2007 Chrysler Aspen: jerking or lurching

Filed Jul 17, 2020 · Suspension · 86,000 miles · TX

The steering jerks and car shifts when I hit a pot hole of bump in the road on my 2007 chrysler aspen and it has almost caused us to loss control of the vehicle a few times, you never know when it's going to happen or I would dodge the hole. Very scary when it does happen. We have had the front end checked and then tell us there's no problem. It doesn't happen unless your driving over 40 MPH and when your driving 65 on the highway, it's going to get someone killed one day. There's not a specific day, since it happens every time you drive it and hit a hole or bump in the road. We have owned it since it was new and always had the problem. We are also having a problem with the air conditioning, we have installed 3 compresses, dryers it will not cool this last time it was in the shop 8 days. They must have installed and removed every part that would cause it not to cool, still blows hot air and it's already 95+ degrees outside. My elderly mother drives this aspen and it use to be a great car, but once they break you might as well buy something new. It's no wonder they only make the aspen 3 years. Worst and most dangerous vehicle ever.

Filed Sep 3, 2015 · Steering · 1,000 miles · TN

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 chrysler aspen. While driving 60 MPH, when the vehicle encountered a bump in the road, the steering wheel would jerk and cause the contact to lose control of the steering. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 1,000.

Filed Mar 10, 2014 · Steering · 130,000 miles · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 chrysler aspen. The contact stated that when driving at various speeds, the vehicle would jerk toward the right without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the right steering knuckle was cracked. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the vehicle was not included in the federal safety agency campaign id number 06v386000 (steering). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 130,000.

Filed Aug 10, 2011 · Steering · 62,000 miles · MO

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 chrylser aspen. The contact stated that while driving 35 MPH over bumps in the road, the vehicle would jerk towards the right and the contact would lose steering control. The dealer was notified and stated the vehicle was not included in the recall associated with the federal safety agency campaign id number 06v386000 (steering). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 62,000.

Filed Apr 12, 2011 · Acceleration, Transmission · 72,653 miles · MI · crash

The aspen lurched backwards approximately fifty feet at a very high rate of speed, just after being put into reverse. It was stopped when it crashed into a garage and a toyota prius. The prius was totaled, the aspen severely damaged, the garage doors were yanked out of the ceiling and shattered, and other parts of the garage were damaged. Anyone who would have been behind the vehicle at the time would have been severely injured or killed. For approximately three weeks prior to this incident, there was an intermittent problem with the reverse transmission. Occasionally when placed into reverse, the car would only go a short distance in reverse, as if the clutch was not catching. The engine would rev up, and then the car would come to an abrupt halt. The halt was very abrupt and "mechanical" as if something was being caught - the first time this happened a passenger in the car thought the car struck something in reverse. There were never any issues with the transmission going forward, and this reverse issue only happened about 10% of the times the car was put in reverse. In between the car was fine in reverse. This never seemed like a safety issue because the car stopped abruptly when going backwards in previous instances - it did not go backwards uncontrollably as occurred in the incident. A chrysler investigator came out the day following this incident. He concluded that the driver of the car accidentally put her foot on the gas pedal rather than brake. We are quite certain this is not what happened. In spite of emphasizing that there was a problem with the vehicle reverse, chrysler told the owners on 4/4/11 that this was a driver error based on their evaluation. However, they never even looked at the transmission. We now have the vehicle in storage and are trying to get an independent evaluation of the problem.

Filed Jun 20, 2007 · Acceleration, Electrical · 100 miles · AZ

We purchased a 2007 chrysler aspen dec 23, 2006. The next day the car suddenly lurched while I was backing out of the driveway at my inlaws' home. It was shocking & my family was shouting out for me to stop the car. I was able to control it & keep from hitting other vehicles but it was very difficult. The next week I went to exit the parking lot of our safeway store to go on to the main street. I was stopped to turn right when the car lurched into oncoming traffic. Horns blared & cars swerved to avoid hitting me. I was just waiting to be hit! I took the car to dealer w/466 miles on it. They said they "could not verify concern; operating as designed at this time." in feb while I was backing out of our garage the car lurched violently when I put it in reverse & jumped about 3 feet. My wife was standing in the doorway & began screaming. She called the service rep crying because she believed I would be killed if I continued to drive it. I took it to dealer. They kept it, & were "unable to verify concern; vehicle is operating as designed at this time; miles out 1040." my wife refuses to drive the car because of this life threatening defect. Also when you insert key in the ignition it starts @ 1300 RPM's. The dealer says we should let car settle down to about 600 RPM's which requires a full minute of waiting in the car before you can start to move. They think this might be part of the problem but tell us there is no way to fix it. So we have a car that must sit before you can use it; you absolutely cannot ever valet it for fear the attendant might be involved in a lurching incident. On june 4, 2007 service advisor told me 3 other aspens are reporting this problem. We are setting up a mtg w/gm to arrange to turn in this car. My wife has set up a file on the car & advised family members where it is in the event we are killed in an accident while driving this car so they can investigate if the lurching/bucking action of the car caused the accident.