NHTSA complaint #11440163

Owner complaint summary

During the first 3,000 miles of owning the vehicle, on 3 separate occasions, the vehicle has failed to shift from first to second gear, appearing to get stuck in neutral. Because this is occurring when the vehicle is first beginning to accelerate this is happening when entering intersections, changing lanes, and crossing lanes causing the vehicle to rev while either coasting (due to the positive motion prior to shifting) or sit motionless when on-coming traffic is approaching. The only way to get the vehicle back in motion is to completely stop the vehicle (irrespective of the dangerous location) put the vehicle in park, then back in drive, and try accelerating again in hopes that the vehicle will shift on a second attempt. One one of the three occasions so far, this occurred while exiting a parking lot but before entering a changing lane on a busy street. On another occasion it caused me to get stuck on a blind curve. The issue occurs intermittently and to date I have not been able to get the dealer to remedy the issue. Their text msg response at TransitTowne Jeep Chrysler Dodge RAM in Elma, New York, is that "..there is no codes in the system and there is no updates available for the software. There is nothing to diagnose if there is no code and everything checks out in the system. ... The Jeep does have an 8 speed transmission that is all electronically controlled and it can take some getting used to." This is the response I received after dropping the vehicle off at 10 a.m. and receiving a call the same day that my car is ready to be picked up at exactly 1:03 p.m. (which included the time to perform an oil change, tire rotation, resolve a missing trim issue, and investigate an issue with the tailgate). The only warning was the beep that goes off when the car is in close proximity of an impact (due to the other cars approaching as I try to get the back in motion) but the warning is useless until I can get the car back in motion to avoid an impact.