general problems of the 2018 Jeep Cherokee - part 1

The rear defroster or related electrical wiring in the rear glass/liftgate area appears to have malfunctioned and shorted, causing a fire while the vehicle was parked, turned off, and unattended. The fire resulted in the rear glass shattering/blowing out. The incident was recorded on a residential security camera. This posed a significant safety risk because the fire started while the vehicle was off, creating danger to occupants, bystanders, nearby vehicles, and surrounding property. There were no prior warning indicators, messages, or symptoms known before the failure. A dealership has inspected the vehicle and provided a repair estimate consistent with failure in the rear defroster/rear glass area. The vehicle and damaged components should be available for inspection. Based on the observed damage and location of the fire, this appears to be an electrical short involving the rear defroster system or related wiring.

Ptu/transfer case issues under 50,000 miles, Jeep randomly shuts off 4wd in dangerous areas without any warning.

The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated while operating the vehicle, the instrument panel light, dome light, and center console continuously flickered off and on with the battery voltage charge erroneously fluctuating up and down from 10 to 14 volts. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced the alternator, but the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the local dealer who determined that the pcm was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The contact was informed that the VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 18v524000 (electrical system). The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 133,000.

All lights on the gear shift light up and a message on the display says service shifter. Happens randomly. Have to turn car off and back on to get to clear. Yesterday I had to turn car off and back on 3 times before error would reset. Found online this is happening to a lot of Jeep Cherokees and most common fix is to replace the shifter bezel and wiring. So I replaced the shift bezel and wiring harness yesterday.

Service shifter message and all gear indicator lights on prnd. Seeing common problem and a technical bulletin on 2014-2018 Jeep Cherokees.

I have had the service shifter warning light come on after I start the vehicle. The most recent incident is today. Sometimes it comes on and I cannot start the vehicle. I have also had it come on and then my vehicle dies. The I have taken it in and been told no code comes up so nothing is wrong. But clearly something is wrong.

The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle shut off unintendedly. The contact stated that while at a traffic light or while slowing down, the vehicle shut off unintendedly. The contact stated that after ten minutes, the vehicle was restarted but shut off while approaching a stop. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who determined that the failure was due to the battery. The battery was replaced, but the failure recurred. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 117,000.

Service shifter message appears on screen over speedometer. All the gears light up red on the shifter. Unable to change gears unless you turn off the car and restart. Happens multiple times per year. When you search the internet this is a common occurrence and nothing is being done about it.

There is an issue with the car pertaining the gear shifter and the way it effects the engine . There are currently 2k parts on back order for this same issue . Center shifter bezel parts number 5yd27ls5aaa.

Error popped up on the dash saying service shifter, all the lights on the gears lit up. First occurrence, I was able to turn the car off and the error went away. 1 week later, it came back and has not gone away. Was unable to put car into drive.

Randomly and more often occurring, I turn on my vehicle and it tells me "service shifter" and all of the lights on the shifter turn red. I can restart the vehicle and it may or may not come back. This happened to me when I first bought the vehicle and they told me that they could not get the message to come up. Oddly enough, the message did not come up for years until just recently it has been happening again. My center console screen between my speedometer and my odometer just says "service shifter".

The shift lever lights are all illuminated red, the shift service message appears on the dashboard, the error appears and disappears.

All lights on shifter light up red (p, r, n, d) and an error message of "service shifter. " come to find a lot of people are having this same issue.

I keep getting a “service shifter” message and all gears light up red. This has now happened about 15 times. I asked a dealership about it, but they said they would have to correct all of the wiring. I saw that many other Jeep Cherokee owners also experience this same issue and it does not go away.

This was a Jeep sold to me with active recalls.

Service shifter light comes on intermittently. Have noticed a “catch” that occurs at times when accelerating when the light is on but not every time.

Last week we noticed steering wheel controls not working, steering wheel heater . . Cruise control ,, hands free,controls today took in to Jeep dealer in superior WI was told it is the clock spring , squib,, said that we have to replace entire unit including new airbag . . As we do not know for sure if until the work done ,air bag would deploy as per dealer ,he isn't 100 percent sure. ,and the entire thing has to be replaced at a hefty cost of 1000. 00 as well as safety , being told that other larger trucks and Jeep models have had this as a recall I contacted Jeep and they said nothing they can do ,, but to hang on to receipts in the event of a future recall. . We do not feel that they are treating this as the safety issue that it truly is . This is after we have had rear driver caliper replaced over heating and seizing , at 800. 00. Also been told this is common for Jeep and another safety issue as well . The dealer said both are recall worthy on this vehicle . This has been all within 50 -60,000 miles. . We feel something needs to happen here before someone gets killed. Thank you.

