Spanish journalist discovered that the SUV’s rear wheels tend to lift under heavy braking.
Anybody with a basic understanding of vehicle dynamics will be able to recognize that cars are thrown forward by heavy braking. It can cause the rear wheel to lift off the ground in motorcycles. This phenomenon isn’t common but could be seen in the Jeep Renegade.
Pablo Gonzalez, a Spanish automotive journalist, was driving a Renegade 1.6-liter diesel-powered front-wheel-drive Renegade. He then experienced something very alarming. He conducted an emergency brake test at 84 miles per hours (135 km per hour). On Spanish motoring website km77.com, he explained the events.
Gonzalez set up a camera to repeat the test, with the same results. As you can see in the video below, it is alarming.
Gonzalez reached out to Fiat Group Spain following the test to report what had happened. Technicians examined the car and found that the brake system was defective. The car was repaired and passed the second test. It performed as expected.
You would think that the case was closed. One car had a fault that was very serious, but it was fixed. However, that is not the end.
Gonzalez was once more tempted to test a Renegade in September, this time with a 2.0-liter diesel engine and four-wheel drive. The exact same thing happened again.
The Renegade’s rear wheels lifted at 62 mph (100 km/h) in two consecutive tests. However, it did so to a lesser degree. A third test showed that the brake force declined substantially, but no lift. The braking force produced no lift in a fourth test, which was conducted at a higher speed.
Gonzalez points out that even though the rear wheels were in contact with the ground, the Renegade’s nose always pitched down under heavy braking.
Gonzalez chose not to notify Fiat Group Spain the second time around. Gonzalez did contact his contact, who stated that they had been testing a variety of cars since the original incident but hadn’t seen any repeat.
A second test with a Renegade was done by HDMotori.it 2015, and produced a slight hop at the rear wheels. You can see this in the video at 9:45 minutes 45 seconds.
The videos were not posted by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the parent company of Jeep.