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Sudden Recurring Power Steering Loss. Electrical Problems?

18K views 16 replies 15 participants last post by  BCLEM08 
#1 ·
Hello Forum,

I have a 2015 Renegade Latitude 1.3 Turbo that I bought with less than 3000 miles on it. I have just recently rolled over 70,000 miles a few weeks ago. My years of owning it have been somewhat fraught with problems. Mostly minor gripes, but have ran into 3 issues that I would consider major since owning the vehicle.

The purpose of this post is to clearly document the current issue I am having as it is being diagnosed by the dealership. I have looked through old Forum posts, but haven't found one that matches my issue exactly. Here is what is going on:

4 days ago, my Check Engine light and Service Air Bag warning came on. Engine light stayed solid, but the Air Bag warning light would come on along with a dashboard notification, then clear after a few seconds. Within a few minutes, this process with the air bag would repeat nonstop as long as the car was turned on.

On day 2, there was no change to this process. I used a code reader and had two codes logged: An evap code and code U11DD, which appears to be something related to the BCM signal being invalid or corrupted in some way. I cleared the codes, stopped and started engine, and found that the U11DD code immediately appeared again. The Air Bag service warning was still intermittently blinking on and off, but there was never a code shelled for it. Battery voltage seemed normal at this time based on the dash gauge, but I went ahead and put the battery on trickle charge overnight.

Day 3 is when the real problems started. I was driving home from work doing about 75 around a turn on the highway. I heard a ding, (assumed it was my air bag warning again) and my power steering instantly went dead. The sudden loss of power steering and the force of going into this turn at speed veered me wide and I had to crank hard on the wheel to get back into my lane. I let it coast through the turn while trying to maintain control of my lane and on the way out of the turn, the power steering suddenly kicked back in. The force I had been exerting on the wheel when the power steering kicked back in was enough to cut the vehicle hard the other way and about put me into the ditch.

I pulled over and shut it off for a while. When turning it back on, the dash lit up many alerts: Check Engine, Air bag, Power steering, Coolant temperature, Battery, etc... All of these alerts except Check Engine recovered after a few seconds. Note that this was not the typical light show you get when you first start the video. These alerts came thru the message center and were all accompanied by dings. I took off again and the vehicle ran for about 5-10 minutes normally, then the service air bag warning would ding and the light would come on, then it would recover. Immediately following, the Service Power Steering light would come on and I would lose all power steering again for about 8-10 seconds, then the power steering would miraculously come back online. This cycle has been repeating for the past two days. 5-10 mins normal driving, sudden barrage of dash alerts + loss of power steering for 8-10 seconds, then full recovery.

I have an appt with the dealership tomorrow morning to further diagnose this issue. Anyone want to take bets on what the problem is? I am betting a software patch on the BCM will resolve it, but may be electrical? I kinda wish that if the power steering went out that it would stay out until a fuse was reset or something. Honestly, the flip-flopping its doing right now is far more dangerous than if it were just to have went out and not recovered at all.
 
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#2 ·
I sure hope that you (through the use of the dealer) get it figured out. It sounds like you went through one heck of a ride.

I had the Driver Information Center (DIC) light show when my Body Control Module (BCM) failed.
… I was covered by the MaxCare warranty.

I also saw the DIC light show when my battery started to die, but I didn't have any mechanical issues due to the battery failing, just a light show and a 'No Start'.
 
#3 ·
Hello Forum,

I have a 2015 Renegade Latitude 1.3 Turbo that I bought with less than 3000 miles on it. I have just recently rolled over 70,000 miles a few weeks ago. My years of owning it have been somewhat fraught with problems. Mostly minor gripes, but have ran into 3 issues that I would consider major since owning the vehicle.

The purpose of this post is to clearly document the current issue I am having as it is being diagnosed by the dealership. I have looked through old Forum posts, but haven't found one that matches my issue exactly. Here is what is going on:

4 days ago, my Check Engine light and Service Air Bag warning came on. Engine light stayed solid, but the Air Bag warning light would come on along with a dashboard notification, then clear after a few seconds. Within a few minutes, this process with the air bag would repeat nonstop as long as the car was turned on.

