The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a preliminary investigation into reports of 2011 and 2012 model Jeep Patriot models stalling unexpectedly at highway speeds. The agency has received a total of 12 complaints, 10 of which have happened at speeds above 65 mph. In two-thirds of the cases, the vehicles could not be restarted, and ended up getting towed to a dealership.
All but three of the incidents occurred or were reported within the last six months. One of the incidents allegedly resulted in a crash and injury. At this point, it's unknown how many models are potentially affected, or if it will result in a full-fledged recall, but a total of 91,714 Patriots have been sold from January 2011 to date. The agency has not reported any complaints of problems on the mechanically similar Compass model.