[critik]

Hi all! Just bought a new Renegade for my wife on Saturday. It's a black one, 2WD, Latitude edition. We were originally looking at the Compass because that's what she liked. Actually, she said the Renegade was hideous when I showed her pictures, but she loved it in person. So we ended up getting one.

It took quite awhile to get everything squared away in the dealership, so the first place we went was a restaurant just up the road (the 'mile' in my title refers to the trip there and back). While we were eating, we realized we forgot something in our trade-in, so my wife decided to run back and get it while I and her grandmother stayed where we were.

Now, this next bit of information isn't first hand, so I apologize for any inaccuracies. But supposedly my wife got to the dealership and noticed that the brake light was flashing. She's not used to the newer electrical parking brakes, so she thought she did something wrong. She went inside and asked someone to look at it for her, so they come out and realize, by then, all of the service indicators and warnings in the dashboard were lit up. The AC also stopped working (it was a hot day out). The shop was closed at that point, so they told her to take a loaner because they thought the issue could potentially leave her stranded. They offered to bring the vehicle to us on Monday after they had fixed it. The guy said it was most likely because the car had been sitting on the lot for so long (I wasn't so sure about that).

So Monday rolls around and the service advisor calls to tell me that the ABS module failed, which for some reason caused all of the other alarms to go off. They had to order a replacement module, which was a 3-4 day lead time. Once it's installed they'll drive the car for about 30-40 miles to make sure the problem is fixed, and then bring it around to us.

Tomorrow will be Thursday, which I'm told is going to be the soonest that I can expect the car back. My wife and I are trying to stay optimistic, despite all of the comments from friends and family. We'll see. Hopefully it'll be a good car once all of this is done. It's kind of funny. I traded in her 2003 Grand Cherokee for this one because I was worried about reliability, and yet here we are. But anyway, I'll make sure to post an update with what they found, and if the problem was resolved.

 

[Hypocrite]

Hi all! Just bought a new Renegade for my wife on Saturday. It's a black one, 2WD, Latitude edition. We were originally looking at the Compass because that's what she liked. Actually, she said the Renegade was hideous when I showed her pictures, but she loved it in person. So we ended up getting one.

It took quite awhile to get everything squared away in the dealership, so the first place we went was a restaurant just up the road (the 'mile' in my title refers to the trip there and back). While we were eating, we realized we forgot something in our trade-in, so my wife decided to run back and get it while I and her grandmother stayed where we were.

Now, this next bit of information isn't first hand, so I apologize for any inaccuracies. But supposedly my wife got to the dealership and noticed that the brake light was flashing. She's not used to the newer electrical parking brakes, so she thought she did something wrong. She went inside and asked someone to look at it for her, so they come out and realize, by then, all of the service indicators and warnings in the dashboard were lit up. The AC also stopped working (it was a hot day out). The shop was closed at that point, so they told her to take a loaner because they thought the issue could potentially leave her stranded. They offered to bring the vehicle to us on Monday after they had fixed it. The guy said it was most likely because the car had been sitting on the lot for so long (I wasn't so sure about that).

So Monday rolls around and the service advisor calls to tell me that the ABS module failed, which for some reason caused all of the other alarms to go off. They had to order a replacement module, which was a 3-4 day lead time. Once it's installed they'll drive the car for about 30-40 miles to make sure the problem is fixed, and then bring it around to us.

Tomorrow will be Thursday, which I'm told is going to be the soonest that I can expect the car back. My wife and I are trying to stay optimistic, despite all of the comments from friends and family. We'll see. Hopefully it'll be a good car once all of this is done. It's kind of funny. I traded in her 2003 Grand Cherokee for this one because I was worried about reliability, and yet here we are. But anyway, I'll make sure to post an update with what they found, and if the problem was resolved.

It hurts to hear about problems like this when my TrailHawk has been nothing short of amazing for me since I bought it. I hope this is the only problem you guys have with your Renegade!

 

[Lackadazikal]

Very sorry to hear that. Hope you get it back tomorrow and can start enjoying the awesomeness.

 

[raz-0]

Sorry to hear that. If I were the dealer, I'd be checking for the pinched wiring loom issue (between intake manifold and firewall).

