2002 Jeep Liberty Limited review from North America

On May 5, 2006, while turning right into a parking lot at about 5 miles per hour in my 2002 Jeep Liberty, I experienced a catastrophic failure of the lower ball joint on the right side. The ball joint dropped and the bolt at the bottom of the ball joint struck and severely dug into my 5 month old Jeep Chrome alloy wheel. This all took place at traveling about 5 miles per hour and traveling only about 10 feet. I had the vehicle towed to a local repair facility for possible repair or storage as it was evening, and I was blocking traffic. Please note that I did have the vehicle serviced at 20,005 miles in response of the lower ball joint recall, at which time the ball joints were replaced and heat shields installed to avoid future failure of the ball joints. The vehicle at the time of this failure had 38,668 miles, which means these new ball joints only lasted 18,663 miles, with absolutely no off road driving!

I thank God that this failure took place at 5 miles an hour and not while on the highway as I know that I may very well have been killed the result of an instantaneous tire/wheel failure and resulting roll-over.

As I have been a licensed New Jersey driver for 39 years with never having a ball joint failure with any of the many vehicles I have owned, the ball joint recall and subsequent failure are logically related. My driving habits have clearly become more conservative over these years and the fact that my Jeep has never been driven off road, further supports my contention that this ball joint failure is a serious life threatening problem that may very well not have been conclusively corrected with my vehicle or other 2002 Jeep Liberty models.

Love my Jeep, but this ball joint problem may force me to get rid of it quick!