000RPM, the car jerked hard again. I hope Jeep recognizes the problem and solves the issue before someone gets hurt and things get aggravated....

After owning the Jeep for a month or so, I decided that the sitting after reverse and searching for a gear then grabbing and lunging forward was not normal. Updated software, still having same problems but this time the Jeep slips out of gear while driving and has to be put into manual to gain control again. The 3rd time I brought it in they replaced the body valve and sensor. still experiencing the problems listed above. So the 4th time I brought it in flashed software and updates. The 5th time I brought it in was for the same reason listed above and when making left had u turns it will sometime just stop like the 4x4 system is binding up and halting the Jeep. They replaced the shifting assembly because for the first time it was reading error codes. So now its been 3 weeks or so and its back once again for the same reasons. I am so frustrated with this Jeep I want to get rid of and try another Renegade or get away from FCA!

On my way to work, at the last turn, the accelerator became unresponsive. Everything was on, car did not shut down. Just no go! I see the Automatic Transmission Failure light come on. I call Roadside assistance. They tow it back to the dealer. Jeep was contacted and the dealer have gone pretty much above and beyond to make me happy so far. It seems I need a new transmission to be put into a brand new vehicle!!

This is an outrage, But NOT the dealer's fault whatsoever. So Jeep is being gracious about it. I am really hoping that this is my only issue. I feel like this may or could be the beginning of a long, bad nightmare. I know these parts are made by humans and will give the benefit of the doubt, But trust? How can I trust the vehicle? How can I depend on it after this?