Owner-reported complaints naming the electrical system, filed with NHTSA
Data refreshed
Reports naming the electrical system — wiring, battery, charging, control modules, infotainment and electrical accessories. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2018 Jeep Compass submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 374 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
The 25 most recent of 374, in the owner's own words
My odometer flashes since buying. Bluetooth connection causing screen to glitch and jump between settings. Screen turns blue and back up camera doesn’t work randomly. Overheating issue came out of nowhere. No check engine lights. The jerking is a hazard while driving. The vehicle has been inspected and repaired by multiple shops. All these issues have been hazardous to me and my family.
The Stop/Start function malfunctions frequently. On multiple ocassions, the computer system glitches causing the automatic parking brake to engage, the gear shift to lock, and the vehicle to become stuck. This has happened several times while the car was idling at a stop light, causing traffic safety issues each time. There is no warning light or system notification. Regular mechanics are not able to diagnose or fix these issues because of the computer system, requiring a specialist that is not always accessible. There is no notification when the auxillary battery is dead or dying, the car just won't turn on.
The vehicle has stalled in traffic multiple times, it sends emergency messages while operating that the vehicle must pull off of the road or shut down, it is constantly displaying "service stop/ start system" messages and service lights, it sometimes doesn't start after having gotten to a location but will start up without having the vehicle jump started later, it drains the batteries quickly, as well. I was on the highway with my son in the vehicle, not near any exit and in thick traffic, when it told me to pull off the road or it may shut down. On a separate occasion, I had my family in the car, we stopped for an event and the vehicle randomly didn't restart, stranding us until we could reach another ride. Another time I was driving to work and it the engine shut off and when I tried to go it randomly did not go and I had to shut the vehicle down while in traffic, restart the engine and put it back into drive before I could allow traffic to move again. I took it to an authorized Jeep/ Chrysler Dealership for these issues and no recalls were put out for my vehicle, despite these exact issues being a part of a recall of nearly 13,000 Fiat Chrysler vehicles under NHTSA 18V524000 (Chrysler recall U87).
Dash warning came up “stop safely, vehicle will shut off soon” towed it to Jeep dealer took them over a week to get a diagnosis, they said they had to communicate with Detroit office. The issue is “probably” an alternator
Pulled up in my drive way turned car off and when I went to start ut to go to work it just would not start anymore
Engine light came on, breaking light, abs
The headlights and interior lighting flickers when turned on. The vehicle often will not start, but once hooked up to a jumper pack starts immediately despite the batteries being inspected previously and being okay. The start/stop function doesn't always work, and the engine stalls while driving, causing a massive safety issue.
On around 5 occasions beginning since late 2025 I have been driving and my emergency brake has turned on automatically while driving. Yesterday, while at a stop light the light turned green and my emergency brake turned on which caused traffic to be halted I had to turn my car on and off repeatedly to have my car work. When I turned right at the intersection this happened again. I was able to slowly pull over and once again turn my car off and on. Then it did it again today at the same intersection I was able to slowly pull over and turn my car off and on. I went to the Jeep dealership today and they could not find anything wrong. No codes indicated anything they said I had a small oil leak but that is all they could find.
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while receiving an oil change, the contact was informed that the passenger’s side headlight failed to operate. The contact attempted to replace the light bulb; however, the headlight failed to illuminate. The original light bulb was reinstalled. The contact stated that the START/STOP system failed to restart the vehicle after an idle stop. The message “Battery Charging System Failure” was displayed. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 175,000.
Issue occurs in [XXX] during normal daily driving, including while reversing and operating the vehicle at low speeds. The malfunctioning touchscreen interferes with safe vehicle operation in parking areas, residential streets, and regular traffic conditions. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
While driving I stopped at a light and an issues occurred where my stop start light appeared on dashboard. The car turned off for a minute and eventually started back up.
My car has the start/stop when it turns off when your idle, well sometimes when you release the brake to go it will hesitate to turn back on and or even not start again at all and you have to fully turn the car off and back on.
The vehicle will turn over but does not go into gear. With all emergency systems lighting up. When vehicle was running it would randomly turn off or stall in the middle of the road.
Unknown / Check engine lights came on, and then a warning saying stop safely, the engine will shut down soon, now it will not start. Leaving me stranded. This happened multiple times but now the car won’t start and will need to be towed. I have asked several repair shops and done research online, and nobody knows how to fix this issue.
When coming to a stop at a stop light or stop sign sometimes the car will stall and the automatic stop/start will turn off and put the cars emergency brake on. This is typically in the middle of traffic. I put the car in park and the car won't turn off. I have to take my foot off the brake while it is in park, turn off the car that way. Then to turn it back on, put my foot on the brake and start the car all over again. All while cars are behind me and it is taking me minutes to get my car moving. This is happening very often. It can happen in dangerous places in the road as well. This cannot be normal.
