Engine And Engine Cooling Problems of Jeep Compass - part 1

After replacing both batteries in my Jeep Compass 2019. The “stop safely vehicle will shut down” message kept coming on. In traffic the car shut off completely and wouldn’t start. This is a reoccurring issue and Jeep doesn’t care. It needs to be fixed. To shut off completely during driving is a safety hazard!!!.

See all problems of the 2019 Jeep Compass 🔎.

-vehicle would not start several times, this occurred just after purchasing, then battery was replaced and it occurred again over the course of 8 months. -a few days ago after getting the Jeep to start, the rpm would not go >2 and the speed would not increase >20 mph. This happened on pa220 with speed limit of 40mph causing a near-wreck when pulling out onto the road and not being able to accelerate to the flow of oncoming traffic. My 6 year old child was in the vehicle with me. -yesterday I stopped for gas & turned the engine off, then it would not start up again. Another person used their vehicle to jumpstart the Jeep with jumper cables. The dash showed there was a “coolant issue” and to check the engine. The Jeep was inspected today and serviced with no issues to the battery, it was not the cause. -previously on multiple occasions the front screen for the radio would not turn on, has glitched and flickered, would not connect to cords plugged in for carplay, chargers will not charge the phone/connect inconsistently (multiple different chargers, worked in other vehicles/outlets), screen would be black but radio would play and unable to turn off/adjust the volume, screen “buttons” will not work/respond to touch often. I have video of this happening, unable to upload footage to this complaint. Can provide if necessary. -per the service dept at tyrone Ford dealership, the O2 sensor is on along with several other codes regarding this issue. This is a manufacturer’s defect, not a user error. It is a safety concern and is not something the consumer should be held accountable to pay for/fix. This is poor craftsmanship on Jeep’s part and needs resolved on their dime, not a single mother’s.

Failing component: transmission / powertrain. The transmission is jerking aggressively when shifting into gear. Yes, the vehicle is available for inspection. I currently have the vehicle in my possession. How was safety put at risk? the vehicle jerked violently into gear while accelerating from a stopped position at an intersection. The force was strong enough to physically jolt both the driver and passenger. This creates a safety risk due to unpredictable vehicle behavior during acceleration and could lead to loss of control or increased risk of collision. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed? yes – the issue has occurred after the vehicle was returned following transmission replacement. The dealership has attempted multiple transmission replacements, indicating an ongoing unresolved issue. Has the vehicle been inspected by anyone? yes – inspected and repaired multiple times by dealership service department. Transmission has been replaced multiple times, including a failed replacement while still at the dealership. Warning lights or prior symptoms? no warning lights were present. Prior to the failure, a whining noise was present, which was previously reported to the dealership as a suspected transmission issue. The vehicle was brought to a dealership for a transmission-related issue and has undergone multiple transmission replacements. After the most recent repair, the vehicle was returned with the issue unresolved. On March 22, 2026, while accelerating from a stopped position at an intersection, the vehicle jerked aggressively into gear. The force was significant enough to physically jolt both the driver and passenger. Despite multiple repair attempts, the transmission is still not operating correctly. This creates a safety concern due to unpredictable shifting behavior. Additionally, the dealership drove the vehicle approximately 3,000 miles while in their possession, yet the issue remains unresolved.

See all problems of the 2018 Jeep Compass 🔎.

Going into a turn oil light flashed briefly and car completely shut down mid turn this happend 2 times in a month I have previously logged a complaint where the start stop did a similar shutdown in middle of driving this is extremely dangerous the issue is all over the forums on Jeep someone will die as a result of this and nothing is being done its a real life saftey issue!!!.

While driving at any time, the speedometer will instantly drop and the car feels like it's about to shut itself off. After a diagnostic with a mechanic, they stated this was the crankshaft issue; similar to a recall for other 2016 Jeep Compass. My VIN is not currently associated with this recall notice, however based on these safety defects, it seems it should be considered under the recall.

See all problems of the 2016 Jeep Compass 🔎.

This first occurred on 3/10/2026 and then occurred again on 3/15/2026. When driving the coolant temp warning will randomly come on. This causes the car to lock up. After about 30-60 seconds it goes back to normal. This could very dangerous if I were on the interstate that I take every day to work. I am a mechanic, have hooked it up to a computer and there are no codes. I have tried to research it a learned that it is a consistent issue that seems to be common in the Jeep Compass, going back as far as the 2019 model.

