2019 Jeep Compass: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Dec 17, 2025 · Electrical, Engine · ME

Three times since 8/2025 the vehicle flashed a “coolant temperature too high” warning despite the gauge reading normal and no check engine light. Coolant reservoir was at appropriate line. This immediately caused the vehicle to enter limp mode after idling in the drive thru. The vehicle remained in drive with full power but would not allow me to drive or shift to park until i turned the vehicle off. It would restart and allow me to drive. The 4th incident happened 12/13/25. I was at a red light, idling, and when green light came my vehicle flashed the coolant temperature warning and would not allow me to drive. I was stuck in traffic for 5 mins and had to shut my car off to be able to drive. Thankfully in this situation the person behind me was paying attention and did not slam into me. I recently had the main battery replaced. On my way home last night the warning flashed and my car abruptly went into limp Mode while I was actively driving in busy traffic. Thankfully it did not stall and I was able to turn right into a business parking lot. The last two situations could have resulted in accidents and / or injuries and should not be looked over.

Filed Sep 2, 2025 · Engine, Transmission · 31,586 miles · PA

The contact owns a 2019 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while driving on several occasions at various speeds, the vehicle lost power with the check engine and fuel warning lights illuminated. The engine failure, check engine, transmission, engine oil, and alignment messages were displayed. Additionally, the doors locked and unlocked, and the vehicle went into LIMP Mode and then stalled. The vehicle was restarted after 30 minutes, and on the second failure, the vehicle restarted in approximately 10 minutes. The vehicle was towed to a dealer, and the contact was advised to take the vehicle to the Jeep dealer for assistance. The vehicle was then taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed that there were multiple communication errors and that the software needed to be reprogrammed. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure reoccurred a month later. The vehicle was then taken to an independent mechanic, where the failure could not able to be replicated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 31,586.

Filed Jul 20, 2023 · Engine · GA

This situation has now happened twice in the past three months. In the first incident, I was driving around midnight (had only been in the car for about twenty minutes) and my car showed an "engine overheating" warning on my dash and immediately went into limp mode for approximately 5 seconds. After those few seconds, it resumed driving normally and the warning went away. I made it about 1000 feet to the next intersection to turn off into a parking lot, and my vehicle shut itself down entirely (in the middle of the intersection). I was unable to turn on my hazard lights, dome lights, or restart my car for about 3 minutes. Both my safety and the safety of others was put at risk due to the fact that it was midnight, I had no way of showing others that my vehicle was immobile in the intersection, and could have well caused an accident. After restarting my car, I was able to move it out of the intersection and look at the coolant level. The level was at the full line and my vehicle behaved normally the rest of the way home. After this incident, I took the vehicle to an auto-shop and they diagnosed the issue as a faulty thermostat. Therefore, the entire thermostat housing was replaced and the coolant system was pressure-tested to ensure everything was properly done and working. Ultimately, though, this did not resolve the issue as this morning on my way to work (about 1 month after replacing the thermostat housing and about 10 minutes into my commute), my car again flashed an overheating warning and immediately went into limp mode - shutting itself off at the next intersection (approximately 1200 feet). This time, though, it was during everyone's morning commute and I narrowly avoided being rear-ended multiple times. I took my vehicle to the auto-shop and they have been unable to recreate the issue thus far. When they had replaced my thermostat housing originally, they were unable to see an issue with it to begin with (not staying closed or staying open).

Filed Apr 8, 2023 · Acceleration, Electrical · AL · crash

On my way to work my 2019 Jeep compass all of a sudden started flashing all these error messages while I was driving (check shifter, service transmission, service ESC, AWD warnings, check coolant, car shutting down) my car seemed to be stuck in 1st gear, and my parking brake came on. While panicking trying to get off the road, I turn left but my car is going so slow a truck comes over the hill and slams into my passenger side. I've had my car less than 2 years and it did this exact same thing a few days after I bought it , I took it back to the dealership I bought it from, but they couldn't replicate the issue, the car corrected itself and was fine until April 6 when it started again while I was driving and caused me to be in an accident. This has been very traumatic, I've never been in a automobile accident, and I feel like it's all because of my car wouldn't accelerate so I could get off the road safely

Filed Dec 7, 2022 · Acceleration, Engine · MA

While driving on the highway traveling about 70 mph in the middle lane the car went into a "limp mode" and the vehicle started decreasing speed and I was not able to accelerate using gas pedal. I was able to move over to the slow lane to exit. At traffic light, I had to shut car off and restart. I brought to the car back to the dealership Bourne Auto Sales in Easton MA where I purchased the vehicle for inspection they could not reproduce the problem, thus they could not find any issues wrong and could not fix. It's unknown if warning lights came on prior to incident and there no sounds prior. My safety and my child's safety and the safety of others traveling on the highway were at risk as there could of been a major accident traveling at a high rate of speed then decreasing speed on a mulit lane highway.

Filed Sep 30, 2019 · Brakes, Transmission · 14,246 miles · OH

Brakes grab dangerously hard. And, transmission gets stuck in first gear, very dangerous when it occurs on a freeway or interstate highway. This is an avis rental car from the philadelphia airport. They rent very low standard cars for economy rentals.