When I first purchased my car, for some reason it kept starting, and then the engine would turn off in the middle of driving. As of lately the Key fob has been undetected in the car or battery is low. I have replaced my key fob twice. I have also replaced my batteries in both of the key fobs. After I replace the key fob, the check engine light came on in the car is stalling not starting properly. Sometimes I have to press the multiple times for it to start up. Recently I was driving and my car just stalled and I could not get it to start again. I have had this happen to me over 10 times. There was a recall for exactly what was happening to my car. NHTSA Recall 18v-524 just that my car was not recalled. I am now without a car and it clearly is experiencing EXACTLY what the recall says. over 5 times I was on the road when the car stalled / stopped while I was driving. It just stopped in the middle of the road. Now my car will not start at all. I have not even had the car for two years. The car has 40,000 miles on it. I got the car at 20,000 miles. They have been 6 recalls for cars like mine however my specific VIN was not included. The recalls that I am most concerned with. u87 and w20.
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving at undisclosed speeds, and while stopped at a traffic light, several unknown warning lights illuminated with the message to “Park the Vehicle” displayed. The contact stated that while the vehicle was running and shifted from park into drive, the vehicle failed to move. The contact stated that while shifted into park, the vehicle failed to turn off. The failure persisted, and the contact made several attempts to move the vehicle. The contact was eventually able to start the vehicle and drove to a parking lot, after which the vehicle was towed to a dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000.
Warning lamp:"stop safely. vehicle will shut off soon" the car will shut off while driving. The warning is not sufficient enough to ignore that fairly new cars are shutting down on the road for no reason. There are numerous complaints about this same issue and I am wondering what is it going to take for jeep to take accountability and fix this. We should not have to pay for this repair. Resolution unknown. We are supposed to guess. No information is offered through a diagnostic check. As you can see this vehicle has 46,000 miles on it. Regular maintenance. Serviced at the dealer numerous times.
My car has had an ongoing issue where it doesn’t start and has even stopped while I was driving before and not turned on again. I had the battery changed and still the same issue. My gps is not locating the correct location of my car, also the warnings are wrong (blind spot, etc.) they go off sometimes when there is nothing there. It’s an angojng issue, I only added one incident date but there have been many and I think it is associated to the recalls on this model.
Randomly high temperature warning light comes on dash which causes car to immediately shut off. After a complete stop you are able to restart car. All obvious cooling components fine. This happens often and random putting occupants in serious danger of collision. Has happened on highway and in middle of intersection making a turn. This false warning causing car shutdown happens 5-8 times a month.
Car turn off while driving on the freeway, all dashlights come on ( 4WD, service engine, transmission service, ABS, crash detector, high voltage, battery voltage, etc) the car has 79k miles
UNKNOWN Vehicle dashboard dinged and text on the screen alerted me that the temperature of the coolant was too high or overheated. The vehicle immediately stopped accelerating. Before I could properly engage my blinker and pull off the roadway in a safe manner, the vehicle resumed normal operating status and temperatures read normal. This has happened over 5x, speed driven during each event varying from 28-65. Weather was mild, two events occurring in winter months with temps no more than 45 F. Coolant was checked and appeared to be at normal levels following the latest event. The roadway conditions, traffic rules and conditions of overall transportation system when this alert disengages driver's ability to control speed of vehicle put driver and passengers at risk of being rear ended by traffic traveling in the same direction from behind. Especially in South Dakota, the place of for owner and driver of this JEEP Compass, where large pick up trucks hauling livestock or other ag products and semi trucks hauling general trailer loads are commonplace.
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle briefly started shaking violently, before losing motive power. The contact was able to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle initially failed to restart. After waiting approximately one hour, the vehicle was able to restart but operated under reduced power, prompting the contact to discontinue driving the vehicle. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the powertrain control module wiring harness. The vehicle was repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V524000 (Electrical System), but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 123,478.
The infotainment screen is delaminating, which seems to be an extremely common issue in this model year along with other models and years that use the same screen. The delaminating causes numerous issues including poor visibility and ghost touches on the screen which can easily distract the driver as their radio changes stations randomly, messes with the navigation, adjusts the fans, and many other functions that are controlled with the screen. As of right now, I have not brought the car into the dealership specifically for this issue as so many other individuals are reporting the same problem in numerous forums.
I Changed Both Batteries On My Truck And A Blown Fuse & It Still Wont Start. Cant Figure Out Why The Fuse & Replacement One Keeps Blowing Out. Only Signs Come On The Dashboard After Changing Both Batteries Are The Electronic Throttle Control Warning Light & Engine Check Light.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
Data on this page last refreshed .