I’m writing to advise of a significant issue I have had with a dealership and their handling of a new car I purchased from Crowfoot Dodge in 2016 in Calgary, Alberta.

I purchased a 2016 Jeep Renegade new from Crowfoot Dodge from the salesperson Aftab Ahmad on with a 3 year warranty (all receipts available). In less than two years I have been unable to use the vehicle given substantial mechanical problems and an unwillingness of the dealership to rectify these mechanical issues despite the vehicle being under warranty.

In August/September 2017 the car lost oil pressure and had a “coolant temperature high” code and I had no cabin heat at all. I was advised to bring the car to the dealership (Crowfoot Dodge) for assessment whereupon they told me that the issue had been resolved, although a week or two later the same issue was occurring at greater severity. I ended up not feeling as though Crowfoot Dodge were doing what they could to fix the issue, and took it in to Cochrane Dodge instead. They advised me that the water pump required replacement.

In November 2017, after the water pump had been replaced in September, the car again lost all heating and oil pressure again. I took it to Cochrane Dodge, and, after assessing the car, I was advised that in fact the head gasket had failed (which might have been the original problem) and that this needed to be replaced. They replaced it, but this took a little over 3 weeks and was without my vehicle for this amount of time, which I use for my home business and I live 30 minutes away from the nearest mechanic.

Granted, I did have a service loaner through Enterprise Rent-A-Car but this was still extremely inconvenient because I was having to budget more for the higher gas mileage on the rental vehicle and my Jeep is well known in the community as a symbol of my business. As well, the dealership (Cochrane Dodge) neglected to update me on the status of my Jeep until I had to essentially harass them to tell me what was happening. In my professional career, I have not seen such terrible follow-up service.

In January I started getting the code again for low oil pressure, and driving through the snow and ice, I could not get the vehicle over 70kms/hr on the highway without having intense shaking of the vehicle and the service engine light was on and stayed on. I was advised that they would simply top up the oil and that I was to drive the car for 2000 kms and then to bring the car back in and they would diagnose how much oil it used. I brought it in after 3000kms as this was extremely inconvenient for me, and I was made to pay for an oil change at the time which was probably all that was wrong.

Despite being assured that these issues have never been seen before in a Jeep product, the consistent nature in which sales staff and service staff have belittled the issues and condescendingly implied the issues are not normal has made me think otherwise. As a young purchaser of a new car, and someone who requires my vehicle to commute to work from rural Alberta, I expected a new vehicle would afford me some reliability. Instead I have been left stranded multiple times in winter without heat, without any power in my car to accelerate, with several significant mechanical issues and now with another significant emerging issue.

How this issue has been handled under warranty has been to tell me to drive the car in winter an hour away to the dealership, without heat, with risk of breakdown, and being able only to accelerate to 70km/hr, not once but 3 times. I have now been without my vehicle for at least 5 weeks since owning it, at substantial cost to myself, and am still left with a faulty, unreliable, and misrepresented product I had bought brand new.

I have spoken multiple times to the dealership management as well as FCA Canada in an effort to get answers as to what can be done about such a faulty product, and have only been shrugged off and told that the issue is mine. The most I have received from management is an apology that I was made to pay for an oil change which wasn’t needed, but no attempt to reimburse me the cost. I have also spoken to FCA customer support extremely distressed after yet another breakdown, only to be told other buyers' experiences will be looked into to find a solution.

I have found this whole experience predatory, condescending, and falling well short of the responsibility of the dealership. I have ultimately been sold a defective product, that continues to break down, and am left with the risk of driving the vehicle as a necessity for commuting. I am now servicing a loan for this defective car, and am well aware of the tactic of the dealership to continue to find any way to absolve themselves of responsibility of finding an actual solution to a problem that is theirs as both sellers of the product and the associated warranty and representatives of this brand.

I would like to be advised of what my options are as a consumer to be supported in being provided a solution to this issue. It is unacceptable in my opinion to buy a new product for the purpose of having some reliability, only to be treated in this way when the product falls entirely short of what was advertised when purchasing.

Kind Regards,

Melissa Tornberg

I was driving on the highway and hit traffic when the car's dashboard showed that the water temperature was very high and the temperature light turned on. Shortly after the dashboard also turned the engine light on and gave me the notification "Maintenance Engine". I proceeded towards the nearest exit. When the traffic allowed me to run at a closer to normal speed, the temperature light turned off. Then, when the car stalled in traffic the temperature light turned back on again. It continued in this pattern in traffic until I finally got to the nearest exit. After pulling over, I checked the oil, water, etc, and everything was normal.

I ultimately decided on going straight to the dealer where I bought my car from. I always made sure to get my car serviced and followed my dealers instructions so I don't understand how this happened. The mechanic at the dealer then said that the Jeep warranty would only cover engine and transmission costs and not the replacement of the cooling fan which he believed to be the source of the problem. I now have to pay for the diagnostic exam and any other associated costs of the cooling fan. At 22,527 miles, with a well serviced, 3 year old car, I should not be having this problem.

Reading that other people are having the same problem with their Jeep Renegade is frustrating to know. How has Jeep not recalled their vehicles or issued any sort of warning? How has the dealership not informed me either?

I purchased this Jeep 33 days ago. I haven't even made my first payment on it. while driving my son to school the service engine light came on. Then when I started the car the next time service engine, service air bags, service parking break lights all started screaming at me but all but the service engine light went out. Called the Jeep dealership who wasn't in any hurry to get me in and made me wait 3 days to even hook it up to a computer to see what was wrong. It is at the shop now and they say it needed a new thermostat which is covered under the warranty. I the temp gauge never got above normal and I can't see why a thermostat would make the air bag and parking breaks lights come on and shine a warning to have them serviced. I am extremely disgusted that I haven't even made payment number ONE and have already had to put it in the shop. I should have listened to everyone who told me to stay away from Jeeps.