On day 2, there was no change to this process. I used a code reader and had two codes logged: An evap code and code U11DD, which appears to be something related to the BCM signal being invalid or corrupted in some way. I cleared the codes, stopped and started engine, and found that the U11DD code immediately appeared again. The Air Bag service warning was still intermittently blinking on and off, but there was never a code shelled for it. Battery voltage seemed normal at this time based on the dash gauge, but I went ahead and put the battery on trickle charge overnight.

Day 3 is when the real problems started. I was driving home from work doing about 75 around a turn on the highway. I heard a ding, (assumed it was my air bag warning again) and my power steering instantly went dead. The sudden loss of power steering and the force of going into this turn at speed veered me wide and I had to crank hard on the wheel to get back into my lane. I let it coast through the turn while trying to maintain control of my lane and on the way out of the turn, the power steering suddenly kicked back in. The force I had been exerting on the wheel when the power steering kicked back in was enough to cut the vehicle hard the other way and about put me into the ditch.

I pulled over and shut it off for a while. When turning it back on, the dash lit up many alerts: Check Engine, Air bag, Power steering, Coolant temperature, Battery, etc... All of these alerts except Check Engine recovered after a few seconds. Note that this was not the typical light show you get when you first start the video. These alerts came thru the message center and were all accompanied by dings. I took off again and the vehicle ran for about 5-10 minutes normally, then the service air bag warning would ding and the light would come on, then it would recover. Immediately following, the Service Power Steering light would come on and I would lose all power steering again for about 8-10 seconds, then the power steering would miraculously come back online. This cycle has been repeating for the past two days. 5-10 mins normal driving, sudden barrage of dash alerts + loss of power steering for 8-10 seconds, then full recovery.

I have an appt with the dealership tomorrow morning to further diagnose this issue. Anyone want to take bets on what the problem is? I am betting a software patch on the BCM will resolve it, but may be electrical? I kinda wish that if the power steering went out that it would stay out until a fuse was reset or something. Honestly, the flip-flopping its doing right now is far more dangerous than if it were just to have went out and not recovered at all.
We sincerely regret to hear about the concerns you are experiencing. How did your dealer appointment go? If additional assistance is needed, please feel free to PM us.
Alex
JeepCares
 
#4 · (Edited)
My bet would be a faulty ignition switch.

I have a 2015 Renny and had all the problems you mentioned including unexplainable power drains on the battery.

The car would just "brick" due to what I later discovered were intermittent power drains. The key would get stuck in the ignition and the electrical system would be totally unresponsive. I had this problem off and on for months.

The major issue started with an airbag warning light when I was four hours away from home. Everything else went through the steps you listed (including the error code). I even parked the car in my driveway and turned it off. I removed the key and the car was still running for two minutes before it finally cut off.

The Jeep dealer here in Mobile, AL gave me the runaround and after my third trip to the dealer and quite a bit of $$$ later (rental car fees, new battery, and "updating the computer/clearing codes" multiple times), my Renny spent two months in the shop with no solution to the problem.

I researched and found this website that discussed the issue and I shared it with the dealer. They blew me off and wanted to try resetting the computer again. After all, what do I know? I'm just an English teacher.

I finally talked them into ordering the ignition switch and installing it.

My Jeep has run flawlessly ever since.

I wish I could say the score is now: English teacher 1 Jeep dealer 0, but I spent waaaaay too much money to feel I achieved a victory here. I hope my experience and this web link can help others avoid throwing money down this rat hole. I wish I had found it sooner.

So happy my other car is a 1986 AMC Jeep Cherokee Laredo. :) So much easier to work on and maintain!
 
#5 ·
Hello, my 2015 renegade is at the service center for the second time with theses same symptoms and issues. First service center replaced the BCM , current service center is stumped is Im back and forward Communication with Jeep to diagnose the issue. I will forward this thread and see if they are interested. Did anybody get firm results/diagnosis they can share? Thanks English Teacher.
 
