Jeep Compass TrailHawk breaks down 5 times in 18,000 Kms: Owner calls it life threatening

Jeep Compass, the best-selling car from the American manufacturer in India is facing a lot of issues. After an owner reported the rattling issues with the new Compass, here is the top-of-the-line variant – the Trailhawk that broke down after 18,000 km. The owner claims that Jeep is not responding to the issues. We also contacted Jeep India to get comments on the issue on 12/11/2021 but they have stopped replying to our emails.

Manish Kumar Singh, the owner of the car sent us an email with details of the ordeal faced by him. He bought the car in Bangalore in November 2019. The owner says that in December 2020, after the car had 7,000 km on the odometer, the car stopped suddenly while the steering and the brake got locked. Manish called the roadside assistance who started the vehicle by jumpstart. The owner claims that he narrowly missed hitting a child on a bicycle after the vehicle stopped with the brake and steering locked in the same position.

In the same month, after the car did 8,903km on the odometer, an owner heard a loud noise from the engine compartment. He found out that the battery was drained and the instrument cluster showed the low-battery sign as well. The Compass Trailhawk went into battery saved mode. The Jeep service centre replaced the alternator under warranty.

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Problems continued

In February 2021, after the Compass Trailhawk completed 10,000 km, it broke down again. The owner was doing Goa to Bangalore then and got stuck in a remote area. After waiting for six hours, the roadside assistance arrived and they diagnosed that the car’s coolant is dry.

After the repairs, and completing 1,7362 km, the Trailhawk’s engine started making some kind of noise and a few functionalities like the automatic start/stop, auto parking brake did not work. Also, the instrument cluster came up with various errors. The service centre told the owner that these problems will go away after a full service. The owner chose to go for an early service of the car in September, which was due in December.

The owner gave the car to the service centre on 14th September and the service centre changed the battery under the warranty and serviced the car. The owner paid for the expenses and after the service centre officials drove the car for 150 to 200 km within seven days to assure that the problem does not come back. The car was delivered to the owner on 21st September.

However, the engine of the car was seized on 15th October 2021 after doing 18,300 km. The owner says that travelling by Compass and at a speed of 100 km/h, the engine gave away. The vehicle came to stop after 200-300 metres. This time, there was no low battery warning on the console and the engine seizure happened without any warning. The owner was travelling with his wife and three-year-old kid. The owner says that he is now afraid of getting into the car and driving around.

Jeep did not solve the issue

As per the owner, he has talked to multiple FCA officials over emails and phone calls. However, instead of resolving the issue, they offered two years of free service. The owner also says that the Karnata and Andhra Sales Head, Mr Sumesh and Vijaya Joglekar, from FCA want the owner to take the car back and said that it is the customer’s luck that the vehicle is breaking down. They also gave an explanation that the battery saver mode was not active since the vehicle was travelling at 100 km/h and the alternator got burnt. Jeep officials also said that the warning did not come on the instrument cluster as the car was travelling at a very high speed.

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