 

[critik]

Hopefully they're onto something with the ABS module, but right now they're still waiting on the part, so it's hard to say. I was told the car to expect Thursday, possibly Friday, but if they don't by some miracle get the shipment in today, it will end up being sometime next week.

I'm trying to be patient, but at this point I'm starting to feel really disappointed. My dealer has been polite and has taken my calls, but hasn't done much else. If I call for updates I just get passed around. FCA just wants me to wait and see. Me? I kind of regret trading in my wife's 2003 WJ. It didn't have a warranty on it, but at least I could have nearly any part on it replaced or repaired within a few days.

 

[Blackjeep]

Hopefully they're onto something with the ABS module, but right now they're still waiting on the part, so it's hard to say. I was told the car to expect Thursday, possibly Friday, but if they don't by some miracle get the shipment in today, it will end up being sometime next week.

I'm trying to be patient, but at this point I'm starting to feel really disappointed. My dealer has been polite and has taken my calls, but hasn't done much else. If I call for updates I just get passed around. FCA just wants me to wait and see. Me? I kind of regret trading in my wife's 2003 WJ. It didn't have a warranty on it, but at least I could have nearly any part on it replaced or repaired within a few days.

Sorry to hear all this issues you are having. I am in the same boat, just different problems. Bought my Renegade on 6/12 and it was in the shop for 2 weeks due to wet floorboards, now back in the shop after having it back for 2 days due to floorboards being wet again. Now waiting on replacement carpet & pads to come in because my jeep smelt like mildew. Very frustrating.
But I wanted to tell you it may be good to contact Jeep Customer care & start a case#. I did & they have been very helpful. Also they would be the group that can request a buy back on your jeep if it comes to that. They will assign a case worker to you & they keep in contact during the whole process until you are satisfied with the outcome. I ended up get 4 years of free full synthetic oil changes out of this because of all the hassle. The number is 1-800-763-8422.

 

[critik]

Sorry to hear that. It really is a hassle.

Thanks for the heads up. I contacted them and they gave me a case number, but that's really all they've told me they can do at this point. I guess they were able to tell me that the part is now expected to arrive on Tuesday of this week rather than last Thursday or Friday as originally promised.

I'm already at 10 days out of service on mine, and they haven't even started any repairs yet because the part hasn't come in yet.

 

[Traceee]

Oh for goodness sakes, dealer just needs to give you a different car. Did you even own it for an hour? 1 mile isn't even a decent test drive. 10 days later and you are being held hostage to a car you drove 1 mile? I would freak.

 

[critik]

Well, it looks like I'm not getting it today, either. Not even a phone call from them. Apparently I have to make the calls if I want any updates.

If it drags out any longer, I plan on bringing up the idea of having the car replaced. I'm not sure how far that's going to get me, though. I wish I would have brought it up as soon as we had the problem, but that's what I get for being patient. They acted like it was no big deal and that I would be back in the car on Monday.

 

[raz-0]

Well, it looks like I'm not getting it today, either. Not even a phone call from them. Apparently I have to make the calls if I want any updates.

If it drags out any longer, I plan on bringing up the idea of having the car replaced. I'm not sure how far that's going to get me, though. I wish I would have brought it up as soon as we had the problem, but that's what I get for being patient. They acted like it was no big deal and that I would be back in the car on Monday.

Man that stinks.

Read up on your local lemon laws and see if they have a bit about substantial loss of use and if they allow lawyer fees to be collected from the manufacturer/dealer if you win.

If they do, I would contact a decent lemon lawyer for advice as failure that rapidly is exceptional and may fall under a category other than the 3-4 visits or 30 days in the shop metric that is pretty standard.

Beyond that, have you contacted the jeep 1 800 number for customer support. With my issues, it turned out that there's techs willing to do any work that tech support asks, and jeep tech support was trying to get them information, but my dealer is set up so all that goes through the service manager, and he can't be relied on to be available and relay the messages. The lady at the front desk of course tells me that jeep simply isn't getting back to them. I got it escalated to be a star case or whatever they call it.

