2016 Jeep Cherokee: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Jun 16, 2026 · Transmission · 69,177 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving 25 MPH, the vehicle went into LIMP Mode. Several unknown warning lights were illuminated. A dealer was contacted. The contact pulled over into a parking lot, turned off and restarted the vehicle, and the vehicle operated as intended. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the power transfer unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact associated the failure with the federal safety agency Campaign Numbers: 23V302000 (POWER TRAIN) and 20V343000 (POWER TRAIN); however, the VIN was not included in the recalls. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 69,177.

Filed May 8, 2025 · Electrical, Fuel system · FL

Car goes into "limp mode" while driving. Will slow to a complete stop, not rev, and says "Shift to P then desired gear". All other components of car are on (battery barely a year old). Try to follow command prompt; after putting car in P, and shifting to D, it still won't rev. I was on an incline and began rolling backwards. Good thing no one was behind me at the time. Had to turn completely off. On startup, it's stuttering and takes a while to start. Turns on fine and will drive, but is physically jerking between gears. Then, the first time I have to stop for a significant time and idle, it will do it again. I follow process again and was able to record video, because I was on a back street and pulled over in time, luckily. Upon driving the next day and taking to dealer, it is still jerking. Dealer cannot replicate and shows no error codes, so they say to just keep driving and can only help if I bring in while it is happening? That is literally insane. Same thing happened a year ago, but after filling up and being on "Empty". I went to a independent mechanic then, which is why I was hopeful the dealer would have more insight into the problem. That mechanic also could not replicate. They said it could be a fuel line or pump issue and to never let gas get too low, or go through costly man hours to check the fuel line, but then it couldn't be that at all, so could still be back at square one. That time, it stopped me in a busy intersection TWICE and was far more terrifying. I decided to skip the potentially pointless and definitely expensive fuel line investigation. I decided to take it in again when it happened and followed the "don't let gas get too low" directive and had no further issues until 5/5/25.

Filed Mar 11, 2025 · Transmission · 56,000 miles · TX

The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated that the gear shifter was stuck in park(P). The contact stated that once the vehicle was parked, the gear shifter remained stuck in park(P). The contact manually depressed the button under the gear shifter to move the gear shifter. No warning lights were illuminated. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 56,000.

Filed Jun 21, 2024 · Engine · AZ

Jeep completely shut down while driving and cars behind me almost crashed all lights came on would not shift back into gear very scary had to call tow truck. This is the second time .

Filed Mar 27, 2024 · Transmission · IL

2016 JEEP cherokee 93k miles PTU fault and dealer wont fix under recall. 3k to fixed same issue as all other 16 cherokees. Unsafe to drive does not shift correctly intermittently. Suppose to be software fix but dealer wont fix. PTU should go out 93k miles. If this stops all power to the wheel we will be in an accident!

Filed Dec 24, 2023 · Brakes, Driver assistance · AZ

My parking brake suddenly turned on and my jeeps information center on the dash informed me to stop and shift to park. The light on the switch for the emergency brake flashes as well as the red light on the shifter and the vehicle would not shift anymore nor would the epb turn off . I had to disconnect my battery for about 30 minutes before it allowed me to disengage the parking brake and start to drive again. It happened again once or twice before it completely just stopped engaging even when I tried to engage it. Car states when attempting to engage the parking brake that the parking brake needs to be maintained the light on the switch flashes and a warning light stays on now. The odometer started flashing a day or so after the initial issue began. Now I am unable to use my parking break at all, the warning light and message to get parking brake serviced show constantly as well and the odometer continues to flash.

Filed Dec 14, 2023 · Transmission · NC

Unfortunately, the PTU (power transfer unit) needs to be replaced in my vehicle. Jeep previously issued a recall for this same part for 25,000 + similar vehicles with the same part due to it being defective. My vehicle was not included in the recall. I have been advised by both a Jeep dealership and an independent licensed technician to not drive the vehicle as if it completely fails the transmission will get stuck in neutral and not even be able to be parked safely. Due to numerous ongoing issues with this part, it is currently on national back-order with over 4500 units on back-order. There is no ETA on when there will be availability of the part. I did contact the Jeep 800 customer service number and was denied any assistance. I am now having to pay $250/week to rent a vehicle and cannot get the Jeep repaired.

Filed Oct 27, 2023 · Brakes, Transmission · 103,000 miles · NC

The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Cherokee. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH and making a turn on a backroad, the vehicle stopped abruptly as the electric parking brake engaged independently. The contact stated that the vehicle went into LIMP Mode and became inoperable. The check engine warning light and the Service Transmission warning light illuminated. The contact was unable to pull to the side of the road. The contact shifted into park (P). The vehicle was towed to the residence. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the dealer for a diagnostic test. The vehicle was then towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Action Number: PE22009 (Parking Brake). The failure mileage was approximately 103,000.

Filed Jun 23, 2023 · Engine, Transmission · TN

For months now I keep having something wrong not sure whats wrong either it’s engine, powertrain. It keeps doing different stuff. First it’s acting like it want to dye like stall out for no reason. Sometimes it loses power like hitting the gas peddle but won’t go engine just fires up. The other day I had issues trying to put into reverse to back up hit the gas and it just accelerated really bad but didn’t move almost like it was stuck in gear. I’ll be driving down road and out of nowhere my car accelerated gears to 3/4 wouldn’t go down when i was going 40 on straight road. Took few minutes to unstick. Whatever is going on seriously needs looked into bc i am worried it’s gonna cause me get hit. This been going on for couple years and i am about ready to trade my Jeep in for different dealer

Filed May 11, 2023 · Engine · PA

I’ve been doing my research and the same issue my car is having many keeps have also had. On highways our card will go limp and stall out. The engine light will come on and the four wheel drive will become not functional. This is a severe issue in winter. As well as the lack of control on highways. I was driving on the highway going 65 up a hill my car engine light went on i lost all acceleration had to coast to the shoulder. When this happened i turned my car off and back on I couldn’t accelerate up the hill and stayed rolling back it took 45 minutes being shut for me to get out of limp mode. It does it to me every single time I leave my house now. The scanner will not show what’s wrong I’ve put 100s of dollars into my jeep trying to fix the issue and it’s still the same. This is a sever issue for winter and highway driving. It also feels like the wheel gets hard to turn when this happens. It also sounds like the engine is shaking badly or thumping.

Filed May 1, 2023 · Electrical · MD

All of the warning lights on the dash light up at once. The car then suddenly goes into limp mode. The car has been to the dealer 4 times for this problem. The dealer thought is was a bad module, however the car is continuing to have problems after replacing it twice. I'm scared to drive the car. We already had a problem with the car with oil consumption where the car would turn off while driving, the dealer fixed that problem.

Filed Feb 11, 2022 · Electrical · GA

This has happened the past two weeks. I will go to accelerate my vehicle and an error message will pop up saying "in order to shift to desired gear you must be in park" or "shift to park then desired gear" and the check engine light, battery light, a lightening bolt red light and the electrical stability control light comes on. My car has shut off on me three times while driving it, once down the road from my home and had to be jumped off just to make it back home, then I was stranded in the middle of a busy intersection and had to have the local police push my vehicle to a near by parking lot and then I was leaving work and all the lights came on so I pulled into Mavis Tire and had a tech come check it out. As my car was in park and at 0mph my car was stuck in 1st gear which is shown in the pictures attached. I was told to take it to the dealership and the local one here in Newnan Georgia is absolutely the worst. No one would answer the phone and when I finally got someone on the phone they told me I would have to drop my car off and that it would be a week before they could get to it. I am scared to keep driving the vehicle knowing at any moment it could shut off on me while driving it.