#7 ·
Hello Forum,

I have a 2015 Renegade Latitude 1.3 Turbo that I bought with less than 3000 miles on it. I have just recently rolled over 70,000 miles a few weeks ago. My years of owning it have been somewhat fraught with problems. Mostly minor gripes, but have ran into 3 issues that I would consider major since owning the vehicle.

The purpose of this post is to clearly document the current issue I am having as it is being diagnosed by the dealership. I have looked through old Forum posts, but haven't found one that matches my issue exactly. Here is what is going on:

4 days ago, my Check Engine light and Service Air Bag warning came on. Engine light stayed solid, but the Air Bag warning light would come on along with a dashboard notification, then clear after a few seconds. Within a few minutes, this process with the air bag would repeat nonstop as long as the car was turned on.

On day 2, there was no change to this process. I used a code reader and had two codes logged: An evap code and code U11DD, which appears to be something related to the BCM signal being invalid or corrupted in some way. I cleared the codes, stopped and started engine, and found that the U11DD code immediately appeared again. The Air Bag service warning was still intermittently blinking on and off, but there was never a code shelled for it. Battery voltage seemed normal at this time based on the dash gauge, but I went ahead and put the battery on trickle charge overnight.

Day 3 is when the real problems started. I was driving home from work doing about 75 around a turn on the highway. I heard a ding, (assumed it was my air bag warning again) and my power steering instantly went dead. The sudden loss of power steering and the force of going into this turn at speed veered me wide and I had to crank hard on the wheel to get back into my lane. I let it coast through the turn while trying to maintain control of my lane and on the way out of the turn, the power steering suddenly kicked back in. The force I had been exerting on the wheel when the power steering kicked back in was enough to cut the vehicle hard the other way and about put me into the ditch.

I pulled over and shut it off for a while. When turning it back on, the dash lit up many alerts: Check Engine, Air bag, Power steering, Coolant temperature, Battery, etc... All of these alerts except Check Engine recovered after a few seconds. Note that this was not the typical light show you get when you first start the video. These alerts came thru the message center and were all accompanied by dings. I took off again and the vehicle ran for about 5-10 minutes normally, then the service air bag warning would ding and the light would come on, then it would recover. Immediately following, the Service Power Steering light would come on and I would lose all power steering again for about 8-10 seconds, then the power steering would miraculously come back online. This cycle has been repeating for the past two days. 5-10 mins normal driving, sudden barrage of dash alerts + loss of power steering for 8-10 seconds, then full recovery.

I have an appt with the dealership tomorrow morning to further diagnose this issue. Anyone want to take bets on what the problem is? I am betting a software patch on the BCM will resolve it, but may be electrical? I kinda wish that if the power steering went out that it would stay out until a fuse was reset or something. Honestly, the flip-flopping its doing right now is far more dangerous than if it were just to have went out and not recovered at all.
Sounds like an electrical problem or maybe the electrical rack is bad .
 
#10 ·
Hello Forum,

I have a 2015 Renegade Latitude 1.3 Turbo that I bought with less than 3000 miles on it. I have just recently rolled over 70,000 miles a few weeks ago. My years of owning it have been somewhat fraught with problems. Mostly minor gripes, but have ran into 3 issues that I would consider major since owning the vehicle.

The purpose of this post is to clearly document the current issue I am having as it is being diagnosed by the dealership. I have looked through old Forum posts, but haven't found one that matches my issue exactly. Here is what is going on:

4 days ago, my Check Engine light and Service Air Bag warning came on. Engine light stayed solid, but the Air Bag warning light would come on along with a dashboard notification, then clear after a few seconds. Within a few minutes, this process with the air bag would repeat nonstop as long as the car was turned on.

