Four problems related to battery dead have been reported for the 2015 Jeep Renegade. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The headlights were on too long while the engine was off causing a dead battery. No big deal I thought. . . I jumpstart the car per owners manual instructions (it has a complex battery so even though I've jump started many different vehicles I wanted to make sure there weren't special procedures, it ended up being pretty standard). When it died it was in a garage so I had to manually unlock the gear selector to put the car into neutral to push it into position for a jump connection. I put the car in park and let the battery charge up a while. Once the car charged up enough, it started right up. At this point I thought I was in the clear, that's when the service engine light and service transmission light came on. The engine is running fine, transmission was fine before the battery died. Not only that, but I could not move the vehicle. It was locked into park. I was blocking the road in my neighborhood while I was manually unlocking the gear selector, I finally get the car to shift into drive and tried to accelerate. Only the engine would rev, no movement. Try to reverse, same thing. At this point I couldn't get the car back into park. I push the car back into the garage to get it out of the way and go to turn it off. The Renegade (push button start) will not let you turn the car off in any gear but park. It was stuck in neutral. After struggling more to force it back into park, I finally get it and was able to turn the car off. I'm lucky it didn't get stuck in d or r if it started working! I've never had such an experience jumpstarting a car and this is a huge safety concern. Luckily I was strong enough to push the car back out of the way, otherwise it would be stuck there indefinitely until a tow came. I've read numerous other complaints of this in online forums. Each one said a dealership had to reset the cars computer to make it work again.
I have owned this 2015 Jeep Renegade 4wd for just over one year. During this time frame, the battery has died three times; once leaving my family stranded 40+ miles from our home. The key fobs continuously fail to work. Meaning, you are stuck manually unlocking each door. . . And when the key fob is not working, neither does the electric switch on either of the four door panels. Obviously several years back, most vehicles had manual locks and windows. . . But this is 2016 and a vehicle that is only one year old with under 10,000 miles. For a battery to die three times and the key fobs to continuously fail, there is an obvious electrical issue with the Jeep Renegade. There is nothing worse than being stranded. . . And from a safety aspect, a key fob should be far more reliable than what Jeep offers.
Engine hesitates when trying to accellerate from just stopped to 30mph and gear feels like it is in a lower gear than it is even though it is an automatic. Dashboard completely flickers all areas of operation until finally showing mph. When I purchased vehicle brand new, it had to be towed into dealer next morning. Dealer stated battery was dead and needed charged as well as there being little to no oil in vehicle. I have never encountered this with a new vehicle before. Also the mesh from the passenger door is separating from the handle as of 1 week from purchase.
Power door locks stopped working 9-17-15. Went to dealer 9-22-15, they said that key fob was bad, new one on order. Turn on front wipers the back wiper will turn on sometimes, with the back wiper switch off. The car sat idle for 8 days, the battery was dead. I tried to start could'nt get key out of ignition. Had to jump battery 3 times with battery pack to get car started. When battery went dead the car computer reset and my power door locks now work with key fob. Waiting to see how long car will run, can't trust it.