01 Cherokee Gauge Failure - Please Help!

[matyjac]

First time poster and new Jeep Cherokee owner (and vehicle ignoramus, I must add/forewarn).
I just bought an '01 Jeep Cherokee Classic, 2wd, automatic. This morning on my drive on the hgwy, everything was working fine. Cruise control was engaged going about 70 when the red "airbag" light came on. I haven't fully read my manual so I don't know what that means - but then my RPM and MPH gauges simultaneously dropped to 0!!! The vehicle continued to run just fine w/o interruption... the gauges went right back up to normal about 3-4 seconds later. This happened a second time, about 10 minutes later. I soon arrived at work and quickly turned off the engine.
As I said, I'm not vehicle savvy so I don't know how bad this is - could this be a simple fuse problem? Has anyone had experience with this? Do you think I'm safe to drive home tonight? Thank you all for your help!!!

[fredjacksonsan]

I think that was a common problem with the 99 models, that the instrument cluster would click off intermittently.

It is probably just a loose wire under the dash that is breaking contact. If you have a warranty, take it back where you got it. It could be just the contacts on the back of the instruments, should be pretty easy to remove the cluster and have a look behind.

[matyjac]

Thanks for the info fredjacksonsan, I appreciate the help. I'll check that out.

[kennzz05]

my 98 does it too but they always come back on ive had my cluster out and it didnt help good luck...