CarComplaints.com Notes: How many transmission complaints can a new vehicle really receive? You'd be surprised. Unless you're a 2015 Cherokee owner, then I bet you're not surprised at all.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
13 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
27,075 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Transmission does not downshift smoothly during moving turns at intersections. When approaching a turn and gas is off/brake is on, and still rolling at low speed (~5 mph) and then clear to proceed, brake is off/gas is back on, first shift is very violent, feels like I'm getting re-ended. Also at high speeds when in hill climb and situation where gas off to coast for a bit is required, violent upshift occurs. Feels like I'm being re-ended in both of these scenarios. I fear the transmission will fail on me during one of these slow speed situations in an intersection causing an accident or on the highway leaving me stranded. I have taken it too Jeep dealer here in scottsdale and they say nothing is wrong and that this zf 9 speed transmission is acting normally. I don't agree with that compared to many other cars I have driven over my lifetime. This transmission is not normal. This happens everyday. The only way to make it not do this is to stop for 1 second to allow the transmission to settle and then proceed which is not normal driving. I've owned vehicle for 1 year and behavior happens daily.
My 2015 Jeep Cherokee will go into neutral whilst driving and then traction control light comes on, check engine light, service shifter, then will not drive says to shift to park then put into gear. I do the following and still won't try. Have tried shutting it off turning it back on and nothing works.
The contact owns a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that the power transfer unit (ptu) service light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to oxendale Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram (920 AZ-89A, cottonwood, AZ 86326, (928) 634-3656) and the contact was informed that the vehicle was included in NHTSA campaign number: 20V343000 (power train) which was a software update. The contact stated the service light remained illuminated and was taken back to the same dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the ptu needed to be replaced. The contact was informed that the replacement of the ptu was not included in the recall repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer opened cases on the failures. The failure mileage was 95,442. The consumer stated that the claims were declined by Jeep.
The contact owns a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the power transfer unit warning light illuminated. The contact also stated that the failure occurred when the vehicle was shifted into drive. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the power transfer needed to be replaced. No dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign number: 20V343000 (power train) as a possible solution however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 46,700.
Upon slowing down around 20 mph the vehicle starts to accelerate requiring a harder press on the brake. If I let off the gas around 40 mph the vehicle maintains speed before it starts to accelerate. Eventually the vehicle will jolt and the service transmission light comes on putting it in a limp mode with little forward momentum when pressing the gas. The dealer said its the ABS control module but the factory wouldn't replace it because the dealer couldn't prove it was bad. At that point the 2015 kl trailhawk had around 33000 34000 miles on it and still under warranty.
- Bartlett, TN, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Car shifts itself into neutral intermittently while driving in traffic on multiple occasions driving at various speeds, unable to drive over 20mph after finally getting it in gear
While driving 30-55mph on multiple occasions the car lost all powersteering and the engine shut off for no apparent reason! terrifying experience, wouldn't restart for about 15 minutes on the side of the highway with no check engine light set before or after no other driveability problems present during this time
Auto shut down while in left turn lane, waiting for light to turn green. Auto seems to stall out after idling (ie: After leaving drive thru, traffic light). Will not restart, all dash indicators come on. Air, radio, windows still functioning. Had help pushing car out of traffic. 55 minutes later in 117 degrees auto started. Next morning auto would not start, all dash indicators come on again. Had use the key fob trick to start. This has happened in 2019 as well first time, May 1, 2019, towed to dealership, left there for 2 days, nothing found.
This ZF9 transmission is a huge piece of junk and doesn't just impact the Jeep Cherokee kl. I've owned my 2015 Cherokee since new and it has never shifted properly. Dealership replaced at less than 1,000 miles and won't do anything else except a "quick learn" procedure which is bogus and wastes my time. It clunks/slams gears between dog clutches, I have to floor it to get it to downshift (and it'll go from say, 5th gear to 2nd gear, causing peel outs), the shift quality is awful especially in lower gears; it hesitates between R and D (sometimes 2-3 seconds), and doesn't get any better after several dealership visits. Sometimes it's as if the car is confused and lets me rev close to 4K RPM before it figures itself out. I missed out on the class action lawsuit - please NHTSA do something. These Cherokee continue to have faulty transmissions and I'm tired of fca blaming zf and zf blaming drivers and manufacturers. This has been an absolute unmitigated disaster and I'll never own another vehicle with a zf transmission. Jeep dealerships have no idea what they're doing. How has zf remained unscathed? this is a huge safety liability - if my vehicle can't utilize the transmission it was given correctly then it's an unsafe vehicle. The biggest safety issues: 1. I cannot merge normally onto the highway - I have to floor it to downshift and in many times it's too much power and causes torque steer. 2. it does not downshift correctly when slowing down, which causes the car to almost stall mid-turn until again, I floor it, and it peels out around the corner. Absurd.
