My 1996 cirrus with only 87+++ miles suddenly downshifts while driving over 40 MPH. This is a recent purchase. I live in wyoming and it is winter time with icy road conditions nearly everywhere. I am a single mother with a 10 year old daughter. When this happened to us on the highway, it caused us to spin off of the road. Luckily we were unhurt. This automobile is unsafe!!! The limp mode appears to be activated due to faulty/low quality parts by chrysler. Why isn"t this recalled??? I have no choice but to drive this car. I will sue chrysler if we have another incident!!! This incident occured when we were driving straight at about 50 MPH.
Chrysler Cirrus won't shift problems
11 of the 831 owner complaints about the Chrysler Cirrus describe stuck in gear or won't shift, most of them for the 1995 model year.
- owner complaints
- 11
- worst model year
- 1995
- typical mileage
- 116,000
Is there a fix? There are 2 recalls for this area of the car. See below
By model year
- 19963
- 19958
Often reported together
What owners say
Transmission without warning either shifts down into second gear and will not shift up or worse the transmission goes limp when driving at any speed in other words you end up coasting and could possibly cause a serious accident, the first time this happened to me I was going 65 MPH on the freeway. Fortunately, I was on the right hand side of the road so I could coast off and come to a stop. If I had been in heavy traffic in either the center or left hand lane there would be no way for me to avoid other cars and this would have resulted in a serious accident. I took the car to the chrysler dealer and they said it was a faulty solenoid pack and they replaced it for $900+ dollars. The car ran for a couple of weeks and the shifting down and limp episodes began again. I now have a car with 45000 miles parked in my garage and am afraid to drive it. There are dozens of blogs on the internet describing the same problem and I do not see any recalls but this is certainly a life threatening hazard. Unfortunately this is an intermittent problem that happens with no warning.
I bought a 1995 chrysler cirrus lxi and for the first little while it was great, then all of a sudden I was driving down the road at 62 MPH and the car shifted into neutral I slowed down to about 30mph and it dropped into gear but it would not shift from first gear. Now sometimes it will shift fine and other times it will not shift at all. And my A/C quit working and the RPM gauge stopped working at around the same time as the shifting issues started.
The first failure was on dec 19 2005, I was driving on the freeway at approx. 65 MPH and the engine quit running resulting in loss of power steering and power brakes also the transmission would not shift into a lower gear it just free wheeled. After bring the car to a stop on the side of the freeway and putting the transmission in park it restarted. This failure has occurred three more times this week.
While driving at low speeds transmission will not shift out of first gear. *ak the consumer indicated that the vehicle's transmission would not change gears at all. The sunroof would not close all the time. The radio wouldn't work. The A/C button would not remain engaged. The overhead material was coming down.
Vehicle will not shift properly and makes a jolting movement. As a result, vehicle will not go faster than 30 MPH.
In warm climates traveling fast, the vehicle would suddenly and violently downshift and place the vehicle into limp mode. The consumer stated that once in limp mode, the engine produces a huge amount of heat which vents though the vents and screws up the necessary A/C.
The vehicle 'changed gears' while driving along a major highway, as if it slipped into park or reverse. The tires began to spin uncontrollably and the RPM and engine was raised. Managed to maneuver the vehicle off the main road to avoid being hit from the rear by oncoming traffic. Turned engine off, put the car into park, and restarted car. Put the car into drive but the car would not shift beyound 2nd gear. Mechanic does not recognize 'code' and states that the transmission has to be rebuilt. Thank god, I was alone in the car (I was headed to school to pick up my teenage daughter), and could manage to get it off of the main highway and out of heavy traffic to avoid a major accident and posible fatalities.
The car make a hard jerk and then when I try to accelerate, the transmission will not shift gears. The engine revs up and I have to turn the car off and back on when this happens.
A week ago while driving at 40 consumer felt like car was down shifting, RPM's would rev up, but consumer could not go faster than 40 MPH. On 14th of september, while on the interstate car down shifted. Consumer said gears would not shift.
Related recalls
Power train: automatic transmission: lever and linkage: floor shift
- What is wrong
- On certain passenger vehicles, the floor shifter ignition-park interlock may fail and allow the shifter to be moved out of the park position with the key removed. An inoperative interlock may also allow the key to be removed when the shifter has not been placed in the park position.
- Risk
- Either circumstance may result in the vehicle rolling away without warning.
- Remedy
- Dealers will install a new load-limiting push rod into the floor shifter lever of the affected vehicles. Owner notification began on june 14, 2004. Owners should contact daimlerchrysler at 1‑800‑853‑1403.
Recall number 04V021000 · Recall details
Power train: automatic transmission: park/neutral start interlock switch
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions. The adjustment of the cable connecting the console shifter mechanism to the ignition key can cause a trapped key condition which can result in a low force required to depress the shift button. A combination of applying a mis-adjusted release button with a low force attempt to shift out of park with the key in the locked position, can break the connecting pin in the shifter.
- Risk
- If this happens, the "ignition-park" interlock system will be nonfunctional.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect for proper operation of the system. Any vehicles that are not functional after the inspection will have the shift mechanism and cable replaced with a "self-adjusting" design.
Recall number 98V183000 · Recall details
Questions about the Chrysler Cirrus won't shift
Which Chrysler Cirrus years have stuck in gear or won't shift problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1995 (8 complaints) and 1996 (3 complaints).
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