See all problems of the 2021 Jeep Compass 🔎.

Oil compsuption.

The engine failed while driving on the expressway putting us in a dangerous spot on the outer lane. It was towed to etscorn’s in louisville, ky and we were told despite everything looking ok on the outside, there was an internal engine failure of some kind and it would cost $900 to take it apart just to find out. I don’t have that kind of money.

2019 Jeep Compass, 65k miles car started having misfires while accelerating and decreasing speeds. It stayed pretty consistent at all speeds! shortly after the car overheated and stated coolant temperature too high. Had it diagnosed and it was confirmed oil is mixing in with the coolant meaning blown head gasket and more than likely engine rebuild/new engine. All regular maintenance has always been done. It is absolutely unacceptable that so many people are reporting this same exact issue and nothing is being done. Every other comment is someone stranded or the vehicle has shut off while driving, for the ones whose engine hasn’t failed they are on the verge of doing so. The investigation into this needs to be reopened, how is this not a major safety concern with an obvious engine defect. Is it gonna take several bad accidents, or worse a death ? this needs to be addressed immediately.

The airbag light keeps coming on. And I regularly diagnose and service my car by the Jeep dealership and the diagnostic scan shows that everything is good with the car, still the airbag light keeps coming up on the dashboard. This is highly concerning and I'm afraid that it might blow up anytime while in driving. The car also has some transmission issue that is not showing up on the diagnostic scan report. But because of this issue I can't and haven't been driving on the highway for 1 year now. Because everything when I drove the highway, after 20 min of driving the car suddenly slows down and does not move forward even though I press the gas pedal. And this happens while I was driving on the highway, in the middle of the highway. It is very dangerous. I think there is a factory fault with this car. And I'd like to get help with this. Thanks.

I was driving to work at about 4:30am and was stopped at a stoplight. When the light turned green I tried to accelarate and the engine stalled. The engine temperature warning light came on. I waited a few minutes and the vehicle started right up.

I was approaching a stoplight and every light on the dash lit up, the car wouldn’t go after stopping and it wouldn’t turn off when put in park. I also couldn’t shift into any other gear. This is seriously dangerous and not the first time I’ve had major mechanical issues with this vehicle.

See all problems of the 2017 Jeep Compass 🔎.

The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 mph, the vehicle stalled. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle, and the vehicle stalled again. The contact waited for several minutes to let the engine cool down and the vehicle eventually returned to normal operation. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was diagnosed and determined that the crankshaft sensor needed to be replaced. The dealer made the contact aware of NHTSA campaign number: 16v907000 (engine and engine cooling); however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 137,757.

My vehicle is experiencing the same symptoms as recall 16v907 (s89). Crankshaft shift sensor but the VIN was not bringing up the recall.

The high coolant temperature light cut on and turned my vehicle off while driving. This problem has been reported on older model Jeep Compasses. The car never turned back on and I had to get my vehicle towed home.

The contact owns a 2017 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while driving 10 mph in the middle lane, the vehicle stopped unexpectedly. While accelerating, there was an abnormal grinding and clanking metallic sound coming from the vehicle. There were no warning lights illuminated. After three hours of being stranded on the roadway, the vehicle was towed to the residence. An independent mechanic determined that the failure was related to the drive shaft, transfer case, and driver’s side front half shaft. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,851.

The vehicle is having issues with power loss while driving and issues with starting at times of cold weather where it cranks very hard for extended periods of time without being able to fully start. I took the vehicle to a local shop to be looked at. They did a diagnostic and physical inspection and identified the issues as a catalytic converter and senor issue. When they looked up the vehicle VIN number is showed two NHTSA recall bulletins: 16v907000 and emissions recall u67. Jeep when I called them to figure out how to address them said that there are no recalls on this vehicle. They wont fix anything. Why are there recalls on the vehicle listed and they are saying there are "none that need fixed". Did Jeep lie when I had it in their shop before and say they fixed them and they were not?.

The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while his wife was driving 35 mph, the vehicle stalled. There was no warning light illuminated. The driver was able to pull over to the side of the road. The driver was able to restart the vehicle after several minutes. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where an oil consumption test was performed, and the vehicle passed the oil consumption test. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle was currently experiencing excessive oil consumption and required 2 quarts of oil after driving 5,000 miles. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 74,000.

