10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
98,563 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.

2003 Jeep Liberty drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2003 Jeep Liberty Owner Comments

problem #12

Dec 242019

Liberty

  • 182,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I am the second owner of this vehicle, when I acquired it, I had it serviced at the dealership and they preformed all recall work. It has been kept serviced and up to date on any recall work since. During the day on christmas eve 2019 I was returning home from a visit at my mother's home and suddenly lost control of the Jeep. There was loud noise and things breaking off the vehicle as I fought to control it and pull over. Upon inspection, saw the passenger side front wheel had come loose from the suspension, tore off the fender wheel well and broke a piece off the right-side running board. Undriveable, I had it towed to my mechanic. Unfortunately, they were closed until after new years. In early January I found out the diagnosis was a sheared lower ball joint failure. I looked in my files and found that this was one of the recalls that had been preformed to the vehicle. Safety recall F23- lower ball joints was done on 8/1/2006. Obviously, you assume this problem is resolved and the vehicle is safe after the work is done. I luckily was traveling at 30mph, and not at highway speed, so I have only encountered a financial burden. (about $4K for rental, repair & bodywork) I am sure if I was going faster or in traffic, I would have been injured or killed. How do the thousands of Jeep Liberty owners still on the road who are up to date on recalls confidently drive their vehicles if the recall work fails in the exact manner described as the problem meant to be fixed by the recall? I've been driving for close to 40 years and have never had any vehicle suffer a catastrophic failure resulting in a crash before this.

- Stoughton, MA, USA

problem #11

Sep 082018

Liberty

  • 123,000 miles
Vehicle will not move in any direction except reverse. We drove to a store and when reversing out of parking spot, the vehicle seized in reverse and wouldn't shift to drive initially. We managed to drive home and pulled into driveway. When we went into reverse to adjust vehicle position, it wouldn't move when we shifted to drive. We had to drive car in reverse around our loop in order to park car. We just had to have car towed to repair shop and are now waiting to find out cost to repair. I am reading about numerous complaints over the course of years with no recalls established or offers of repair. This is unacceptable for a company to be aware of an ongoing issue and not extend repair solutions.

- Spring Hill, FL, USA

problem #10

Mar 172016

Liberty

  • 120,000 miles
Takata recall I am on my second rear gear in my freedom edition with the limited slip differential. They seem to start whinnying around120,000 miles the differential bearings start to abnormality wear causing the ring and pinion to wear prematurely which cause the gearing to slip wearing the teeth it's a very costly fix at 1,000 just for that type of special rear end the danger of it is the teeth could permanently slip on take off causing the flowing vehicle to rear you which could allow another serious problem of the Liberty not having proper rear protection on low speed impact which could cause fire

- Spokane, WA, USA

problem #9

Oct 132016

Liberty

  • 135,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Takata recall I am steadily burning through front drive shaft assemblies where it goes into the transfer case. The bearing head keeps failing by throwing the bearings through the assembly, I have owed the vehicle for 2 years and have replaced it twice with the same parts failing. The part seems to just go with no warning and when the assembly comes apart it would leave the front shaft spinning since the Jeep has full time locked hubs which could cause it to go through the floorboard or send bullet type projectiles through the assembly metal which could damage other components

- Spokane, WA, USA

problem #8

May 062017

Liberty

  • 116,000 miles
When decelerating through 30 mph, clump sound and slight jerk. Accelerates through 30 mph smoothly.

- Richmond, VA, USA

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problem #7

Jul 152013

Liberty

  • 137,000 miles
The contact owns a 2003 Jeep Liberty. While driving at various speeds, the speedometer became inoperable and the check engine warning light illuminated intermittently. In addition, the contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle stalled as the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed that the speedometer and rear center differential sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The contact mentioned that the speedometer sensor was replaced six times. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 137,000.

- Lumberton, TX, USA

problem #6

Dec 172013

Liberty 6-cyl

  • 53,196 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While I was driving westbound on Washington avenue approaching main street the transmission began slipping. Upon closer examination I discovered the transmission fluid was leaking along the fresh fallen snow behind me.

