What 455 owners told NHTSA about the 2016 Jeep Patriot

While I was driving, driver's headrest suddenly popped off and hit me hard on the back of the head while driving. I have two children in my car who were startled from the sound. Head has been hurting since the incident.

NHTSA ODI 11749716

The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Patriot. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the head rest detached and pooped off. The contact stated that when the failure occurred, it felt like a kick to the back of the head. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, the contact was informed that the repair coverage was for ten years of ownership of the vehicle. The contact stated that ownership was four months over the ten years. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. In addition, the contact was informed that the failure was a known failure of the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 91,000.

NHTSA ODI 11740060

Headrest safety device deployed without a rear-end accident, while driving, did not hurt driver. Can not put headrest back into place scared driver

NHTSA ODI 11682237

Passenger headrest "deployed" due to the plastic housing for the pin broke.

NHTSA ODI 11654661

The headrest deployed over night while sitting in the garage. There is a plastic piece that keeps the headrest from deploying. That piece is under 75 pounds of pressure and will eventually break. I have read of several people that had the same thing happen to them. Some deployed overnight while parked in their driveway or garage. I read where one person said his deployed while driving and hit him in the back of the head. He said he was lucky that he didn't hit anyone. The Jeep Corporation knows about this flaw but refuses to issue a recall.

NHTSA ODI 11643562

Passenger side headrest deployed while PARKED and plastic pieces fell out.

NHTSA ODI 11613851

While parked the passenger side head rest opened up exposing the air bag ect stuff

NHTSA ODI 11598589

The passenger-side active headrest on my 2016 Jeep Patriot deployed randomly while I was driving. There was no warning prior to the incident. The plastic surrounding the pin broke away and caused the front cushion of the headrest to spring forward. If someone had been sitting in the passenger seat, they could have been struck in the back of the head, and if the driver's seat were to deploy in this manner, it could have caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. The headrest has not been inspected by a dealer or service center, but the cause is clearly visible. The problem occurred suddenly and without warning.

NHTSA ODI 11549250

The contact's fiancé owns a 2016 Jeep Patriot. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front passenger’s side head restraint deployed without impact. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that while her fiancé was driving at an undisclosed speed, the failure reoccurred with the driver's side head restraint. The contact's fiancé did not sustain any injuries. The vehicle had not yet been taken to an independent mechanic or a local dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.

NHTSA ODI 11522715

The clips that hold the active headrest together broke and the headrest sprung forward. It cannot be reset closed because of the broken pieces. This car has never been in an accident of any kind.

NHTSA ODI 11512264

The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Patriot. The contact stated that upon accelerating uphill, the RMPs revved up but the vehicle failed to respond as needed. The coolant temperature warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the temperature sensor had failed and damaged the transmission. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the temperature sensor, head gasket, water pump, radiator, and unknown hoses and clamps were replaced. A transmission flush was performed, and the transmission was rebuilt. Additionally, the contact stated that upon parking the vehicle after driving 45 MPH, she noticed that the driver's seat headrest had partially been deployed independently. The contact pushed the headrest inside the seat; however, the headrest was completely deployed. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 155,000.

NHTSA ODI 11502270

Headrest on passenger side of car. We drove it and parked it in the garage. We got up the next morning and the headrest had deployed. Nobody was in the vehicle. If someone had been in the passenger seat they would have been injured. We took it to a car repair site, when they looked at it they said they don't know how that could have happened as we were not in an accident. We sent an email to Jeep and are waiting for a response. We had no warnings of anything being wrong and we have not any recall bulletins or service bulletins.

NHTSA ODI 11442661

The contact owns a 2016 Jeep Patriot. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, her son touched the headrest and it exploded without warning. There were no reported injuries. The check engine warning light illuminated after the failure. The contact called Mopar who stated the vehicle was covered, however, canceled the order. The contact called the local dealer where a headrest was ordered but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure however, no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ODI 11440705

While driving down the highway the head rest deployed on the driver side. There was no rear ended accident or anything like a warning, it just went off. I’ve seen that this has happened to a lot of Jeep vehicles and this is extremely dangerous. Someone else was driving my car and hit them in the beck of the head very hard. Thankfully nothing serious came from this such as, us crashing since the highway we were driving on speed limit was 75mph. It’s not fixable at home and should be recalled ASAP as it’s extremely expensive to get this fixed as well as extremely dangerous to randomly go off while driving!!

NHTSA ODI 11420783

RANDOM DEPLOYMENT OF PASSENGER SEAT AVR. VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY AND UNOCCUPIED.

NHTSA ODI 11414479

ACTIVE HEADREST WAS DEPLOYED/ACTIVATED WHILE IDLE AT A RED LIGHT, THE HEADREST HIT THE BACK OF MY HEAD AND MADE ME RELEASE THE BRAKE WHILE STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT, THERE WAS ALSO A VERY LOUD NOISE (KIND OF LIKE A GUN SHOT NOISE). THIS WAS VERY SCARY AS I HAD NO IDEA WHAT HAD HAPPENED OR WHAT HAD HIT MY HEAD, I HAD TO PULL TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND EXAMINE MY CAR TO MAKE SURE IT WAS SAFE TO DRIVE IT. ALL THIS WHILE I WAS IN PAIN RESULTING FROM THE HEADREST HITTING THE BACK OF MY HEAD.

NHTSA ODI 11282652

DRIVER'S SIDE ACTIVE HEADREST SELF-DEPLOYED. VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY AND PARKED OVER NIGHT IN GARAGE. PLASTIC RETAINER FRACTURED LEADING TO DEPLOYMENT.

NHTSA ODI 11140239

ON MONDAY 07/09/2018, WHILE STOPPED ON A CITY STREET WAS REAR-ENDED BY A TRUCK WHICH DIDN'T STOP GOING APPROXIMATELY 40 -50 MPH. IT SMASHED MY CAR INTO THE VEHICLE IN FRONT WHICH WAS A CAR LENGTH AWAY. THE SEAT BROKE BACKWARDS, THE CENTER CONSOLE BETWEEN THE SEATS FLEW OFF, AND NONE OF THE AIRBAGS IN THE VEHICLE DEPLOYED, KNEES WENT FORWARD INTO THE DASH.

NHTSA ODI 11110422

THE SYSTEM THAT MONITORS WHETHER A PASSENGER IS IN THE PASSENGER SEAT MALFUNCTIONS AND CAUSES THE SEATBELT TO SHOW UNBUCKLED THEREFORE TURNING THE AIRBAG OFF IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT. THIS SPECIFIC PIECE OF EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN RECALLED ON SIMILAR VEHICLES IN THE SAME YEAR BUT MY VIN WAS NOT SELECTED AND MY DEALERSHIP WANTED ME TO PAY IN ORDER TO FIX IT BECAUSE IT WAS A SAFETY RISK.

NHTSA ODI 11102516

NOT SURE IF TAKATA INFLATORS ARE INVOLVED. ON THURSDAY 1/12/2017, I WAS STOPPED ON THE FREEWAY AND WAS REAR-ENDED BY A SEMI TRUCK WHICH DIDN'T STOP GOING APPROXIMATELY 35 MPH. IT PUSHED ME INTO THE VEHICLE IN FRONT OF ME WHICH WAS A CAR LENGTH AWAY. THE SEAT BROKE BACKWARDS, THE HEADREST BROKE OFF COMPLETELY AND I HIT THE REAR VEIW MIRROR BREAKING IT OFF. NONE OF THE 6 AIRBAGS IN THE VEHICLE DEPLOYED,

NHTSA ODI 10945334