The reality is that if they are busy working on cars, the dealership is making money, and your car doesn't really matter much in how much cash the service bays can bring in. This is an inherent problem with all dealerships (as is minimal training and abusing and failing to retain experienced techs). You have to advocate for yourself by any means possible if you aren't getting what you want out of them with regard to reasonable expectations.

 

[critik]

Got the car back today (that's another story) and we drove it about 40 miles before the check engine light came on. Back to the dealer again?

 

[critik]

Just discovered two dents on the hood. No clue how they got there. Gosh, I'm going to have a fun time convincing them to fix that. Does it ever end? We want so badly to like this car but seriously, we've had this car for less than 9 hours so far and it's been nothing but trouble!

 

[logan5]

Just discovered two dents on the hood. No clue how they got there. Gosh, I'm going to have a fun time convincing them to fix that. Does it ever end? We want so badly to like this car but seriously, we've had this car for less than 9 hours so far and it's been nothing but trouble!

Cite Lemon Laws and demand a different Renegade!

 

[Renegade4X4]

Just discovered two dents on the hood. No clue how they got there. Gosh, I'm going to have a fun time convincing them to fix that. Does it ever end? We want so badly to like this car but seriously, we've had this car for less than 9 hours so far and it's been nothing but trouble!

I am so sorry for you and stories like this. I think this one takes the cake for manifestation of major aggravation. One has to think the dealer (Jeep) would take back this car. If there are any used Renegades on the car lots one would have to figure that there was a history of problems.

What was the build date on this one?

 

[critik]

I plan on calling the dealer tomorrow (or, I guess today). I just realized something, and I'm thankful my wife is so big on taking pictures because she had asked that I take some with her and the car while we were waiting on some things before we drove off on the day we bought it. Anyway, in one of these pictures it looks like the dent can be seen. So this would have happened before we even bought the car.

The dealer also took a picture that day, of me, my wife, and the salesman. Not sure that the dent can be seen, but you can see what my wife was wearing as well as where the car was parked. My wife hasn't set foot in or around the dealership since then (it's about 25 miles from where we live, anyway), and the car never went back in that spot because it ended up going into their service lot afterwards. Hopefully that's enough for them to fix it.

 

[madriver68]

Dying to know how it ends!

Sorry to hear of your troubles. We had our Renegade for less than five days when all the alarms went off and the power steering stopped working. We took it in for service, and they've now had it longer than I have! I spoke with them today and they said that after much "frustration" (yeah, me too), they think it's the ABS module for me as well. I'll be very curious to see if that resolves it.

 

[myjeepbeeps]

I plan on calling the dealer tomorrow (or, I guess today). I just realized something, and I'm thankful my wife is so big on taking pictures because she had asked that I take some with her and the car while we were waiting on some things before we drove off on the day we bought it. Anyway, in one of these pictures it looks like the dent can be seen. So this would have happened before we even bought the car.

The dealer also took a picture that day, of me, my wife, and the salesman. Not sure that the dent can be seen, but you can see what my wife was wearing as well as where the car was parked. My wife hasn't set foot in or around the dealership since then (it's about 25 miles from where we live, anyway), and the car never went back in that spot because it ended up going into their service lot afterwards. Hopefully that's enough for them to fix it.

Did you get all these problems fixed or did you have to do a lemon law claim? I am currently in the same boat. Have had the Renegade in the shop 5 times since I got it 28 days ago.

 

[critik]

No Lemon Law claim, but I've always held out hope. We're over 12,000 miles now, although not quite a year has passed.

We've had more problems. The car stalled in the middle of traffic a month or so ago because the fuel pump failed. Roadside assistance took about an hour to show up and tow the car. In the meantime the police were giving us a hard time and wanted us to go with someone who would get the car out of the road quicker. Oh well, it's over.

They took it to the closest dealer which was not my choice. No loaner offered until they could at least look at the car a few days later. They overnighted a fuel pump and said we could get a loaner for the rest of that day if we wanted, but the dealer wasn't close to home so it really wasn't worth the hassle. I picked the car up when it was ready and didn't care much for the service advisor. She didn't go over anything with me and just wanted me to sign so she could give me my keys.