On day 2, there was no change to this process. I used a code reader and had two codes logged: An evap code and code U11DD, which appears to be something related to the BCM signal being invalid or corrupted in some way. I cleared the codes, stopped and started engine, and found that the U11DD code immediately appeared again. The Air Bag service warning was still intermittently blinking on and off, but there was never a code shelled for it. Battery voltage seemed normal at this time based on the dash gauge, but I went ahead and put the battery on trickle charge overnight.

Day 3 is when the real problems started. I was driving home from work doing about 75 around a turn on the highway. I heard a ding, (assumed it was my air bag warning again) and my power steering instantly went dead. The sudden loss of power steering and the force of going into this turn at speed veered me wide and I had to crank hard on the wheel to get back into my lane. I let it coast through the turn while trying to maintain control of my lane and on the way out of the turn, the power steering suddenly kicked back in. The force I had been exerting on the wheel when the power steering kicked back in was enough to cut the vehicle hard the other way and about put me into the ditch.

I pulled over and shut it off for a while. When turning it back on, the dash lit up many alerts: Check Engine, Air bag, Power steering, Coolant temperature, Battery, etc... All of these alerts except Check Engine recovered after a few seconds. Note that this was not the typical light show you get when you first start the video. These alerts came thru the message center and were all accompanied by dings. I took off again and the vehicle ran for about 5-10 minutes normally, then the service air bag warning would ding and the light would come on, then it would recover. Immediately following, the Service Power Steering light would come on and I would lose all power steering again for about 8-10 seconds, then the power steering would miraculously come back online. This cycle has been repeating for the past two days. 5-10 mins normal driving, sudden barrage of dash alerts + loss of power steering for 8-10 seconds, then full recovery.

I have an appt with the dealership tomorrow morning to further diagnose this issue. Anyone want to take bets on what the problem is? I am betting a software patch on the BCM will resolve it, but may be electrical? I kinda wish that if the power steering went out that it would stay out until a fuse was reset or something. Honestly, the flip-flopping its doing right now is far more dangerous than if it were just to have went out and not recovered at all.
This is exactly what mine started doing yesterday like literally to a T n I have never had a problem
 
#11 ·
I am experiencing the exact same issues in the same exact order. At first I thought it was the battery. Replaced it yesterday. It ran fine for one trip to the store. Next trip 3 hours later the airbag light came back on, the the power steering went out. Tried turning the car off and while holding the key in my hand it was still running. I pulled the negative terminal off to shut off the vehicle overnight. Now today I go out and start it. Same lights on. Has anyone confirmed the fix yet. This is very frustrating and due to everything going on today I'm unemployed and can't afford numerous trips to the dealership for them to just take a guess and not fix the problem.
 
#12 ·
Hello Forum,

I have a 2015 Renegade Latitude 1.3 Turbo that I bought with less than 3000 miles on it. I have just recently rolled over 70,000 miles a few weeks ago. My years of owning it have been somewhat fraught with problems. Mostly minor gripes, but have ran into 3 issues that I would consider major since owning the vehicle.

The purpose of this post is to clearly document the current issue I am having as it is being diagnosed by the dealership. I have looked through old Forum posts, but haven't found one that matches my issue exactly. Here is what is going on:

4 days ago, my Check Engine light and Service Air Bag warning came on. Engine light stayed solid, but the Air Bag warning light would come on along with a dashboard notification, then clear after a few seconds. Within a few minutes, this process with the air bag would repeat nonstop as long as the car was turned on.

On day 2, there was no change to this process. I used a code reader and had two codes logged: An evap code and code U11DD, which appears to be something related to the BCM signal being invalid or corrupted in some way. I cleared the codes, stopped and started engine, and found that the U11DD code immediately appeared again. The Air Bag service warning was still intermittently blinking on and off, but there was never a code shelled for it. Battery voltage seemed normal at this time based on the dash gauge, but I went ahead and put the battery on trickle charge overnight.

Day 3 is when the real problems started. I was driving home from work doing about 75 around a turn on the highway. I heard a ding, (assumed it was my air bag warning again) and my power steering instantly went dead. The sudden loss of power steering and the force of going into this turn at speed veered me wide and I had to crank hard on the wheel to get back into my lane. I let it coast through the turn while trying to maintain control of my lane and on the way out of the turn, the power steering suddenly kicked back in. The force I had been exerting on the wheel when the power steering kicked back in was enough to cut the vehicle hard the other way and about put me into the ditch.

