[qr20de]

Congratulations to the owner of the vehicle on getting its exchanged from the company.

It is quite unfortunate that his had to happen, but we can also be content with the fact that FCA exchanged it, and didn't repair it and give some freebies.

With an incident like this, in my experience, there would have been some damage to the strut upper mount and the result of this; perpetual wheel misalignment and bad driving dynamics.

Congratulations on the new car!

[Arjun Reddy]

So do we know if there was an official statement from FCA as to the reason for failure?

If they have investigated and found the reason, is there a recall or at least a service bulletin?

Well done FCA on replacing the car. This is a very gutsy move by the manufacturer as it could just open a Pandora's box for them. Every customer with failures of this severity or more can now push claim for a replacement car?

Is FCA willing to entertain these requests or they are quietly confident of not having big failures?

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by Amartya

I personally prefer another popular design for lower ball joints. The ball joint is pressed into the knuckle itself, and it attached to the lower control arm with a tapered fit. With that design, the chances of the ball-joint popping out seems to be lower.

Every design / layout has it's own set of Pros & Cons. Listing few of the Cons

By design:
- Lower arm / link has to be a cast part (steel or aluminium) where as the recent trend is mostly a pressed steel part (entry & mid segment)
(w.r.t to the above layout)

For service:
- Ball joint replacement requires the entire knuckle to be removed
- Special equipment (by dealer's standard) will be required for ball joint replacement (Puller & hydraulic press)

PS: Sorry for adding the cons alone

PPS: Conical ball stud has higher chances of popping out (in case of nut loosening or lower torque). With the tapered / conical mating area, radial input load will give a axial resultant / push

PPPS: no intention of calling it a bad design, couldn't be justified with the above points alone. This is "FYI" kind of post

[morphin1]

Planning to buy a compass for my father.
Would you guys still recommend it after the above fiasco?
Also how is after sales?
Thanks in advance guys.
Cheers

[rajamuneeb]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Well done FCA on replacing the car. This is a very gutsy move by the manufacturer as it could just open a Pandora's box for them. Every customer with failures of this severity or more can now push claim for a replacement car?

As per a very reliable source FCA still hasn't delivered the new vehicle to the customer as per their replacement promise. I wonder why they haven't kept their promise yet.

[adneeraj]

Originally Posted by mayanksabharwal

the car broke down. The co-passenger side's front wheel with drive shafts came out from the car...

Manufacturing defect?

Saw this today as well on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass in Pune just before the Viraj Skoda/Nexa showroom.

The wheel on the driver's side had popped out in this case.
I was cruising at 80 and wasn't able to get a picture or stop at once.
But I know what I saw.
It wasn't a case of a puncture and the car being abandoned on jack to get it fixed.

Rare cases far in between, but scared me as a prospective buyer!

[gautam109]

Originally Posted by adneeraj

Saw this today as well on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass in Pune just before the Viraj Skoda/Nexa showroom.

The wheel on the driver's side had popped out in this case.

I was in cab on the JJ flyover last week (19th June, abt 4.30 - 4.45 PM) and there was a terrific traffic jam (on the side going towards Byculla).

The cause soon became apparent: midway through the flyover a black Jeep Compass had broken down blocking one lane. Looking back, I could see that the driver's side front wheel was lying a couple of feet in front of the Jeep & the car was resting on the axle. It had come to a stop right on the divider & luckily had avoided jumping it.

I remembered reading about a similar incident on T-bhp, searched and sure enough I found this thread. This seems to be a long-term issue for the Jeep Compass. Scary!

[adneeraj]

This is really sad. And doesn't seem like they're doing anything about this at all.

I once had a strong desire to own a Compass. Not anymore.

[vikrantshete]

Originally Posted by mayanksabharwal

The co-passenger side's front wheel with drive shafts came out from the car and I somehow managed to stop the car. It's a serious safety issue! Multinational companies are selling such poor quality products in India which may cause fatalities.

Just did a bit of internet research on Jeep compass models sold in USA. Suspension or nearby stuff breaking apart/cracking is not something new for Jeep compass. Many people have reported these problems in USA too. There are also other issues with Jeep compass in USA.

At least the current gen model sold in India is fairly reliable. Previous gen sold in USA were way worse than these. Read a few lists of top compact/subcompact SUVs in USA but jeep compass was nowhere.