The contact owns a 2005 Jeep Liberty. The contact stated that while driving 65 mph, a loud noise was heard coming from the front end and he lost control of the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle swerved off the roadway. Upon examination, the contact noticed that the front passenger wheel separated from the vehicle because the upper ball joint failed. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where it was in the process of having the failure diagnosed. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 129,000. Updated 02/22/12

- Putnumvalley , NY, USA

The contact owns a 2005 Jeep Liberty. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for repair. The technician inspected the vehicle and noticed corrosion in the front upper ball joints. The vehicle was not repaired at that time; however, the lower front ball joints were replaced eight months ago according to NHTSA campaign id number 06V288000 (suspension:front:control arm:lower ball joint). The contact was concerned of the safety risk involved. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 77,000 and current mileage was 78,000. Updated 01/07/09. Updated 01/08/09.

- Marcellus, MI, USA

Our 2005 Jeep Liberty limited crd has had the lower front suspension ball joints replaced as part of the vehicle's recall notice. At approximately 30,000 miles, we went to an independent tire shop for an alignment due to poor tire wear and "wandering" characteristics when driving at highway speeds. The tire shop indicated that the vehicle had a defective upper ball joint and could replace the failed unit with permission from the dealer. The dealer, medved Jeep, denied the claim. We took the vehicle to medved who then claimed that the upper ball joints were not defective. At approximately 37,000 miles the vehicle had a higher frequency of front end clunking, so I took it back to medved who then claimed the noise was only an extraneous battery loose under the seat. At approximately 43,000 miles, the clunking had become disturbingly frequent and more severe. I took it back to medved and they now confirm that it's a faulty upper ball joint. However, they claim no responsibility for not correcting the problem at 30,000 miles or 37,000 miles. They refused to replace the defective part, and furthermore, called in a Chrysler inspector who reported that our 1-1/2" lift kit caused the problems with the ball joint. However, the boots on the ball joints are still intact and there is no visible evidence that indicates the cause of the ball joint failure (poor manufacturing versus lift kit). There has been no forensic evaluation of the failure. The upper ball joints on this vehicle have a "record" of failure per online forums. Many failures are on vehicles without lift kits- pointing to likely underengineered component's on the part of Jeep versus purely speculative conclusions that our 1-1/2" lift kit may have caused the failure. The lower ball joint engineering was faulty, and NHTSA should explore the related failures to the upper suspension ball joints. This is as potentially serious under catastrophic failure as the lower suspension ball joints.

- Littleton, CO, USA

The lower front ball joints on my 2005 Jeep Liberty 4X4 with 26000 miles show excessive wear. Due to the design of the joint total failure will result in the ball and socket separating from the spindle/wheel assembly. A failure of this nature will result in loss of control of the vehicle. This excessive wear has manifested itself in a loud clunking which has been getting worse for 3000 miles but the dealer could not locate the problem. I found the problem when doing routine maintenance and measured the up and down movement in the joint to be.25 inches. When the dealer went to install the new joints he also found the upper ball joints to be bad. I had a previous Liberty(2002) which was recalled for this same problem and assumed Jeep had fixed the ball joints. Obviously they have not. There have been several incidents reported already (lostkj.com) where people have had a catastrophic failure associated with these joints. Jeep must fix this design asap. Suspension company moog has already designed a replacement ball joint that is more robust and greasable. Jeep must be forced to do something.

- Bedford, PA, USA