I was at a red light trying to make a right turn. Suddenly, the car stalled. My steering wheel was also frozen that could not be turned anymore. The dashboard displayed "shift the gear to P". my steering wheel was also frozen that could not be turned anymore. After I did that, I was able to restart the car. This happened on a city street but still very scary due to stalling. I checked online and it seems there was a recall about stalling before, but I was not contacted by Jeep; and I did not send my car anywhere for this matter.
I received the recall on the 2015 Jeep trailhawk. This is regarding the ptu and roll away problem. Chrysler admits that it has no remedy for this problem. A computer patch is it. That is not acceptable when you don't know that it will work. This manufacturer should be made to buy back these vehicles. First it was the defective transmission that is now replaced in my car. The same defective transmission that was in there before. Doesn't your organization have any power to force these manufacturers to buy back these cars as these vehicles are defective and unsafe to drive. The other day I started the car in park and it said that I was in 4 wheel drive.consumers pay a lot of money for a car and the manufacturers put out junk. Someone needs to stand up for the consumer.
While driving vehicle on highway at 55 mph dash lights start blinking on then off several times. As I lifted my foot off the accelerator the vehicle completely shut off right in the middle of the highway! I shifted into neutral and restarted engine. Then as I stopped at a red light the engine shut off again while auto start /stop was disengaged as I restarted the auto start stop light came on and vehicle started. I continued to drive the vehicle. As I drove the dash lights continued to flash on and off, now the engine light came on and will not go out? the vehicle is a safety hazard to both my family and other motorists, as to the fact that the engine shuts down at will with out notice or warning of any type. Thank you please help me I do not want to die from a crash because of this problem!
When driving, the service shifter light will come on and then all of the lights on the gear shifter (P, R, N, D,1,2) come on. You have to put the car in park and shut it off to clear the issue. You also have to deal with the concern that the shifter won't work when you try to switch modes.
An error that continues to come and go is to 'service shifter.' It is apparent there are moments that the shifter sputters, the car will not shift gears (automatic) and refuse to accelerate. The check engine light also comes on for this. Deal ships do not seem to act aware of this issue, but it seems extremely prevalent online. It appears to be based on a faulty shift in the vehicle or bad wiring. However, the deal ships act like nothing is wrong but will change it for you for around $7,000. The car sputtering and refusing to shift while trying to accelerate is extremely dangerous from faulty components and needs to be investigated. It's clear a recall is needed for this.
The contact owns a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while attempting to accelerate from a stop, the vehicle hesitated with the service transmission message displayed on the instrument panel. The failure recurred while driving up an incline. The cause of the failure was not determined. Gulfgate Chrysler located at 7250 gulf fwy, houston, tx (281) 477-6767, was contacted and notified of the failure. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign number: 20V343000 (power train) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 79,000.
My child purchased vehicle (used) from dealer (mi.- approx.43,820).discovered powertrain issues w/ vehicle that I believe are related to previous recall (re:Chrysler recall # S55). While driving vehicle it will go into neutral and engine revs up, resulting in loss of forward motion. This happens intermittently.the check engine light and service trans. May come on, but will go out. Vehicle was taken back to dealer regarding the problem. Serviceman reccomended replacing transmission at a cost of over $5000. Prior recall service on vehicle (11/2016) shows the problem as the transaxle range sensor wire harness, but the PCM and the tcm was re-programmed. This was done twice according to the vehicle records. We spoke with the dealer and mfg.about replacing the wiring harness, since the recall indicated that could possibly be the problem due to bad crimping. Took the vehicle back to the dealer to diagnose the problem. They indicated that they checked the wiring harness and found no problem. It appears the dealer and mfg.not willing to take ownership of problem, leaving the consumer (my daughter) with a continuing intermittent issue and the cost of resolving it...(very disappointed!) also, the vehicle still has the trouble code that they can't clear (code= P1db7) note that the vehicle had less than 100,000 mi when this issue was bought to their attention, but mfg. Won't honor powertrain warranty because she is not the original owner. Dealer willing to replace trans. At cost of over $5000...
Our 9 speed transmission causes the car to jolt and jerk every time we drive it when switching gears or when at a stop and then driving. Also, does the same with the star/stop feature. This can cause a major accident if not fixed! Jeep dealership says they get multiple complaints about this issue weekly since the 9 speed transmission has many issues with it and was used on 2014-2016 Jeep Cherokee. We have taken the car to the dealership over 10 times throughout the past couple years to get the transmission fixed but the only way to solve this issue is to replace it with an 8 speed transmission.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Scottsdale, AZ, USA