Video Surfaces of Jeep Renegade That Might Have a Bizarre Braking Issue

Videos have surfaced showing a possible issue with the Jeep Renegade under hard braking.

A video shot by Spanish reviewer Pablo González shows a Renegade’s rear end catching serious air during a routine braking test. The video, posted on 77km.com and first noticed by Jalopnik, is alarming — the test vehicle’s front end nosedives, while the rear wheels leave the pavement entirely.

González claims that in March 2015, he noted dramatic nosedive on a Renegade under hard braking, and suspected the rear tires may have left the ground. He set up a camera on the ground to document whatever was happening and found that the little Jeep did indeed spend part of the test on two wheels.

Fiat Group Spain explained to him that vehicle had suffered a failure involving the ABS system and he was unable to repeat the problem after the company fixed it. They also explained that this was a pre-production vehicle — Pablo later found out that this wasn’t the case — and not intended for sale to consumers. Satisfied for the time being, González decided against publishing the problem. The incident was seemingly isolated and had been handled properly.

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However, in September of this year, he managed to recreate the problem in a completely different Renegade. During a 62-mph braking test, González said the Jeep’s rear wheels left the ground under heavy braking. Pablo claims he called the same PR representative at Fiat and was told that the company had run the appropriate tests after the first incident. Nothing to worry about, he was told. During the call, he discovered the original Renegade he tested was, in fact, a production model. The vehicle was eventually sold to a consumer.

Fourwheeler.com also noticed rear wheel lift when testing the Renegade last year, but was assured it was a result of the front springs being out of spec from what would be used on a production vehicle. Italian reviewers at HDmotori also got a Renegade to do what looks like a full-on stoppie in a 2015 first drive test. However, consumer complaints on the matter have yet to crop up.

As dramatic as this all looks, these might be isolated incidents. Hopefully FCA is looking into the issue.

A version of this article originally appeared on The Truth About Cars

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