There are 35 owner-reported lighting complaints for the 2018 Jeep Compassin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
My driver's side headlights stops working intermittently. This occurs quite randomly. I have replaced the bulbs, the switch, and after taking it to a dealer, I ended up replacing the driver's side headlight assembly. Nothing has worked, and now I am hundreds of dollars poorer for my trouble. This is clearly a safety issue, and judging from what I have seen in online forums, there are a great many others with the same problem. This is a safety issue that falls squarely on the manufacturer to remedy, and to compensate its customers for our losses.
Headlights work intermittently. Driver side comes on but passenger side doesn’t or vise versa. Also sometimes neither come on. No warning messages or anything. Yes the jeep dealership saw the issue with the lights and so did an independent mechanic.
Low and high beams. Come on at intermediate times sometimes the passenger side will be on and there will be no driver side. Sometimes they will not come on at all. No matter how many turns you turn the light or flick. The switch I've replaced both headlights and the ballasters. Still to no Avail. They do not work all the time.
Head light problem lights not working took to dealership brought a new headlight assembly that didn’t fix the problem waited 7 hours they still couldn’t fix the problem took vehicle home I replaced a fuse,relay, and bulb that fix the problem . Six months later the same problem headlight please look in to this , need to be recalled.
The headlights do not work reliably. The first time this happened was in June but seemingly resolved itself until this last week. Sometimes the passenger side only works, sometimes the driver side only, sometimes neither side. They will come on and go off or only one will come on or go off as they please. There is no pattern or rhyme or reason. There are no warning lights; in fact, the car says Lights On, the symbol for the high beams shows as on when I pull or push forward, but neither is. This has not been inspected yet but will be shortly. There are several complaints online about this intermittent headlight issue. Even after relays, ballasts, and fuses have been changed. The car is only 5 years old, the last thing I should be worrying about is the headlights.
Headlights come on sometimes sometime, other times driver will come and passanger side won't, or passanger side will come on and driver side will not. Seems to be some sort of issue other then headlights because when they do work they seem to work fine but randomly one or the other does not work. Makes it unsafe to drive at night and worry that if we are out for a late drive we may randomly end up with no headlights at all.
A cable going to the driver's side headlamp assembly was intermittently shorting and causing the headlight to turn off while driving. The cable and entire headlamp assembly had to be replaced to fix the issue. There are other reports of this issue on [XXX] . INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Recently purchased this 2018 Jeep Compass. Screen display brightness is blinding at night. Asked dealer about NHTSA Safety Recall T70/NHTSA 17V-740. Dealer said recall had been performed and only option was to replace instrument cluster at over $1000 parts & labor. This is not acceptable for an issue clearly described in the NHTSA Recall. There needs to be a reflash or software or sensor update. I cannot confirm what actions were actually taken by the dealer. Contacted FCA corporate and was told nothing further can be done. The cockpit central display is blindingly bright at night and is a safety hazard to driver and other motorists. It cannot be adjusted. The dealer was able to reproduce the issue but says recall performed and nothing further can be done. There were no warnings or messages with this issue as it is a defect or malfunction in components. If this cannot be resolved, I will simply trade the vehicle in as this should be the manufacturer's responsibility to correct this very unsafe situation. Thank you.
Failure of headlights turning on puts fellow drivers in danger. The lights work but turn on and off at random times. I do have the fog lights that work but I still need my headlights to work especially in the dark and rain.
Vehicle has Bi-Xenon Headlights which have started to intermittently fail while driving. Sometimes one light lights up alternating side to side and sometimes both will not light,. Sometimes one will come on immediately and the other will take up to 5 minutes to light. On two occasion both have shut off while driving at night. Definite safety issue. Occurs irrespective of the headlight switch position (Auto or On) Dealer has been unable to replicate the issue on demand.
My head lights go out and will not come on while driving and the parking brakes turns on by itself
Headlights not working properly, sometimes one Headlight turns and then the other. Sometimes neither turn on you have to keep messing with switch until you finally get it to work. So frustrating!
2018 Jeep Compass with OEM Bi-Xenon Headlights w/DRL. The right headlamp assembly bulb will frequently not turn on no matter what position you turn the headlights on to. Some days I am left with only driving with one operating headlight since the other won’t flicker on. This has been brought to my local dealership who found no source to problem.