I drove the car for a few weeks after that because I have a much shorter commute than my wife. It was fine during that time, but I opened up the hatch one day and found that they had made a real mess of it. The spare tire cover and cargo mat were haphazardly shoved in. Actually the pieces were backwards and weren't even installed the right order. I guess they took all that up while accessing the fuel pump? I don't know if there's a hatch back there or if they had to drop the tank, so who knows. But we didn't do any of that. I was cleaning the car out the other day and also found that the rear bench seat was loose (those latches can be tricky), and some of the carpet had been pulled away from the trim. The horn had also stopped working. Really disappointing. I wish I had found all that sooner.

On Memorial Day the key wouldn't come out of the ignition while I was out running errands. I tried everything: wiggling the key, moving the steering wheel, starting/stopping the car, shifting between gears--nothing worked. I had to drive the car home and had the same problem. Tried to call Jeep, but I was on hold for 20 minutes and then it disconnected me. Figured I'd just try to fix it myself and found the manual key release procedure. The steering column cover was hard to remove but I eventually got it off. The release solenoid was super hot to the touch. Seemed like something was wrong with it. I just left the cover off in case it happened again.

So then I made an appointment with another dealership that I'd never been to before. Some friends have used them and had good things to say, and I just didn't trust the last place. I drop it off thinking it was going to be a quick fix: key switch and horn. They call me back later that afternoon and say the switch would be replaced, but it was on back order and they had no idea when they could get it in. As for the horn, they started to ask me if the last dealer did any additional work. I told them just the fuel pump. The service advisor started to explain to me that they believe the instrument cluster and brake module had been replaced. I said there may have been some confusion as the first dealer replaced the brake module almost a year ago. She said no, it looked like it had been replaced again. What?!? Were they hiding that from me?!? Anyway, she also said that it looked like someone had been messing with the wiring because it was "scotch taped" and the horn wire had been cut and taped, which is why it wasn't working. There was also an unplugged connector. She asked if I would be ok with leaving the car because they had no idea how long it would take to fix. I said sure. I should have asked them to take pictures, but I wasn't really thinking clearly at that point.

So I immediately call up FCA and frantically tell my story. The lady I spoke to was very nice and actually showed concern, which is something I'm not really used to seeing from them (sadly). She said my case would be escalated and that someone would call.

I get a call a few hours later from a case manager who asks for my account of things. I go over it again and she says they had to investigate first--I would get a call back in a few days.

She called back the next day and said the key switch would be shipped soon and that they also think they found the problem with the horn. My service advisor would be calling me soon. She asked if I needed anything else, and I told her I really wanted to know about the undisclosed service. She said she didn't know about any of that...she wasn't a mechanic...and that I'd have to talk to the dealerships to find out. I told her that I was really concerned and thought there would just be a lot of finger pointing, which is why I called customer care. She kept telling me to talk to my service advisor. Eventually I got her to pull up my service record and said the last dealership only reported the fuel pump problem. I said maybe there was some confusion. Again, she told me she didn't know and that I had to ask the dealership. I think she wanted me off the phone at that point. So I said ok, fine, I'll talk to the dealership but it's really disappointing that I have to hunt this stuff down myself. I kind of doubted that she would even call and follow up.

My service advisor calls shortly and tells me that they fixed the horn...it was a missing fuse. They also expected the key switch soon, possibly the next day. It did end up coming in and they returned it to me just last Friday.

Everything seems to be ok, but I find all this to be just so ridiculous: not just that we've had 4 electrical incidents that have taken weeks to fix (over 25 days in the shop now total), but also the handling of all of this by FCA and the dealerships (the last one wasn't so bad, though, but I don't like that they said all that before simply saying there was a missing fuse...makes me wonder if I can trust them).

 

[The Trailhawk]

That's unfortunate that your car was towed to the nearest dealer instead of the one you brought from. What you have experienced sounds extremely sketchy and I would've been asking the same questions in your situation! Very odd.


Hopefully the second dealership was able to fix everything properly and you won't have any more issues.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

****, are you a patient soul. I can't believe you still have the car.

I hope they have gotten this stuff sorted out by the 2017 models, which will be available when I am looking to buy next spring.