Multiple times now at random, car will go from normal temp to overheating on the gauge for a moment. Shuts down in doing so regardless of being driven. Then will instantly think its cooling back down to normal. When it reaches normal it resumes normal driving abilities. While the temp is going up and down on the gauge the center of the cluster tells you "high coolant temperature". No codes or pending codes can be found. Thermostat housing and sensor have been replaced and still occurring at random. Researching online forms, lots of complaints of same issues with no resolve, spending thousands of dollars and trips to dealers and shops to not be resolved. This is a huge safety hazard as you can not move out of the way of others when it happens and occurs both when driving and stopped situations.

I tried the auto start on the fob car would not start I tried to the push start nothing again . Did get warning coolant temp high had to tow car they are investigating.

See all problems of the 2020 Jeep Compass 🔎.

Check engine lights came on, and then a warning saying stop safely, the engine will shut down soon, now it will not start. Leaving me stranded. This happened twice, but now the car won’t start and will need to be towed. I have asked several repair shops and done research online, and nobody knows how to fix this issue.

My vehicle’s engine has shut off completely in the middle of the road twice, both on busy highways. The first time, I was turning left and the engine shut off as I was turning into oncoming traffic and was stuck in the middle of two lanes. Second time, I was stopped at a red light and the engine shut off again. Once the car is turned off and back on, the light for the auto stop/start came on and said to service the stop/start feature. The first incident, I had the car brand new for maybe a week. The second incident just happened last week.

Three times since 8/2025 the vehicle flashed a “coolant temperature too high” warning despite the gauge reading normal and no check engine light. Coolant reservoir was at appropriate line. This immediately caused the vehicle to enter limp mode after idling in the drive thru. The vehicle remained in drive with full power but would not allow me to drive or shift to park until I turned the vehicle off. It would restart and allow me to drive. The 4th incident happened 12/13/25. I was at a red light, idling, and when green light came my vehicle flashed the coolant temperature warning and would not allow me to drive. I was stuck in traffic for 5 mins and had to shut my car off to be able to drive. Thankfully in this situation the person behind me was paying attention and did not slam into me. I recently had the main battery replaced. On my way home last night the warning flashed and my car abruptly went into limp mode while I was actively driving in busy traffic. Thankfully it did not stall and I was able to turn right into a business parking lot. The last two situations could have resulted in accidents and / or injuries and should not be looked over.

On December 9th, my Jeep Compass caught fire in tyson’s corner parking lot (1750 tysons blvd). The fire department believes it came from the engine. No warning signs such as engine lights or temperature overheating prior. The car was parked in a spot when this occurred. My daughter was in the car and smelled smoke, car was turned off, got out and it was smoking and sparking then caught fire. 911 was called during this process and came to the scene. The insurance is aware and deemed it total loss. The police and fire department have records we are trying to obtain. The fire spread to other cars.

The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine overheated, and the coolant hot warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that on several occasions, the vehicle was pulled over and allowed to cool down, and then coolant was added. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that a cylinder had failed, and that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 141,000.

Car starts just fine, I let it warm up, it idles just fine. It is a 6 speed manual, I can reverse out of my driveway and drive 1 block to the stop sign and the car will stall immediately. This has happened more than 10 times in the past month. I have replaced the spark plugs as of yesterday 1/14/2026 and it ran fine all day through busy city and many purposely made stops along my drive and back home. Today 1/15/2026 I went to go to our gas station in town, and the car stalled again at the same stop sign. This time, it would not restart, it shut itself down, and I had to open the drivers door and close it for it tonregister the carvwas shutnoff, and then attempted to restart. No go. We tried the old fashioned push start and pop the clutch and this failed also. I ended up holding the pedal down for it to even sputter. I then waited a minute and retried starting the engine. It sputtered so much I had to give it more gas to keep it running. I made it back to my house and it died turning into the driveway. It will be parked until a solution can be found.

The abs wont go off it constantly stays on I put a brand new battery in it went out about a week later had to jump start it. . . When it rains or snow it is like my wipers and headlights goes crazy and sometimes my backup camera is all blue for no reason. . . I feel like there is something major wrong in the wiring somewhere.

See all problems of the 2022 Jeep Compass 🔎.