- Pearl River, NY, USA

problem #5

Apr 072011

Liberty

  • 63,907 miles
Applied brakes to stop vehicle, put transmission into park, turned key off, removed key, opened driver door, took foot of brake pedal, exited vehicle, started to walk behind vehicle, noticed vehicle drifting towards me, opened driver door, attempted to jump in to apply brakes, tumbled halfway out of vehicle (strained neck and knee), pulled myself in by the steering wheel, applied brake as vehicle hit parked pickup truck, started vehicle, moved back into previous parking space, applied brakes, put transmission into park, turned off key, took foot of brake pedal, vehicle started to drift (again), applied foot brake and emergency brake, vehicle stopped.

- Port Vue, PA, USA

problem #4

Apr 232010

Liberty 4WD 6-cyl

  • 91,000 miles
Going 60mph, my engine light flashed then vehicle died. I was stuck on the freeway, after a minute was able to restart (though car shaking badly) and get to the side. It was immediately towed to the mechanic, and they diagnosed a broken valve spring, and said it's an extremely rare occurrence for a vehicle this age. It"S a 2003 Jeep Liberty with 91000 miles. Other than the valve spring, the engine is in great condition. There's concern about replacing it because he feels it could be a factory defect, and there"S another spring valve, so we're deciding whether to replace both, or the whole engine. In researching we've found this seems a common problem with Liberty's 2002-2005, and I assume only a small percentage of people are actually writing about it. The mechanics talked to say they've seen it before in the Liberty's too. A good site for comments about the Liberty's is www.carsurvey.org/reviews/Jeep/Liberty/R95082/comments/. also found; 1)replacement parts listed are refurbished, or new. There's no refurbished available, only new. Could mean there's a flaw so they wouldn't want to refurbish the old ones, because you would have the same problem, so a new one, with better components are the only ones available. 2)I stated the flaw seems to appear 2002-2005, and when looking at the valve spring 2003 part# vs 2006 part#, 2006 the number changed, which might mean they figured it out, and put the updated part in the 2006 model. It seems to be the intake valve, not exhaust valve with defect, and in the 2003/2006 part numbers the intake# is different, but exhaust# is the same. I called Jeep nat'L customer complaint center, filed complaint, was given the runaround, and was told because my mechanic was not Chrysler, they couldn't trust his findings. I was repeatedly told my car was old, yet alot of people reported the same thing; their mechanics say it?S a very rare occurrence that a valve spring breaks, especially with the mileages being reported.

- Edmonds, WA, USA

problem #3

Sep 032009

Liberty

  • 81,000 miles
I own a 2003 Jeep Liberty and have had it for 2 years now and have every problem you can think of. My warranty recently expired 6,000 miles ago. My warranty expired at 75,000 miles and at 78,000 miles my air conditioner broke and had to replace that it cost me $900. Just yesterday may car would not shift passed second gear, I have an automatic transmission, I noticed it when I was getting on the highway. Lately I have been noticing that the transmission seems to be slipping but never could find the problem because my transmission fluid was always fine. So yesterday I went to aamco transmissions and they said it was the tcm so they told me it would cost $440 total. So they went to order the part but come to find out no one has it and the place that has all the tcm parts wont ship them till the 24th of September. So here it is September 3rd and I wont have my car fixed for the whole month of September. I don't understand why they wont ship them now. Also, they told me that they have been selling out of tcm fast because everyone is always needing them.

- Westfield, MA, USA

problem #2

Aug 152003

Liberty

  • 73,000 miles
Intermittent failure to start leading to complete failure so the 2003 Jeep Liberty had to be towed to the dealer. After over $500 dollars worth of work to replace the main computer module the Jeep started for only 10 days, then the intermittent trouble returned, they replaced the battery, the Jeep had no problems now its dead, they have replaced the ignition switch, now the tumbler and new keys, the total is at $300+ and still have a dead Jeep. There are 100S of complaints just like this one on the web indicating something is defective!! please help!

- Atlanta, GA, USA

problem #1

Aug 152003

Liberty

  • Automatic transmission
  • 7,654 miles
Transmission is leaking, brakes squeal when you are backing up. They say it is from dew. It's in the garage at night. The steering is my main concern.it pulls so hard to the right. It's an accident waiting to happen.

- Bartlesville, OK, USA

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