The trunk has leaks coming in. It happened 1 year ago and it is now happening again. Last year Jeep charged me almost 4 thousand dollars to replace the computer system because of a leak coming in and shorting the wires. It took 3 months for them to fix. I now see a similar issue was recalled in a year previous model of my car.

Service shifter notification comes on, all lights on shifter light up. I’ve had it “fixed” 2 times under warranty and it continues to do it. Owned since 2017 and this has happened more times than I can remember. Dealership has little answers. Eventually car will begin sputtering, all service lights come on, you lose control of brakes and steering and have to pull over. Turn off, take key out, open door. Let it sit. Turn back on and typically will drive fine until the next time. All supposedly related to service shifter.

My Jeep will stall without warning. If I turn, it stalls out, brake it stalls, turn the vehicle on hit the gas to go and step off the gas it stalls. Sometimes it won’t start or it will start then stall out. It’s without warning and has had me left on the side of the road multiple times after pushing it out of the way or trying to get it to start again. I’ve had the computer plugged up to it and even the mechanics said they haven’t seen this before. I’ve had the individual parts to the engine tested, they work just fine such as alternator. I will just randomly lose power while driving. I also have the random gear shifter error that it seems every Jeep owner is going through.

I am getting random "service shifter" fault message displayed. No apparent fault or change when driving. Contacted Jeep dealership and am told this is very common issue with no long term fix. Fix the problem please.

Engine failure 3 out of 4 cylinders not working 122,000 miles on car and regular service for oil changes and maintenance.

I believe the shifter bezel is faulty. When pulling out of my drive way backwards a service shifter light came on and caused me to get stuck sideways and having multiple cars nearly tbone be because the hazard lights wouldn’t turn on after. I can’t even drive because of this incident I don’t feel safe in this Jeep!!! I called Jeep in elk grove California and they never heard of it, however I’ve found over 500 issues on reddit and other forum sites of people having the same issue but more at 16,000 miles! no because I don’t have the money to fix their faulty product. The light “service shifter” appeared right when I put it into drive then everything went to shit.

Turn into our street, windshield whippers came on. Fuse blown, take out still stay on. Kept changing them, fuse kept blowning. Replace mod with turn single, wheel part. Pic sent. Worked two weeks, did it again. Now they are saying it's the radio is pulling to much, relay needs to be replace the radio. Which mileage, radio, back up camera, whatever else is connected together causing the problem. This safety problem because back up could hit someone or something, whippers just coming on scared, hurting window, windshield whippers it self if dry out. This should be recall and concern. I don't understand why this not. Jow it's taken so long figure out problems at car place. They took the SUV apart still cant figure problem out. Thank you carolyn odom.

In the beginning of July, the parking brake engaged on its own and a warning came up on the dash. It took some jockying to get the brake to disengage but it continued to happen. We took it to the dealer where purchased who told us that the parking brake control module was damaged by water and that bedause of this the extended warranty that we purchased for a few thousand dollars would not cover it (even though we were told it covered everything). The dealer wanted $2000 to fix it. I took the Jeep to a qualified mechanic whom I deal with, and he replaced the the control unit. We picked up the car and a week or so later the brake came on again. We took it back to the mechanic who dug deeper and found out that the body of the car was leaking, and water had run down and into the control unit again. It is now November (going on five months!) and we still do not have the car back because he is waiting for the part to come in. I'm a pretty patient person but this is ridiculous. I'm paying for a car that I haven't had for five months and then I'm told this is a common issue with Jeeps and no warranty will cover it. I sincerely beleive this should be arecall issue by Jeep. Especially when they cannot get me a part to fix it for months! any help you can render is much appreciated. Thanks.

While driving I receive warnings I need to service my shifter. Warning stays on instrument panel and disables all other settings and screen. Also all lights light up on shifter unable to see which gear the car is in. This is still happening even after I get my oil change. And they reset the oil change.

