2003 JEEP LIBERTY — Complaint #648694
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:UPPER ARM filed December 5, 2007
NHTSA complaint #648694 (ODI reference 10210956) concerns a 2003 JEEP LIBERTY and was filed on December 5, 2007. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 4, 2007. The vehicle had 59,600 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:front:control arm:upper arm, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same JEEP LIBERTY cohort independently describe similar suspension:front:control arm:upper arm failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2003 JEEP LIBERTY shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
BACKING OUT OF A PARKING SPOT, HEARD A CLUNKING NOISE. PUT IN DRIVE, TURNED THE WHEEL AND THE VEHICLE TILTED TO THE DRIVERS SIDE. EXITED THE VEHICLE TO FIND THE DRIVERS SIDE TIRE INVERTED AND ALMOST PARALLEL TO THE GROUND. WHEN TOW TRUCK LIFTED THE VEHICLE, THE FRONT PASSENGER TIRE ALSO COLLAPSED. HAD VEHICLE FIXED TODAY. HAD TO REPLACE BOTH UPPER BALL JOINTS, AND ARMS. VEHICLE IS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD, HAD NEVER BEEN OFF ROAD AND ONLY HAD 59,000 MILES. REPAIR SHOP OWNER SAID HE HAS NEVER SEEN BOTH BALL JOINTS COLLAPSE AND THERE IS NO REASON WHY THEY SHOULD HAVE, EXCEPT FOR FAULTY PARTS. *TR
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 648694 |
| ODI Number | 10210956 |
| Date Filed | December 5, 2007 |
| Failure Date | November 4, 2007 |
| VIN | 1J4GL48K13W |
Similar SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:UPPER ARM Complaints for 2003 JEEP LIBERTY
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 JEEP LIBERTY. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE INSPECTING THE VEHICLE, THE TECHNICIAN DIAGNOSED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS UNSAFE TO DRIVE DUE TO AN UPPER CONTROL ARM FAILURE. THE T
FRONT SUSPENSION UPPER CONTROL ARM/BALL JOINT SEPARATED CAUSING WHEEL DISLOCATION ON FRONT PASSENGER SIDE. THE INCIDENT OCCURRED LEAVING A PARKING LOT AT ABOUT 5 MILES PER HOUR. THE SAME MAKE/MODEL YE
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.