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What the official records show
For the 2018 Jeep Compass, the NHTSA complaint API returned 933 unique owner complaint records across the catalog variants COMPASS when Car Trouble Lab captured this dataset. Those records included 28 reports marked as involving a crash and 5 marked as involving a fire. Injury and death fields summed to 18 injuries and 0 deaths. The NHTSA recalls API returned 6 distinct safety campaigns, including 17V670000, 17V732000, 17V740000, and 18V279000. The captured component evidence profile was ENGINE: 468 tags (50% of unique complaint records), 7 crash-marked, 2 fire-marked, and 4 reported injuries; ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 373 tags (40% of unique complaint records), 3 crash-marked, 3 fire-marked, and 1 reported injuries; POWER TRAIN: 151 tags (16% of unique complaint records), 7 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 4 reported injuries; EXTERIOR LIGHTING: 64 tags (7% of unique complaint records), 0 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 0 reported injuries; FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM: 62 tags (7% of unique complaint records), 1 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 0 reported injuries. The campaign evidence profile was 17V670000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE; received 24/10/2017); 17V732000 (AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE; received 21/11/2017); 17V740000 (ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL; received 21/11/2017); 18V279000 (SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:LOWER ARM; received 01/05/2018); 18V523000 (SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:DISC:CALIPER; received 09/08/2018). These are reported-record counts, not a measured failure rate and not a diagnosis of any individual vehicle.
SOURCES
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Consumer Complaints · primary source
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Recalls · primary source
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How to interpret the pattern
The most frequently assigned complaint component categories in this captured query were ENGINE (468), ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (373), POWER TRAIN (151), EXTERIOR LIGHTING (64), and FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM (62). Adjacent captured model years reported 2017: 228 complaints and 4 campaigns; 2019: 326 complaints and 2 campaigns. These comparisons are raw record totals, not exposure-adjusted rates. One complaint can carry more than one component tag, so category counts should not be added to reproduce the total complaint count. Too few usable positive mileage values were present to publish a median. NHTSA complaint records are owner-submitted and may be incomplete, duplicated before ODI-number deduplication, or unverified. A high count can also reflect how many vehicles were sold and how long they have been on the road. Use this page to choose inspection questions, not to label every 2018 Jeep Compass defective.
methodology
What to check next
Start with the categories that repeat most often, then compare the complaint description and warning symptoms with the actual vehicle rather than ordering a part from a category label. Check the full 17-character VIN in NHTSA's official recall lookup because a model-year campaign list cannot tell whether a particular vehicle is included or whether its remedy was completed. Preserve diagnostic trouble codes and freeze-frame data before clearing them, ask for repair invoices, and obtain a qualified inspection when a symptom affects braking, steering, restraint systems, fire risk, or drivability. Car Trouble Lab does not determine whether a vehicle is safe to drive.