Vehicle headlights work intermittently. Either will go out unexpectedly. Car has been to dealership. Problem not solved. Relays have been replaced, etc. There is a lengthy forum on this topic with this Jeep model; many others have this issue. This is a profound safety issue. When lights do not work, my daughter has been forced to pull off of road, exacerbating the safety issue. Please urge a recall on this matter
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that water was entering the headlight housing and the headlights failed to illuminate as needed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the headlight assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.
HID headlights only work intermittently. no headlights randomly while driving is extremely dangerous. two dealers have reviewed vehicle and have no fix. issue is constant and one light is off 95% of the time, sometimes driver side, sometimes passenger side, sometimes no lights at all. no warning lamps in the dash, vehicle thinks its working fine. this has been ongoing for over a year.
I bought my vehicle in May of 2019. In May 2021 my car had 34,000 miles on it and the passenger side headlight was out. I took it to the dealership and they replaced my left headlight assembly (vehicle was under warranty). In October 2024, I noticed that my headlight on the passenger side was out again. My vehicle had 56,426 miles on it. I called the dealership (South Point Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram in Austin, TX) up to 9 times and no one responded to my calls. Due to their lack of response, I took it to a shop up the road that specializes in Jeeps. When the shop took a look at the issue, they found that both headlights were actually out. First they tried just replacing the bulbs, and that didn't work. So they replaced the entire headlight assembly on both sides. This fixed the issue for maybe 3 weeks. My headlights are still out. I took it back to the shop for help and they told me they cannot help me, as everything looks to be set up right. I have spent over $1,200 in repair costs and ubers to get this issue fixed and I am at a loss. Looks like this is a common issue with 2018 Jeep Compasses. I filed a case against Jeep and they immediately denied my case. This is very concerning given I do have to drive at night and early mornings to travel to work.
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that the passenger’s side headlamp suddenly failed to illuminate as needed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who replaced the headlamp and the relay on separate occasions. After the replacement the driver’s side headlamp operated intermittently. The contact had taken the vehicle to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the cause of the failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 15,000. The contact stated that the manufacturer refused to cover the cost of the repair.
TURN SIGNAL FAILURE. SIGNAL LIGHTS DO NOT BLINK WHEN THE DRIVER SEATBELT IS UNBUCKLED. UNRESTRAINED DRIVER DOES NOT HAVE ANY FUNCTIONAL TURN SIGNALS. TURN SIGNAL LEVER DEPRESSION OR ELEVATION HAS NO EFFECT ON EXTERNAL SIGNAL LIGHTS, INTERNAL ARROWS ON DASH OR RELAY BOX CLICKING. NO EXTERNAL BLINKERS, NO ILLUMINATING SIGNAL ARROWS WHICH USUALLY ILLUMINATE IN YOUR DASHBOARD CONSOLE WHEN THE SIGNAL LEVER IS DEPRESSED, NO SOUND (SIGNAL CLICKING) INSIDE OF THE VEHICLE WHILE SIGNAL LEVER DEPRESSED. THE SIGNALS FUNCTION NORMALLY WHEN THE DRIVER SEATBELT IS BUCKLED. THIS IS A CONSTANT PROBLEM AND HAS NEVER FUNCTIONED NORMALLY.
THE DASH LIGHTS DO NOT DIM WHEN TRANSITIONING FROM DAY TO NIGHT DRIVING. I HAVE TO PULL THE VEHICLE OVER, TURN IT OFF, WAIT A FEW MINUTES AND RESTART. SOMETIMES IT TAKES THREE OR FOUR TRIES BEFORE THE LIGHTS DIM. ADDITIONALLY, THE REVERSE CAMERA DISPLAY DOES NOT DIM AT NIGHT. I HAVE ALMOST BACKED INTO A DITCH AND A TREE BECAUSE I WAS BLINDED BY THE CAMERA DISPLAY. USUALLY I HAVE TO PUT SOMETHING OVER IT WHILE BACKING UP AT NIGHT IN ORDER TO DO SO SAFELY. VERY POOR DESIGN IN BOTH THE DASH AND REVERSE CAMERA DIMMING TECHNOLOGY. IT'S NOT LIKE THE DIMMING FEATURE IS NEW TECHNOLOGY!
Showing 1–20 of 35 complaints
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 26, 2026