2019 Jeep Cherokee

I was involved in a single vehicle accident at 5 am on October 5, 2023 on a rural road in Deland, Florida. I was on an unfamiliar road with a sharp curve and as I was trying to slow down the I was unable to slow down or steer the vehicle. It slammed into a cluster of trees and immediately the engine caught fire. I crawled out of the vehicle in pain from the force of the crash and was disoriented. A good Samaritan came to my aide and called the Volusia County Sherriff. I can remember my 2019 Jeep Cherokee Latitude was fully engulfed in very intense flames in less than 8 minutes. It was so intense it set fire to the wooded area. This wasn't the first problem I had with this vehicle. I purchased this vehicle new from a dealer in Bowie, MD in 2019. Since that time I replaced all 4 tires due to numerous flat tires starting around 20K miles. I replaced the battery at less than 25K miles. I had braking issues when going downhill in the Washington DC area which caused me to brake hard. I complained and the dealer said they did an inspection. I also had other auto service companies perform checks. I have most of the service records which have cost me so much. I am a disable Gulf War Veteran on a fixed income. I am now waiting for VIN verification by GEICO because the vehicle burned so hot that the engine block and everything metal (melted). Had I not gotten out so soon I would have burned to death.

Vehicle stops accelerating randomly and loses power. Service electronic throttle control light comes on and engine light and traction control light and vehicle will not accelerate or stalls. Had vehicle towed to dealership and the code is saying the PTU is bad and needs to be replaced. This happens all the time, thankfully I’ve been very lucky thus far not having my children in the vehicle with me when it happens as this could cause a very serious accident.

Vehicle would randomly not start. Initially, it was several months between episodes. Would not jump-start so I would have it towed to a service center / dealership. Once off the tow truck it would start right up. Diagnosis would not find anything and all systems checked out. After several episodes, I decided to leave it at Jeep dealership so they could troubleshoot. They opened case with Jeep but after several weeks, could not replicate the issue. I spent several hundred dollars between diagnosis and towing costs. A simple google search revealed that it wasn't just me having this exact issue with several Jeep vehicles, and even this same model. Tried to get jeep to buy vehicle back but they denied. They sent me to arbitration and they also denied my case. The vehicle again wouldn't start and sat in my yard for 2 weeks, however, all of the Jeep dealerships within 50 miles of my home were "behind/full" and couldn't get to me for several weeks. I threw money at it and replaced the starter. The vehicle started back up and I sold it. It was the most frustrating experience ever and I felt that it's a known issue with Jeep and they refuse to recall/fix. They were willing to pay for some of my costs as long as a Jeep dealership did the repairs. Sounds like an admission of guilt to me.

URGENT: Date of near life & death situation.10-6-2023.This 2019 KL Cherokee lost accelerating power while in heavy traffic. As the car was losing speed the "D" drive indicator on center dash started flashing a moments later 2 messages displayed: Msg 1: Service transmission Restart in Park with vehicle @ zero speed. Msg 2: Shift to park or neutral Press brakes and select gear. (Center dash is the screen between tachometer and speedometer) Followed instructions, turned key to off position for a few seconds then started engine placed shifter in drive, accelerated engine to 2000 RPMs, car failed to move. Turned key off a second time, waited about 18 seconds for the mileage readout to clear then another 6 seconds (+-) for the outline light bars for the center screen to clear. Then when started it engaged a drive gear. Even in residential areas there are large trash trucks and large delivery trucks hurrying about, added to this vehicle faulting in roadway much less a center lane on the interstate with no time to pull out of traffic. Don't trust the car seat and booster seat even with air bags to save your children. Action is required to remove these vehicles from service after it has been proven the manufacturer cannot supply the dealership with a successful repair for a well documented failure of a common safety hazard in many of their vehicles. The dealership did not duplicate the problem but did confirm all of the information supplied them matched with the faults stored in PCM Memory. Not being able to duplicate leaves the Technician with just an image of the perils these faults puts the operator and public in, Catastrophic. No specific component could be proven at fault, with vehicle operating normal. After a diagnostic fault code retrieval the option was to allow them to spend maximum 6 hours in electrical testing to verify integrity of electrical connections and components. Trust and confidence in an organizations leadership to accept responsibility for mistakes

The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that the vehicle randomly accelerated. The RPM had increased to a high level. The 4WD service message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the PTU needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, there was an abnormal dinging sound. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the same local dealer, where it was determined that the PTU was blocked and not working. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 114,000.

We were driving down the road at about 60MPH and the engine just quite running. With the flow of traffic, I was almost hit in the rear end, but I was able to safely move to the shoulder of the road. The car would not restart and we had it towed to dealer. The dealer informed me it needed a new engine. Upon inspection and removal of the head of the engine, the #3 cylinder piston was melted and had zero compression and the #1 cylinder piston was partially melted and had zero compression as well. All regular maintenance was performed on the vehicle. We have the 2.0l vin N. No warning lights or codes were illuminated or present at the time of or after the incident.

Driving with my children and car started to shake a little when getting on highway, while on car started shaking violently and felt was going to die. I had to drive like that to get to an exit and was able to pull over. Turned the car off and turned back on. And same, then check engine light came on but not flashing. After getting it to a mechanic and the dealer was told my cylinder blew. And the engine is done. Felt that was a safety risk for me to driving with my children like that and now we are without a car. If someone maintains their car and gets regular oil checks then how is it possible for an engine to blow.