Upon engine start up at the home of my s/o, [xx], the warning "service automatic throttle control" appeared on the dashboard. Placing the vehicle into gear first in reverse, then in drive resulted in sudden acceleration and erratic lurching. I had no brakes whatsoever. At one point my s/o nearly hit on the dash per signed affidavit. I had to place my 2024 Jeep Compass in park in order to stop and then slowly maneuver it into a safe parking spot before having it towed to golling Jeep ram Dodge in bloomfield hills, mi. Tech diagnosis two days later showed error code 2299. But the vehicle started and operated as normal. Nothing wrong. After a test drive the next day to be sure, they had me get my vehicle. Although my door sticker gives a manufacturing date of 6/2024, I call your attention to NHTSA recall 24v-240 over throttle control system software. Strangely enough, this exact same malfunction occurred at the same address on [xxx], almost a year earlier. It was towed at that time to suburban jdr in farmington, mi where, again, my vehicle showed the same 2299 code but otherwise, performing well, advising me to come get my Compass. So, both times my 2024 Jeep Compass took control away from me, this time with no brakes, almost injuring my s/o. Fortunately, both incidents happened in her gated community with no pedestrians or traffic. In addition to this intermittent, dangerous malfunction, I owned both a 2018 and a 2021 Compass one of which, like the Dodge ram recall, had a horribly malfunctioning turn signal. The vins: 2018 [xxx] ; and the 2021 #[xxx]. This is real and dangerous. That I can attest to. Sincerely, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2024 Jeep Compass 🔎.

Car would turn on all lights in car while driving and shut off, recently the car will not start at all and is having engine issues.

See all problems of the 2014 Jeep Compass 🔎.

While driving 65 miles an hour down the road my vehicle hit a hard stop( felt like I ran into a brick wall) . Memo on my car popped up, saying service transmission. Being completely stopped and using the gas, it wraps up to four or five rpms just to get me rolling. There’s not much power behind the gas pedal. Thankfully, the person behind me did not tail end me when my vehicle hard stopped.

See all problems of the 2023 Jeep Compass 🔎.

Randomly high temperature warning light comes on dash which causes car to immediately shut off. After a complete stop you are able to restart car. All obvious cooling components fine. This happens often and random putting occupants in serious danger of collision. Has happened on highway and in middle of intersection making a turn. This false warning causing car shutdown happens 5-8 times a month.

While driving the 2020 Compass a message will s poradically appear on the dashboard display about "high coolant temperature" and immediately sends the vehicle power to shut down and after a couple of seconds the error disappears and the temperature returns to normal. It once shut the engine down completely in the middle of the street and I had to put car in park in middle of traffic and then restart it. This happens at all rates of speed - on the highway driving 65 mph or on a city road driving 40 mph. Dates is has happened that I took note 09/11/2025, 10/04/2025, 11/01/2025 and 11/17/2025. It has happened previous to 09/11/2025 as well. It is a serious safety issue to loose power while driving.

The contact owns a 2024 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while driving at 35 mph and started to decelerate unintendedly. The check engine and the throttle system warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was test-driven, but the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was taken back to the local dealer, who informed the contact about the stored codes. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was taken to another local dealer, clay cooley irving Chrysler Jeep Dodge ram (815 e camp wisdom rd, duncanville, TX 75116), where it was diagnosed and determined that a cell was dead and there was an auxiliary battery failure. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure reoccurred. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 13,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while driving at 25 mph, the vehicle stalled with the engine was running and the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact made several attempts to move the vehicle; however, the steering wheel and the gear shifter were seized. The contact called a neighbor to the scene for assistance, and after several attempts, the vehicle restarted, and the contact drove the vehicle to the residence. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to the dealer, where a diagnostic test was performed. The dealer failed to determine the cause of the check engine warning light being illuminated; however, the contact was informed that the steering rack was loose and needed to be repaired. The steering rack was covered under warranty and was repaired. Recently, upon starting the vehicle, the air bag warning light illuminated. The dealer was notified of the failure and an appointment was scheduled to have the vehicle diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

This car has stalled 9 times while I was driving. I live in a very busy, densely populated area where car stalling in the middle of streets can get me badly injured or killed. The car stalls in drive, while I'm braking, and slowly coasts along about an extra 2 feet before completely stopping. I cannot tell that it has stalled because I can't hear the engine, and the dash always says "run" with all the lights lit up. Also, lane assistance comes on when no cars are around and the car just starts braking on its own and slows down with loud bells ringing and flashing lights on the inside of the car. I turned lane assistance off, but it stills comes on by itself. I'm afraid to drive it, but it's all I have and in this city you need a car to get around because nothing is close to home.