I pulled over and shut it off for a while. When turning it back on, the dash lit up many alerts: Check Engine, Air bag, Power steering, Coolant temperature, Battery, etc... All of these alerts except Check Engine recovered after a few seconds. Note that this was not the typical light show you get when you first start the video. These alerts came thru the message center and were all accompanied by dings. I took off again and the vehicle ran for about 5-10 minutes normally, then the service air bag warning would ding and the light would come on, then it would recover. Immediately following, the Service Power Steering light would come on and I would lose all power steering again for about 8-10 seconds, then the power steering would miraculously come back online. This cycle has been repeating for the past two days. 5-10 mins normal driving, sudden barrage of dash alerts + loss of power steering for 8-10 seconds, then full recovery.

I have an appt with the dealership tomorrow morning to further diagnose this issue. Anyone want to take bets on what the problem is? I am betting a software patch on the BCM will resolve it, but may be electrical? I kinda wish that if the power steering went out that it would stay out until a fuse was reset or something. Honestly, the flip-flopping its doing right now is far more dangerous than if it were just to have went out and not recovered at all.
Did you ever figure out what the problem was ? I am currently having the same issue, if anyone has any solutions please reply!!
 
#14 · (Edited)
Hello Forum,

I have a 2015 Renegade Latitude 1.3 Turbo that I bought with less than 3000 miles on it. I have just recently rolled over 70,000 miles a few weeks ago. My years of owning it have been somewhat fraught with problems. Mostly minor gripes, but have ran into 3 issues that I would consider major since owning the vehicle.

The purpose of this post is to clearly document the current issue I am having as it is being diagnosed by the dealership. I have looked through old Forum posts, but haven't found one that matches my issue exactly. Here is what is going on:

4 days ago, my Check Engine light and Service Air Bag warning came on. Engine light stayed solid, but the Air Bag warning light would come on along with a dashboard notification, then clear after a few seconds. Within a few minutes, this process with the air bag would repeat nonstop as long as the car was turned on.

On day 2, there was no change to this process. I used a code reader and had two codes logged: An evap code and code U11DD, which appears to be something related to the BCM signal being invalid or corrupted in some way. I cleared the codes, stopped and started engine, and found that the U11DD code immediately appeared again. The Air Bag service warning was still intermittently blinking on and off, but there was never a code shelled for it. Battery voltage seemed normal at this time based on the dash gauge, but I went ahead and put the battery on trickle charge overnight.

Day 3 is when the real problems started. I was driving home from work doing about 75 around a turn on the highway. I heard a ding, (assumed it was my air bag warning again) and my power steering instantly went dead. The sudden loss of power steering and the force of going into this turn at speed veered me wide and I had to crank hard on the wheel to get back into my lane. I let it coast through the turn while trying to maintain control of my lane and on the way out of the turn, the power steering suddenly kicked back in. The force I had been exerting on the wheel when the power steering kicked back in was enough to cut the vehicle hard the other way and about put me into the ditch.

I pulled over and shut it off for a while. When turning it back on, the dash lit up many alerts: Check Engine, Air bag, Power steering, Coolant temperature, Battery, etc... All of these alerts except Check Engine recovered after a few seconds. Note that this was not the typical light show you get when you first start the video. These alerts came thru the message center and were all accompanied by dings. I took off again and the vehicle ran for about 5-10 minutes normally, then the service air bag warning would ding and the light would come on, then it would recover. Immediately following, the Service Power Steering light would come on and I would lose all power steering again for about 8-10 seconds, then the power steering would miraculously come back online. This cycle has been repeating for the past two days. 5-10 mins normal driving, sudden barrage of dash alerts + loss of power steering for 8-10 seconds, then full recovery.

