My Daughters 2015 Jeep Compass has this transmission. I am planning on changing the fluid for her, so I've been doing some research about the fluid and procedure.
What I have "read", meaning it could be wrong.....
They claim the fluid last the life of the vehicle, and even severe duty has an extended change interval, yet every person that has changed it themselves are alarmed by the condition of the fluid they drain, usually black. The experts will tell you that you can't truly judge the condition of the fluid by a color change, nor an odor change, although there are certain odors that do indicate problems. Without an explanation as to why, fluid turning jet black in color, still concerns me. (BTW,
read the stipulations for Severe Duty, most people meet it, for at least some of their driving).
"The filter is mounted deep inside the transmission", it is not practical to change it, so don't purchase a filter. Judging from the appearance of the transmission filters I have changed in other transmissions, they really do not clog up (transmissions, unlike engines, do not burn things and do not produce dirty and combustion by-products that get in the oil), it's more of a case if you're changing the fluid, might as well spend a few extra dollars and 5 minutes to put in a new one. For this trans, your not going to tear it down halfway just to get to filter, that doesn't really need to be changed.
So to change the fluid, there is absolutely no reason to remove the front pan, really the valve body cover. You simply pull the drain plug on the bottom. Since you can't change the filter, might as well just drain it like the engine. To fill you're suppose to use the fill and measure plug at the rear above the differential. If the Hyundai intended fill plug on the plastic valve body cover is obscured by the battery tray, then the fill plug above the differential is a better option. You definitely measure the fluid level from the plug in the rear at the differential.
The Fluid is SP-IV, you just have to use a fluid that states it meets the SP-IV spec. This is a common low viscosity, electronic transmission fluid for asian transmissions, even some european. I've read people have used the Valvoline Max Life that is SP-IV and AMSOIL Signature Series Fuel-Efficient Synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid and have yet to see any accounts or posts claiming they had any failures or problems using aftermarket fluid instead of the Dealer Fluid (Hyundai or FCA) as long as it meets the SP-IV spec. That's anecdotal, but if you do 2 dozen various google searches on this subject, you'd think you'd find at least one reference to someone complaining using fluid "X" in their trans resulted in it failing a short time later, I have yet to see it.
As always, if you're in Warranty, you don't want to void it by using anything other than the required fluid and not documenting/keep a record of the service.
"Fluid Level", and here's the rub, it is measured different than the Hyundai instructions, it seems the Jeep implementation rotates the transmission to a different position than how Hyundai mounts it in their vehicles, and they did not go to the trouble of changing the valve cover pan to account for it. If you use the Hyundai instructions for determining the proper fluid level, your Jeeps fluid level will be low.
The first instructions I have read, it's like the NAG1 transmission, it even uses the same special tool for measuring (which is just a metric ruler on the end of a cable to make it a dipstick to drop in a port or fill tube). You're basically warm up the trans, circulate the fluid shifting through the gears, then use the starscan tool to read the fluid temp (or an alternate means of measuring fluid temp) and then use a table from the FSM of fluid level vs fluid temperature.
Then I came across this FCA Service Bulletin of how to properly set the fluid level of the 2014-2015 Jeep Compass/Patriot 6 spd Auto:
Transmission Fluid Overfill After Repair - 2014-2015 Jeep Compass/Patriot (at https://chrysler.oemdtc.com/427/transmission-fluid-overfill-after-repair-2014-2015-jeep-compasspatriot )
The bulletin recommends doing the hyundai procedure for setting the fluid level, then adding 24 oz of fluid after that. Which makes sense to me, if you rotate the transmission mounting that changes the relative position of the fluid level check port, that would change the fluid level by a known quantity. The known quantity is 24 oz (3/4 of a Quart) which you just add after setting the fluid level using the Hyundai procedure.