2020 Jeep Renegade: What to check before buying

The Uconnect touchscreen goes black, glitches, shows white lines or a discolored center, and takes the backup camera with it. One report says the fault returned after the unit was replaced, and another says it began in summer heat. A second pattern is more dangerous. The car shuts off while driving, sometimes at freeway speed, and some reports say it drops into park on its own. Restarts can be hard, and dealers often find nothing or point to a loose battery terminal. One crash and one injury are reported. A car that keeps running after shutdown and a stuck sunroof also appear.

Stalling at speed is the main complaint, often with no check engine light and no stored codes when the dealer looks. In one crash, the car stalled during a slow turn and rolled backward into another vehicle. Oil problems come up often: burning about a quart every 1,000 miles, plus leaks traced to the vacuum pump and gasket. Cooling fans break or quit, leading to overheating, coolant leaks, and shaking at idle. Other reports describe limp mode with high revs at low speed and a low-compression engine that needed replacing at about 80,000 miles.

Acceleration is the main problem. The car hesitates, then surges hard enough to jerk passengers, or it jerks and slips at 40 to 50 mph. One report describes a loss of power with check engine and service transmission lights at under 8000 miles. Some cars stall while driving and light up a long list of warnings, including ABS, air bag, and ESC. Dealers often cannot find a cause without a stored code, so some cars return several times. Other reports describe 4WD dropping to front-wheel drive in snow with power steering errors, and a car that kept running after being turned off.

All 5 reports involve crashes, with 7 people injured. The common claim is that the air bags did not deploy, including in a head-on collision, a 40 mph crash into another vehicle, and a severe crash into highway barriers. Several reports also say the seat belts did not hold occupants back. People describe hitting the steering wheel or dashboard and bruising from the belts. In rear-end crashes, occupants say they were thrown forward or, in one case, into the cargo area. One of these crashes happened at 11,900 miles.

The engine shuts off in traffic with no warning lights, leaving the car stopped in intersections or on highway on-ramps. Dealers sometimes cannot find a cause. In other cases they blame a failed fuel pump or a faulty fuel level sensor. One report describes a strong fuel smell caused by a pinhole in the fuel supply tube where it rubbed against the engine wiring harness, with no warning light. Another reports sudden acceleration while parking slowly with a foot on the brake, which ended in a crash into a building.

Both reports describe the car speeding up when the driver pressed the brake at about 15 mph. Each ended in a crash into a tree, and each driver was injured. One report is also flagged as fire-related, and that car was totaled within days of purchase. Neither driver reports a warning light before the crash. There are only 2 reports, but both describe a full loss of control at low speed.

Two separate faults are reported. In one, the driver belt does not latch when buckled. In the other, the front passenger anchor pretensioner fails. Two complaints are too few to show a pattern. The air bag reports, however, include several crashes where occupants say their belts did not hold them back, so check belt function closely on any car you consider.

The tread separates or the sidewall splits near the rim. One report describes a flapping noise at 35 mph, then tread separation found on both rear tires, which were Dunlop Signature 2 tires. Another describes a front tire blowing out at the rim while the rear tire on the same side began splitting in the same place. Both involve 17-inch tires. There are only 2 reports, and they point to the tires rather than the car.