Electrical & Forward Collision Avoidance issues are among the top complaints received by the NHTSA from vehicle owners
The Jeep Compass, which debuted at the 2006 North American International Auto Show, was one of the first Jeep brand vehicles to enter the small cross-utility segment.
Sales peaked at 171,167 in 2018, but have been declining ever since. By 2020 they were down to 107,968 and then to 75,642 the following year. Sales for 2022 seem to be holding firm, with 46,335 units sold by mid-year. They could meet or beat the 2021 figures.
But not all consumers are happy about its performance, and there are already seven complaints on file with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). There is also a recall on improperly welded head restraints that could increase the risk of injury to occupants if the vehicle crashes.
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Issues relating to forward collision avoidance and lane departure top the list of complaints. Other problems concern the SUV’s electrical system and other relatively minor issues. Some complaints are regarding the dashboard display lighting being too bright or too dim.
| Complaint Category | Number of Complaints |
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Electrical System
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Exterior Lighting
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Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking
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Engine
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Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings
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Unknown Or Other
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Power Train
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Lane Departure: Blind Spot Detection
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Electrical System: Instrument Cluster/panel
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Lane Departure: Warning
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There are four forward Collision avoidance complaints on record, two of which are also listed under lane departure. All the complaints state that these problems recur, sometimes happening multiple times.
This complaint states that the problem has recurred multiple times.
“I entered my vehicle and started the engine. I needed to use GPS to reach my destination, so I was sitting in Park while getting everything the address inputted. For no apparent reason, I start getting messages: AEB limited Functionality Service Required, I do not have the active lane management functionality either, service headlights, service automatic window wipers, etc. I eventually can get these settings to go away by manually turning them on but not this time.”
Another complaint says simply: “Shuts off at random and you have to go back into the system setting to turn (it) back on. Has happened twice in the two weeks I have had the vehicle.”
Someone loaning a car from a dealership says that “when we got it pretty much as soon as we were in it and down the road every dashboard warning light popped on and it goes through the process of telling you everything from lane assist to park assist. Nothing works as far as cruise control blind spot warning nothing.”
Having driven the SUV for two weeks, they reported that these issues recur “every single day at least twice a day. Around the same time every day.”
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Complaints about electrical system problems are described as safety issues. For example:
“On Feb 8th, 2022 the four-wheel drive quit working giving (a) message to service 4wd. The front tires turned and the back tires did not turn and the car did not move forward or backward. If this would have happened in an area that was remote and (with) no people around I would have not been able to get help. This is a safety issue as (the) car was inoperable and could have stranded me in a remote location.”
This particular vehicle was leased on December 29, 2021, and the electrical issues started on January 5, 2022. “The screen would not work (and) was unable to control heat, radio, navigation, hands-free, cruise control, etc.”
The lessee was in Tennessee at the time. It was warm and no heat was needed. But heading back to Minnesota, the temperature plummeted. “With no heat in MN at negative 30 degrees, it is unsafe to drive without heat. This is a big safety issue.”
After a week in the service department, it continued to have “daily issues.” After more than another two months in the shop, the lessee was “still having issues”.
Listed under engine and engine cooling problems, this complaint reports “a continuous audible alert coming from the vehicle” while it is parked. No warning lights illuminate and the owner did not know the result of the dealer’s diagnostic test.
Another complaint states: “Back up camera screen (is) totally black when trying to back up at night.”
If you’ve had similar problems or have suffered issues that are completely different, you may believe you have bought a lemon. Lemberg Law can assess your problems and advise whether we can negotiate a settlement on your behalf.
If it’s a lemon law case, it’s not going to cost you anything because the law says Jeep must pay the legal fees. All you need to do is contact our Helpline.
Brian Jones spent more than 30 years working as an ASE Certified Master Tech and Parts Specialist at multiple dealerships. Brian has become an authority in the industry, traveling across the country to consult for car dealerships and contributing his expertise as a writer for several major automotive publications. In his spare time, Brian enjoys working on pickup trucks, muscle cars, Jeeps and anything related to motorsports.
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2022 Jeep Compass Trail Hawk 4WD.
I have the same issues where the emergency braking turns off. Eventually, after pressing the ON icon several times it comes on. I had that system replaced under warranty, and the new unit is better, but it, too, has arbitrarily turned off several times, including today.
My rain windshield sensor makes the wipers go crazy and then slow down. I have had to turn on manual control of the wipers several times.
I have also experienced a variety of issues, which I corrected by turning the engine off, waiting 1 minute, and restarting. I found that the error messages were now off.
I have also had the emergency braking display BRAKE, BRAKE, BRAKE on the dash for no reason.
I’m dealing with ongoing issues, from pretty much day one of buying the jeep compass, They say there’s no code and can’t duplicate it so can’t fix it. I showed videos and pictures of these problems to the dealership because they told me to show them if I could. Well I did and they still say they have to see it for themselves. These are some of the problems I’m dealing with still: Windshield wipers and bright lights don’t work together. If it’s raining out I can’t have bright lights on or the windshield wipers won’t work, It will also say to service auto headlamps. My automatic wipers will come on when they want. They came on 4 times on my way home, it wasn’t raining or snowing.
My bright lights will come on in the city but in the country where it is dark they choose when to come on. The radio monitor: flashes off, outside temperature will say 50 degrees out when it’s only 26 degrees out, so my heated seats and steering wheel won’t come on, changes screens, radio stations, and turns my emergency brake on, and other things off like PED lights etc. now my dash is telling me there’s ice possible on the road when it’s 40 degrees out. My drivers window when I have it down a little and go to close it, it will go down before it will close. Then there’s a tapping noise by my driver’s windshield and visor that anyone you are talking to through Bluetooth can hear. Bluetooth works when it wants to. The other day at stop light the jeep automatically turns off,(this feature only works when it wants to too.) but when the light turned green I stepped on gas and it wouldn’t start, it turned emergency brakes on. I had to put it in park then fight to get the emergency brake off then it still took 2 tries to finally start up again. I just had it in the day before for oil change, tire rotation and filters change. Now they tell me I have a small oil leak by my timing chain. It’s going in for service again this Monday. For everything I mentioned above. Not holding my breath on anything being fixed. Jeep says they won’t lemon law this jeep because it can be fixed. I asked, when are they going to fix it? It’s been in about 6 times. When wipers and head lights don’t work right, and safety features: Pedestrian Crossing shut off, I would say that’s a safety issue. Besides the emergency brake comes on by itself and now it’s dieing at stop lights.
Every time driving in the rain. I get all the messages. Like service auto headlights. Then it pops up forward collision off. Also in stop and go traffic shifting from first to second it clunks.
I’m financing my 2022 jeep compass for a year now brand new and I’ve been having electrical issues. From my back up camera went black, auto head light message and auto start pops up with exclamation beside it also my car chimes and there’s nothing for it to chime for. Also my car thumps when going from a stop position and the dealership only fixed the back up camera and told me there’s nothing wrong with the jeep and to ride it till the wheels fall off! And I’m still under warranty. Please help I’m paying a lot on my jeep.