2022 Jeep Compass: What to check before buying

The instrument cluster goes dark or stays stuck in night mode during the day, so drivers cannot read speed or fuel level. Many reports also describe the engine shutting off at a stop and the parking brake setting itself, which forces a restart from park. Other symptoms include an electronic throttle warning with lost acceleration, a center screen that flashes or resets, a lagging or blue backup camera, and an alarm that will not stop. Dash problems often begin within the first few thousand miles. One crash with an injury is reported.

Despite the category name, nearly all of these reports are about dashboard and touchscreen brightness. The displays are either too dim to read in daylight or stuck at full brightness at night, which throws glare onto the windows. The manual dimmer often does nothing. Several owners say a dealer repair or software update did not last. Others were told no repair was available or that parts could not be ordered, and some waited weeks for service. A few reports mention a turn signal that will not cancel or an overly bright low beam.

The car loses power or stalls, often while pulling away from a stop. The drive light flashes, a transmission or start/stop warning appears, and the parking brake engages on its own. One of these events led to a minor rear-end crash. Owners also report hard or delayed shifts, lurching at low speed, and a jolt when accelerating just before coming to a full stop. Dealer software updates and replacement parts often fail to fix it. Isolated reports include a front axle separating at the CV joint and a 4WD failure that left the car unable to move.

Most complaints here are about the engine stalling when the auto start/stop system tries to restart it. The engine shuts off at a light and does not restart when the driver lifts off the brake. Sometimes the parking brake sets itself and a service shifter message appears. Getting going again usually means shifting to park and pressing the ignition again. Owners report near rear-end collisions. Separate reports describe sudden overheating that required a tow, and a stall at highway speed after which the car would not restart.

This small group covers overheating, stalling, and a stuck alarm. In one report, a head gasket failure came back after it was repaired, at 59,920 miles. Another describes a stall with a start/stop message, a blank screen, a blinking drive indicator, and the parking brake engaging without warning. A third describes a continuous alert sounding while the car was parked. Dealers could not duplicate or resolve these problems.

Driver-assist systems shut themselves off or show service warnings, often shortly after the car is started. Blind spot, automatic emergency braking, and active lane management messages tend to appear together, and some clear only after a restart. Owners also report phantom braking with nothing ahead, lane assist that does not keep the car in its lane, and all audio, including safety chimes, fading to near silence on long drives. Dealers often find no fault. One crash happened when a backup alert did not sound.

Two problems stand out. The first is a clunk or click from the steering column or front left corner that keeps coming back after dealers replace the steering column, the rack, or the front axles. The second is the car pulling or steering on its own, including lane assist tugging the wheel toward other lanes. One crash with an injury involved the wheel spinning by itself at low speed. Owners also report a steering wheel that is locked at startup while the car will not move in gear. Some reports in this group describe stalling or hard shifting.

Automatic emergency braking stops the car when nothing is ahead, including at highway speed. Collision warning and pedestrian braking also switch themselves off, sometimes every day, and cruise control, lane departure, and blind spot warnings can drop out with them. Problems begin very early, even on brand-new cars. Dealers usually cannot reproduce the fault. One report describes a car stuck in park that would not shut off until rescuers forced it into neutral.

Nothing deploys in serious crashes, according to all three reports in this group. They include a rollover after a rear-end impact and a crash where the car was pushed into the vehicle ahead. Two drivers were injured, one with a fractured arm. Two of the vehicles were declared total losses. The number of reports is small, but each one describes a severe impact where no air bag deployed.