The infotainment screen flashes a warning on red screen "911 car phone malfunction contact dealer". It has done this intermitently for the past couple of weeks. A few times I've started the vehicle and the screen is black, no back up camera, no a/c, no back up warning tone (I back up the vehicle from parking spot using the mirrors and the screen comes on a few minutes after vehicle is moving). I am concerned because I don't know what else isn't working and if something electrical will fail while driving. A couple of weeks ago I made an appt with the local Jeep dealer and today was told I need a new radio at the cost of at least $1250 (the dealer has ordered a new radio could take a couple days to a few weeks he wasn't sure). When researching this problem online I saw numerous compaints similar to mine but I don't know if anyone has reported the issue to the NHTSA because the dealer states its a bad "radio" . . . But if the 'radio' controls the backup camera, the climate controls and other functions on the screen it seems like more than just a radio problem to me. The vehicle has 55,000 miles so the screen hasn't been used excessively like a vehicle used for long distance daily commutes.

This vehicle is designed to be a flat tow vehicle for a class a motorhome. No one made me aware of the death wobble and this caused an accident which could have been deadly. We did 13,000 dollars in damages to my motorhome and Jeep. After hours of research I found this to be a common problem from Jeep. I contacted the local Jeep service department and they were not aware of this. Come to find out there is a Jeep part to correct the problem, at a cost of $286. 39 and a labor charge of $460. 00 to install. If Jeep is aware of this problem, why are they not advising the public to not flat tow this Jeep until the necessary parts are installed. There is nothing in the manuals regarding this problem!.

At exactly 37000 miles my service “shifter light” comes on every 4-5 days. I’ve noticed in the warmer months it comes on more frequently. During the cold winter it came on twice. It’s becoming warmer again and it’s popping up often. My husband has a 2017 Jeep Cherokee with the same exact issue. Our dealership gave us no answer to this problem. Not sure why, I just hope this doesn’t cause a major issue or hopefully a recall soon to fix this!.

The service shifter light keeps coming on. Sometimes when stopped in traffic the vehicle’s transmission will shift from drive, to some unknown position, then the engine will stall out when attempting to go forward with traffic. The car will then not start and the shifter will not allow any gear shifting to be done. Can not be put into neutral in order to be push or easily towed. This has happened 4 time within the past 18 months. Each time the dealership acts surprised and responds that they have never heard of a service shifter issue before. They tried a software update, which didn’t help. They also stated that they could replace several parts that added up to over $2000. Stated it wasn’t their problem since it is out of warranty. Yes, it is available for inspection. Always being out in risk at busy intersections due to a potential of being hit in the rear end of the car because people expect your car to be moving. Have had several cars swerve at the last minute barely missing me. And having to exit the vehicle is even more dangerous. Yes, the dealer has seen the issue along with an independent repair shop. Service shifter message is on most of the time but no one really knows how to fix it.

2018 Jeep Cherokee the power transfer unit malfunctioned and had to be replaced. A warning light indicated that there was an issue. It cost more than $5000 and the part was on back-order for 2 months. The dealer explained that they had so many power transfer unit replacements they could not repair my car unit the back-ordered part arrived. I also paid $2000 or more in rental car fees during that time. This all occurred only a few months after the manufacturer's warranty had expired. The repair was completed at the dealer. I am filing this complaint because Jeep Cherokees from 2017 had a recall for power transfer units. My car was built in 2017. I believe the power transfer units in some of the 2018 Jeep Cherokees are also faulty. There are many, many posts online regarding this issue. I appreciate that you are able to look into this. Best regards.

Constant overheating , I have replace the cooling system 3 times.

Was driving and "service 4wd" came on, no change in the driving, then went off and comes back. Now I'm getting "service shifter" no change in the driving but all the lights on the shifter (p, r, n, d, +/-) are all red and display won't move from service shifter.

I believe TSB 08-054-18 does not take seriously enough the danger of an automatic car shutting off mid drive. Only by luck did I avoid being hit on a small road. This has happened pretty much every year of owning the car but I thought it was a fuel/oil issue related to weather until the shifter messages popped up this year.

As I am driving the service shifter notification comes on and all my shifter lights come one and I can’t see the dash board. I have to pull over and turn the engine off to cut it back on. This is an ongoing issue Jeep says they didn’t find anything or I just need my oil changed.