A frustrated Richmond man is in a battle with Chrysler Canada over his new Jeep Cherokee that is having serious issues with its electrical panel.
Jonathan Glaisher paid $60,000 for the 2014 Jeep Cherokee. But he claims with just 300 kilometres on the odometer, the electrical panel broke down, even applying the emergency brake while his wife was driving.
"If she had been going fast, like on the highway when we had issues, that would have killed us I'm sure," said Glaisher.
The jeep had to be towed. The dealer re-set the electrical panel, but the dashboard demons came back. The vehicle experienced four more electrical malfunctions and four tows back to the dealership. Glaisher says each time, the dealership insisted the issue was fixed.
Glaisher asked for his defective Jeep to be replaced with a new one, but Chrysler said its policy is to repair, not replace.
Glaisher says the company was willing to let him upgrade to a 2015 model, but that would cost another $6,000. He says he was also told his problem Jeep would be traded in and re-sold.
"My feeling is, I'm throwing my issue, this lemon, onto somebody else and that's not the right thing to do either," he said.
It appears Glaisher’s not the only unhappy Jeep Cherokee owner. YouTube is full of videos about the model’s electrical problems.
The author of the Lemon-Aid Guide for Cars and Trucks says many Chrysler vehicles made between 2007 and 2014 have possessed power modules.
"The lights come on they go off, the windows come up and down, the vehicle stalls, the airbag doesn't deploy, all kinds of things that taken individually could put your life in danger," said author Phil Edmonston.
But the auto giant told CTV News in an email, "Chrysler Canada is not aware of any similar complaints."
As for Glaisher's defective Cherokee? Chrysler insists that, "all of the issues that have been brought forward to the company or dealership by the customer have been resolved."
Glaisher says that’s news to him.
"I feel like they've abandoned me. They've sold a faulty vehicle and they're just happy that it's not on their lot anymore."
A class-action lawsuit against Chrysler was filed just over a year ago in the U.S. It accuses Chrysler of equipping thousands of vehicles with faulty integrated power modules. The most complaints on file about the faulty power module are connected to the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
When asked to comment on that lawsuit, a Chrysler spokesman said, "it would be inappropriate to comment on this matter, as it is currently in litigation."