I have an appt with the dealership tomorrow morning to further diagnose this issue. Anyone want to take bets on what the problem is? I am betting a software patch on the BCM will resolve it, but may be electrical? I kinda wish that if the power steering went out that it would stay out until a fuse was reset or something. Honestly, the flip-flopping its doing right now is far more dangerous than if it were just to have went out and not recovered at all.
I’m currently having the same issue. My 2015 Renny is just under 75,000 miles. Started with the service air bag light coming on. Then followed by the service power steering losing all control while driving. Dropped it off to the dealer they replaced the BCM. Left the lot 10 min later the same problems occurred and I lost power to the radio and powered windows. Drove it back the dealer praying I won’t get in an accident. Now the tech is working with a Chrysler tech running diagnostics. I was asked to bring in my spare key for their continued search for then cause. Anyone had a successful diagnosis? I’m so tired of ditching more $$$$ for repairs that fail. Also does anyone have any tips on dealing with the dealership about arguing with cost for repairs after already paying for the initial repair based ofd the dealership diagnosis.
 
#15 ·
I know this is a (somewhat) old thread, but wanted to report my experience. Same issues, and in short, it was my ignition switch. I posted on a few other, similar threads, in the hopes of helping others with the same issues. A copy of my post follows:

Had a very similar experience. My service air bag alert was going on an off. Then my power steering also stopped working, and my check engine light came on. Then I had problems shutting off the engine. Same thing. This happened last fall, and was due to a low battery. The new battery fixed everything, but then the issue came back a month or so ago. I took it to an independent garage near me with an impeccable reputation. The manager did a lot of research, and determine it was likely the ignition switch. He sent me the following link:


[FIXED] 2015 Jeep Renegade 1.4T Engine Not Shutting Down with IGN Off - ScannerDanner Forum - SCANNERDANNER
Hi Guys, I had a cool one come in today. Took just over an hour to diagnose it and replicate the codes while bypassing the faulty component. I marked this as...
www.scannerdanner.com

www.scannerdanner.com

The shop replaced the ignition switch, and all of the issues went away, and my jeep has been problem free since.
 
#17 ·
I know this is a (somewhat) old thread, but wanted to report my experience. Same issues, and in short, it was my ignition switch. I posted on a few other, similar threads, in the hopes of helping others with the same issues. A copy of my post follows:

Had a very similar experience. My service air bag alert was going on an off. Then my power steering also stopped working, and my check engine light came on. Then I had problems shutting off the engine. Same thing. This happened last fall, and was due to a low battery. The new battery fixed everything, but then the issue came back a month or so ago. I took it to an independent garage near me with an impeccable reputation. The manager did a lot of research, and determine it was likely the ignition switch. He sent me the following link:


[FIXED] 2015 Jeep Renegade 1.4T Engine Not Shutting Down with IGN Off - ScannerDanner Forum - SCANNERDANNER
Hi Guys, I had a cool one come in today. Took just over an hour to diagnose it and replicate the codes while bypassing the faulty component. I marked this as...
www.scannerdanner.com

www.scannerdanner.com

The shop replaced the ignition switch, and all of the issues went away, and my jeep has been problem free since.
So thankful for this post and forum. My 2015 Jeep Renegade did all of the same things to me on Tuesday while I was DRIVING! A very SCARY and DANGEROUS situation to be in! Reading everyone's post on here from years ago and I am very frustrated that JEEP has yet to put out a recall on this issue as this is LIFE-THREATENING! My ignition switch had to be replaced by a dealership back in 2018 that lost the key to my car during a tire service smh. I had a loaner car for 3 months waiting on my key to come in from Italy so I'm surprised it needs replacing again. I don't think I will ever purchase a JEEP/DODGE/CHRYSLER/FIAT again.
 
#16 ·
Thanks to all for your posts I learned a lot. And as for the last 100 years, what everyone needs to do is take all the crap off their key ring. Even the big arse Jeep key head is bad enough for the ignition switch. I know this isn’t a cure but I’m showing this to my wife In the morning.
 
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