My 2016 Jeep Renegade is dangerous on the road

I Bought a New 2016 Jeep Renegade in Feb. 2017. Great Car for 8 K Miles. Then the Idle increased a lot. Dealer said
" This 2.4 Liter Chrysler engine has no Mechanical Engine Idle Adjusting Screw. and there is No way to reset the engine Idle back to Factory Spec’s. That was in 2018.
In 2019, After Twelve Service Visits, 24 months of trying, 24 K Scary Miles, Fiat / Chrysler said " We have No
Defense, We will replace your car". But, they would charge me more than I can afford to replace a lemon.
And Yes, I also replaced the defective fan.
I love my Jeep, But, The engine already Very nearly
caused a major Accident, April 1st of 2018.They Know…
My Jeep, and Fiat / Chrysler are a danger on the road…

Have you researched the lemon law in your state? Sounds like it might qualify. I’d want to be bought out, and never see a Jeep dealer again.

24 months into this… it may be too late for Lemon Law.

In VA for example, you have to make your legal claim no later than 18 months from the date of delivery, then you do not qualify anymore, even if you have a clear record of multiple unrepaired failures.

what Chrysler offers as a good will at this point?

I would note what they offer as an “upgrade” surcharge, deducted that from the price of new Renegade and ask them to purchase it back at that value (given it is more than delaer is willing to do on the spot), and then run away from Jeep to some better brand

I have trouble with the I love my Jeep part . If I had a vehicle with these problems it is going to be replaced . I don’t need the hassle of having an accident that could injure someone and then have insurance problems because this problem has not been solved .

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It sounds as though they are admitting that your car has a defect that can not be repaired and the manufacturer will replace your car under the terms of the warranty or a lemon law. What else can you ask for?

You don’t get a new car for free, you have gotten 3 years of use out of the one you have now. Since there is no way to replace your car with an identical one that’s 4 years old and as many miles as yours you get a current model year car and pay for the usage you got from your 2016. The formula for calculating that is based on original purchase price, current mileage vs. 120,000 miles which they consider the useful life of a vehicle, and a few other things. So yes, you will have to pay a little bit, but you will get a brand new vehicle out of the deal.

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I wonder what the ‘little bit’ is they’re asking for. I’d want it to be WAY less than the cost of just trading in the car on a new one.

Well considering the mileage offset is based on 120,000 miles being the expected life of a car, you may not think it’s a great deal but those are the terms of the deal.

No car has been equipped with an engine idle speed adjustment screw that is supposed to be adjusted since the days of carburetors. Fuel-injected cars with a cable-actuated throttle body are equipped with a minimum throttle position set screw, which is adjusted at the factory, and not intended to be adjusted again. So I am not sure what the dealer service department’s point is, other than they could not figure out the problem.

Electronic throttle body.

The idle control is programmed into the computer.

Tester

The OP’s idle rpm problem sounds to me like the power-train computer software got corrupted somehow. How that happened, no way to tell, but you’d think they’d have a way to reset all the software to the way it came from the factory, then test if the idle rpm problem was still there. That would make it possible to determine if the problem was software or actuators/sensors.

My early 90’s Corolla is fuel injected, cable actuated throttle. It has an idle rpm adjustment screw that provides an adjustable air-bypass around throttle valve. This is usually called an idle bleed screw. In any event that screw must be adjusted to set the spec’d warm idle rpm when performing a routine tune-up. My late 70’s Rabbit was also fuel injected and had an idle rpm screw that manipulated the throttle valve set point as I recall. When cars went to the electronic idle air control and electronic throttles, obd II era for the most part, that’s when the idle adjustment & bleed screws disappeared.

What kind of money are they talking about? By the way, I’m in agreement with asemaster on the points he made.,

After 12 service visits in 24 months,. 24 months of scary driving, and FCA saying they give up and will work a deal on a new car I can’t say that I’d be in love with it for one second., Get thee gone if the price is right.

I’m sure there’s some procedure, but to come out no better than a trade-in doesn’t seem right.

I would target “private party / good condition” estimate from KBB / Edmunds / etc… as a measure of what would be a fair repurchase low-end

yes, it is not fair, but OP had to address the situation properly, at the proper time, now it is in a damage control territory

It’s sort of hard for me to understand why they can’t figure out what’s causing it. I could understand that once they figure it out the solution might not be economical to implement. But a dealership shop not being able to figure out why a four year old Jeep’s idle rpm is faster than spec’d? With all the test equipment and expertise they have at their disposal? Hard to figure.

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It is usually just the customers opinion that the idle speed is wrong, idle speed and target idle speed are shown on the scan tool and they usually match.

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