NHTSA complaint #11534732

Owner complaint summary

While driving I got "rear seat alert" followed by "Car Shutting down in 9 secs" message, it happened twice. The first time on Northern State Highway in NY. I was driving with my family, and the car unexpectedly shutdown happened. Nothing worked, I had no power, no steering, no brakes, all gone. Our luck was that I was already on the right lane and just had to let the car stop in the curbside. Because of the messages, we thought the rear door was opened or something. After a few minutes, after several tries, the engine started, and we exit the highway and parked on the local road to try to understand what happened. We decided to continue our trip on the service road. We end up on Ocenside, NY on a two lane, busy street and it happened again, but at this time I was not able to move the car to the curb, the car stop completely on the middle of the road, no steering, nothing. Because of the incoming traffic, our hazard lights alone were not enough to warn the coming traffic. We though that an accident was eminent, for which we called 911 for help. I could not get out of the car because of the speed of the incoming cars. After several attempts, the car turned on again, I parked on the curb and I called the AVIS Rental Roadside Assistance, because I was not going to put my family, including an 87 year old in jeopardy. After we got home from the long, stressful day. I searched internet and for my surprise, there were several posts (links) relating the same issue I had. Including recalls from Chrysler about a short circuit, which could even cause a fire. Chrysler issued a NO PARKING INSIDE note, which is hard to understand. I feel it is my obligation, as a family person, to report this incident, because this car should not be in the ROAD. Avis is currently RENTING this car. Furthermore, for my surprise, I saw a ad on NBC, 5pm yesterday, 07/26/2023. It is just a matter of searching on internet to see the DANGER that families are exposed.