Car Will Not Start problems of the 2012 Jeep Patriot

The vehicle was purchased approximately two weeks prior to the incident with just shy of 15000 miles on it. Two separate two to three hour trips were made in the vehicle before the incident with no problems. On the tail end of a two and a half hour trip, after cruising between 70 to 75 mph on a major interstate, all of a sudden the vehicle's rpms shot up and the engine lost power. The vehicles behind me nearly rear ended me. I coasted to the shoulder, put the vehicle into park, and turned the vehicle off. I then cranked the vehicle and continued driving. The same incident happened again approximately fifteen miles further. I pulled over, turned the vehicle off, and then turned it back on, attempting to reach my destination if possible. This incident then happened a third time, approximately 5 to 10 miles further, once again on the same interstate, but this time in the middle of city traffic. I coasted to the shoulder and attempted to restart the vehicle. At this point the vehicle would not start. We had the vehicle towed and sent to a dealership where they could not recreate the problem. The cpu did not report any error codes. Each time this happened, I was nearly rear ended as I was cruising at interstate speeds in heavy traffic. The vehicle is still being inspected, but the dealerships cannot seem to recreate the problem, which is a big problem because I will be moving across country in two months and cannot risk this happening again. This vehicle as it stands is a danger not only to the driver but for other drivers on the road near the vehicle.

This is the second incident that I have had with this car. The first incident was very similar. This time I was coming back from arizona into California and I was on the 15 south between barstow and victorville. I was traveling at approximately 70 mph in the left lane. The cruise control was previously, but had been cancelled and I had traveled appr. 10 miles after canceling it. Without warning the throttle revved and became unresponsive. The car stalled and I was unable to get to the right shoulder. I pulled over to the left shoulder. The fuel gauge read halfway between 1/4 and 1/2. The engine would not restart. I called roadside assistance and had the car towed to the dealer in victorville. When the car was taken off the tow truck, I was able to start it again. I drove home the rest of the way. I took the car to the dealership 2 weeks after this incident to have it looked at. The car had not been driven at all since the incident. The dealer ran diagnostic tests and concluded the issue was with the transmission overheating due to mud. I was advised the transmission was designed to shut off if it got too hot with little to no warning. This is the second time this has happened with this vehicle and I have not observed any warning light on the dashboard before the engine cuts off.

We have now had 2 episodes of our 2012 Jeep Patriot suddenly losing power while driving on the interstate at between 65 to 70 mph. The first time was on i39 in southern illinois when the temperature was in the 90s. We were able to pull off on to the shoulder. After several attempts we were able to restart the car and got to the nearest gas station. The indicator showed almost 1/2 tank of gas but after filling up the car ran well. We were listening to the radio and heard a report that several gas stations in southern WI had gotten gas contaminated with water. Since we live in that area we decided that this had been the problem. We did not report the incident. On Sunday, 2/3/13, I was traveling on i94 in WI, temp 6 degrees, between 1/4 and 1/2 tank. . Again, the car began to lose power. I was able to pull off the road, barely, called Jeep for assistance. The Jeep would not restart at first, then, after 10 minutes did restart but wouldn't keep running. I was towed 45 miles to the nearest dealer. In the morning, the car started, the Jeep garage checked it on the computer and found nothing. They thought that the gas line might have frozen up. This did not seem logical, but he did give me verification that it had been checked out and felt the car was safe to drive . I am very concerned about this happening again. We were lucky, but this could have caused a terrible accident.

This is the first of 2 incidents I have had with this car. I was coming back into California from arizona on the 40 west with cruise control on at 75 mph. Without indication, the throttle revved to 4500 rpm and the car lost speed. The engine was unresponsive to the gas pedal. I cancelled cruise control, and from the left lane was able to get over to the right shoulder. When we came to a stop, the engine died. The fuel gauge read just over 1/4 of a tank. The car would not start again. We called roadside assistance and they called a tow truck. The dealership was closed and we had to stay the night in a hotel. The next morning the car was taken to the dealership. The tech found no issues and was able to start the car with no incident. The diagnostic revealed no codes or errors. We were able to drive home the rest of the way. My Jeep is a 4x4 with the trail rated package.