2015 Jeep Cherokee: steering wheel locks up

Filed May 8, 2026 · Transmission · 139,000 miles · OH

The contact owns a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 25E003000 (POWERTRAIN). The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal and went into limp mode. Multiple warning lights were illuminated. In addition, the power steering seized. The contact's wife was able to cruise into a dealer. The vehicle was inspected and diagnosed that the power transfer unit (PTU) had failed. The contact was informed that the part was on a national backorder. The vehicle remained at the dealer unrepaired. The contact stated that the failure had occurred in the past and was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that a request to expedite the part was submitted. The failure mileage was approximately 139,000.

Filed Oct 17, 2020 · Steering · 120,000 miles · NY · crash

Shifter warning light came on while driving on a two lane highway and then the steering locked up and lost control of vehicle and it rolled.

Filed Aug 24, 2019 · Acceleration, Steering · 83,849 miles · WA

I was parked and tried to start my car, it would not crank up. Turned it off and it hesitated to start again. Then I tried to shift it into reverse, it was blinking and it jerked like when someone hits you from behind really hard. As I tried to reverse the steering locked and it hardly wanted to brake. The service brake light and engine light came on. It has happened twice now and each time it gets worse. It's not a safe vehicle to drive.

Filed May 27, 2019 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 40,344 miles · IL

On 5/23/19 and 5/27/19 vehicle loses power while driving, engine shuts down, steering locks and the dash lights up with a message that says put vehicle and "park" and then select desired gear. I have small children. This has happened twice in the last month.I keep my vehicle up to date on maintenance/service. I read over 100 people's exact same complaints on line. It doesn't make sense that I am paying a car payment, have less than 45,000 miles on my vehicle, and having these kind of safety concerns. Today, my car died with no warning on a busy road, gives me approximately 10 seconds to pull to safety before there is no speed/ability to manuever the vehicle. It is ridiculous that the risk is so high, and the number of complaints listed on line show a serious issue with this among hundreds of vehicles by jeep and nothing. The dealerships/service continue to make comments like "we were unable to replicate the issue". To be specific: driving at about 25 miles per hour, straight following a right or left turn. . . . Lost power. Lights went on the dash, message above appeared. It took two tries to restart to get me out of the middle of the road. I had my crank shaft sensor replaced on 5/8/19 due to car stalling. Now my vehicle completely shuts off in the middle of traffic this is a safety issue. Please fix it before someone gets seriously injured.

Filed Nov 12, 2018 · 120,000 miles · MN

As I was driving to work this morning, I heard a "ding" which directed my eyes to the screen on my dashboard. I had a message that said "car must be stopped to shift" "shift into park". Already confused, my car shifted into neutral by itself, the steering wheel locked up, and I lost total control of my car. This is not okay. I turned my hazards on and turned off my car completely. While still in the middle of the road, I had to wait a total of 5 minutes before my car would turn on again. I have researched this, and I am not the only one this has happened too. Jeep needs to take responsibility for this, as they claim they are the most awarded american SUV. This has happened to me twice now.

Filed Jul 7, 2018 · 39,000 miles · NY

When I drive out of nowhere the car begins to stall and a notification pops up saying that my battery is dying so the car stops moving and the steering wheel locks up. Once stopped then a few words pop up on my car display saying that I have to move the shift from p even though the shift is on d. When I try to shift nothing happens the car still stays the same doesnt move or even rev when I push on the gas pedal. Then I turn the car off and when I try to turn it back on it takes a couple seconds for it to finally turn back on as it struggles and then everything is normal again even the battery level is back up to normal even though it was just completely dead prior to starting the car again. Whatever is happening to the shifter is draining my battery.

Filed Oct 12, 2016 · Engine · 13,000 miles · IL

Transmission was jerking and locked up when I got in my car in the morning the vehicle would not get out of the parking break. I would get tons of error messages in my instrument cluster..."service park break" "4x4 unavailable" "transmission light on". I called roadside assistance to tow my car and the tow truck driver when he turned off and on the vehicle, it was ok to drive. I drove to the dealership that day and they performed tons of software updates. My jeep was returned back to me the same day. 6 days later, it happened again. I remembered restarting the car helped, which it did, so I started driving it back to the dealership. I got about 1/4 mile down the road and the steering wheel locked up and started to shut down, while I was driving! I pulled over, restarted the car and continued to drive. This time I was in the middle of an intersection making a left turn when it happened again, and almost got rear ended by a school bus!! This was a very scary moment and decided I was no longer going to drive this car. I pulled into a parking lot and called roadside assistance. The dealership had the vehicle for a week and told me it was fixed. I received a recall in the mail, "s55 - transmission may shift unexpectedly to neutral". I called chrysler and told them I refuse to drive my call until this recall is fixed. The part is not available so I've been driving a rental for the past 3 weeks. I'm terrified to drive this car again. I drive on the expressway everyday for work and can not imagine what would happen to me if the car shuts down again unexpectedly