Jeep Renegade May Possess Flamboyant Braking Issue
Jeep may have an issue with the Renegade and is either unaware of it or in denial.
A video shot by Spanish reviewer Pablo González shows a Renegade’s rear end catching serious air during a routine braking test. The video, posted on 77km.com and first noticed by Jalopnik, is alarming — the test vehicle’s front end nosedives, while the rear wheels leave the pavement entirely.
González claims that in March 2015 he noted dramatic nosedive on a Renegade under hard braking, and suspected the rear tires may have left the ground. He set up a camera on the ground to document whatever was happening and found that the little Jeep did indeed spend part of the test on two wheels.
Fiat Group Spain explained to him that vehicle had suffered a failure involving the ABS system and he was unable to repeat the problem after the company fixed it. They also explained that this was a pre-production vehicle — Pablo later found out that this wasn’t the case — and not intended for sale to consumers. Satisfied for the time being, González decided against publishing the problem. The incident was seemingly isolated and had been handled properly.
However, in September of this year, he managed to recreate the problem in a completely different Renegade. During a 62 mile per hour braking test, González said the Jeep’s rear wheels left the ground under heavy braking. Pablo claims he called the same PR representative at Fiat and was told that the company had run the appropriate tests after the first incident. Nothing to worry about, he was told. During the call, he discovered the original Renegade he tested was, in fact, a production model. The vehicle was eventually sold to a buyer.
Fourwheeler.com also noticed rear wheel lift when testing the Renegade last year, but was assured it was a result of the front springs being out of spec from what would be used on a production vehicle. Italian reviewers at HDmotori got a Renegade to do what looks like a full-on stoppie in a 2015 first-drive test. However, consumer complaints on the matter have yet to crop up.
As dramatic as this all looks, how isolated or serious these incidents may be is up for debate. Let’s hope someone at FCA is looking into this anyway.
[Image capture: Paul David González/ km77.com]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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I wonder how many vehicles occasionally do something like this but it's not been documented. With new digital cameras (Sony introduced one capable of 960 fps ) we may find all sorts of anomlies
I had a toyota van in the 80's that would do this. It had no ABS or ESC, I was pretty sure I knew what would happen if I turned the wheel in this state.