2018 Jeep Renegade: What to check before buying

Fires that start while the car is parked and switched off are the most serious problem here. Reports describe smoke and flames from the engine bay, and in one case from the glove box area. These reports include five fires and two injuries. The Uconnect touchscreen is the most common everyday failure. Its surface delaminates and registers phantom touches that change climate settings and place calls. Other screens go blank, taking the backup camera, climate and radio controls with them, sometimes before 50,000 miles. Many filings also describe stalls tied to oil burning.

Heavy oil consumption is the dominant complaint. Owners report adding a quart every 1,000 to 2,000 miles, and some lose two quarts in 750 miles. When the oil runs low, the engine shuts off while driving, often in turns or when stopping. The low-oil warning usually comes on only after the stall, or never. A dash message then asks the driver to shift to park and restart. Problems appear from under 20,000 miles. Dealers often require repeated oil consumption tests before they approve repairs.

Engine shutdowns while moving are the main pattern. The D light flashes, a shift-to-park message appears, and the car coasts to a stop during turns, hard braking, or highway driving. Dealers often link these stalls to low oil. A second group reports harsh, jerky upshifts starting around 32,500 miles. Owners also describe grinding when shifting into reverse on cold starts and a transmission that drops into neutral while climbing hills. One manual-transmission car suffered a sudden clutch failure at 54,000 miles.

Loss of power and stalling are the core complaints, sometimes in traffic at 55 to 60 mph. Owners describe the engine dying with no warning, or the car crawling even with the pedal floored. Dealers have diagnosed failed fuel pumps in several cases, one at 61k miles. Some fuel gauges read a quarter tank or more when the tank is actually empty. Other reports describe hard starts after refueling and stalls in extreme heat. Several dealers could not reproduce the problem.

Fuel pump failure causes a sudden loss of power while driving, often at 50 to 65 mph, with the check engine light on. Reported failures range from about 60,000 to 131,000 miles, and some cars need a tow. Other owners describe cars that won't start after refueling, and stalls in hot weather when the tank is below half. Many of these filings focus on disputes with dealers over campaign coverage rather than on the repair itself.

Brake booster failure is the most dangerous pattern. The pedal hisses, turns hard, then sinks to the floor, with one case around 30,000 miles. Another group finds deeply grooved front rotors while the pads still look new, at 24,000 to 28,000 miles. The electronic parking brake sometimes refuses to release or keeps relighting its warning. Hill assist, ESC and ABS warnings also appear. This category includes two crashes and two fires, one fire following a low-speed rear-end collision.

The power steering locks up at 45 to 55 mph, leaving the wheel very hard or impossible to turn, with hill assist and traction control warnings lit. Other owners see a power steering error at startup and have no assist at all. Most remaining reports describe the engine stalling while driving, which stiffens the steering without warning. A few mention displays switching from miles to kilometers on their own. One complaint is crash-related.

Airbags that fail to deploy in serious collisions account for nearly every report. Owners describe side impacts, T-bone crashes, head-on impacts into a ditch, and highway collisions that totaled the car with no deployment, including the knee airbag. All nine complaints involve crashes, with nine injuries in total. One crash also involved a fire. A single report describes the opposite: airbags firing for no reason and causing a loss of control.

Panoramic sunroof trouble leads this small group. One report describes the front glass panel shattering at highway speed and cutting the occupants. The My Sky sunroof can open but fail to close, sometimes staying stuck open even after repeated dealer repairs. Another owner reports rainwater leaking from the roof onto the dashboard electronics in a car with no sunroof. Two complaints are crash-related, including one involving unexpected acceleration in a parking lot.