— A Fiat Chrysler crankshaft and camshaft sensor investigation has been closed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which opened the probe in July 2022.
The investigation focused on a December 2016 recall of Jeep Compass, Dodge Journey and Jeep Patriot vehicles. Owners of those model year 2016 vehicles complained their vehicles lost power and stalled from crankshaft or camshaft sensor failures.
The 2016 recall apparently didn't repair all the problems because NHTSA received 127 complaints about crankshaft or camshaft failures on similar vehicles not included in the recall. This caused NHTSA to open an investigation into the 2016 Chrysler recall.
Working with FCA, investigators from NHTSA discovered two failure modes related to intermittent crankshaft and camshaft sensor loss of signal. The first failure mode involves a faulty crankshaft or camshaft electrical connector as mentioned in the 2016 recall. But there is a second failure mode which involves a faulty crankshaft and/or camshaft position sensor.
Both problems can cause the crankshaft or camshaft position sensor to work part of the time. In addition, a driver may notice an illuminated warning light, the Chrysler vehicle may stall while driving, and sometimes the vehicle cannot be restarted.
NHTSA determined vehicles that were not recalled almost never lost power or stalled, even though diagnostic trouble codes indicated problems with the crankshafts or camshaft position sensors.
NHTSA closed the investigation into 290,000 vehicles after finding Chrysler vehicles not included in the 2016 recall don't lose power or stall. Additionally, a vehicle owner will receive several warnings of a crankshaft or camshaft position sensor failure.