10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 0
Average Mileage:
60,455 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

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problem #18

May 242021

Grand Cherokee

  • miles
Paint above windshield has deteriorated and has rust bubbles. Paint first looked almost burnt then turned white/grey in color. The sun roof stopped working shortly after. Spot has increasingly become bigger and bigger. It has doubled in size in less than 3 months. I have had nothing but issues with this vehicle.

- Port Saint Lucie, FL, USA

problem #17

Oct 062020

Grand Cherokee

  • 153,890 miles
When I was driving straight down the street going about 35 mph, I heard a loud explosions like noise and then my Jeep became disabled. I took the vehicle to the shop and I was told that the vehicle was totaled and that the body and frame of the vehicle had completely separated itself from the vehicle. I have been told by several people who have inspected my vehicle including the dealership and insurance company that this is a manufacturer defect to my vehicle. Everyone who has inspected the vehicle has stated they have never in life seen a vehicle come apart the way my Jeep has and it should have never happened. The dealership and I have been trying since October 6, 2020 to get mophar and fca customer care to take responsibility for the vehicle and send an engineer out to inspect the vehicle for recall. The dealership has explained to me that the vehicle has slowly been separating itself from the body due to a manufacturing defect.

- Ruston, LA, USA

problem #16

Jan 012018

Grand Cherokee

  • miles
The leather dashboard starting to buckle about 2 years ago and has multiple buckles across the dashboard. It has begun to roll up on the edges of the dashmboard along the front windshield. This is making it difficult to have full view of the road.

- Port Saint Lucie, FL, USA

problem #15

Sep 052018

Grand Cherokee

  • 170,000 miles
I have two major issues. The first being that the leather on my dash has completely shriveled up into weird bumps and looks horrible. I'm not sure what would of caused it because it is something that I have never seen before. The second thing is that my back right suspension is messed up. The back left side of my Jeep sags when I put it in park and as it lowers into park level.

- Farmerville, LA, USA

problem #14

Jun 242019

Grand Cherokee

  • 120,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While the vehicle was at a stop, an abnormal noise was heard from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to rochester hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram (1301 S rochester rd, rochester hills, mi 48307, (248) 652-9650) where it was diagnosed that the floorboard needed to be replaced and the front pipe nuts both pulled out of the rear cross member, which needed to be repaired. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.

- Rochester, MI, USA

problem #13

Jan 212019

Grand Cherokee

  • 43,400 miles
We were driving in the express highway pr 30, at a speed of 45 to 50 mph, in the direction of humacao towards caguas, we heard a loud noise at the back part of the vehicle (sound it as an impact). The vehicle started making a loud noise. We were able to control the vehicle and park in the area of stops for emergencies. When we inspect the vehicle we noticed that all the rear suspension was on the differential and the escape (muffle). The two structural supports on both sides of the rear suspension were broken. We called a crane and when we got to the flat bed we could see that the chassis had split on both sides of the vehicle. The structural basis of the crossmember in the chassis were broken. The force was so great that the crossmember broke the differential and the muffler. Once we get off the crane, we see the damage, the structural 2 base in the chassis are broken and the crossmember is over the differential and muffler. The 2 base for the crossmember, on the chassis, collapse and the crossmember broke the differential and the muffler. The crossmember bushing in the back is blend too.

- Caguas, PR, USA

problem #12

Dec 142018

Grand Cherokee

  • 100,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that the welding on the rear of the vehicle was rusted. As a result, the entire rear frame of the vehicle became detached. The vehicle was towed to lithia Jeep Dodge of bryan college station (301 N earl rudder fwy, bryan, tx 77802, (979) 213-5361) to be diagnosed, but no assistance was provided. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and did not assist. The failure mileage was 100,000.

- Gidbings, TX, USA

problem #11

Dec 072018

Grand Cherokee

  • 39,000 miles
The paint on the inside of the hood is bubbling. I believe it is due to iron contamination from the factory. It didn't start bubbling bad until recently. Jeep has had this problem numerous times and ive seen hoods replaced over this. However, my factory warranty has since expired and the manufacturer refused to help me. I wax and polish the car annually so this is completely surprising to

- Colonia, NJ, USA

problem #10

Mar 182018

Grand Cherokee

  • 87,000 miles
Car was travelling on a rural road and driver fell asleep at the wheel. Hit an electrical power pole approximately 12 inches inside the drivers side head lamp at speeds approximately at 40 -45 mph. Car then proceeded to travel another approximate 25-30 yards before turning 90 degrees and crashing the rear of the car into the corner of a block building. The driver was unhurt however the air bags failed to deploy to protect the driver.

- Simpsonville, SC, USA

problem #9

Nov 212016

Grand Cherokee

  • 75,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The dashboard began to crack. The local dealer (lansdale Chrysler, 722 bethlehem pike, montgomeryville, pa 18936) stated that there was no recall for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to NHTSA. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

- Blue Bell, PA, USA

problem #8

Sep 012017

Grand Cherokee

  • miles
The paint along the top of the car windshield is bubbling up, rusting, peeling across the top of the windshield line. It continues progressively to get worse all along the top of the windshield. We had a few car repair centers look at the car- they had to have multiple people come out and look at it because they had never seen anything like it. They said the paint was extremely thick on the roof and along the windshield line. It should never be that thick. They said this should be fixed in a manufacturer recall as it is a manufacturing defect and is probably affecting other cars painted at the same timeframe as mine. The paint issue continues to get worse. The car repair estimators said the roof and surrounding windshield paint need to be replaced or this will continue to corrode. This car has never been in an accident or had the windshield replaced.

- Ambler, PA, USA

problem #7

Aug 292017

Grand Cherokee

  • 32,400 miles
On Aug. 29 2017 my airbag light came on. I took the vehicle to mullane motors in lockport NY, for repair. I was told a side impact air bag sensor had shorted out and needed replacing, and spent $332.57 to have it fixed. When I arrived to pick up my Jeep, I was told that the same sensor was still 'shorting out' and that standard operating procedure was to replace the occupant restraint control module. I asked when that could be completed and was told that the 'part is unavailable, ' in any way shape or form, and that it was unknown when or if at all this part would ever be available. I telphoned Fiat Chrysler Corp in auburn hills, mi concerning this issue, and was told the same thing, that the part is 'currently unavailable and on national back order' was given a case number, and was told I would be called back in 24 to 48 hours. No one called me back. I telephoned the company again a week later and was again told someone would call me back in 24 to 48 hours. It has now been a week, and I have not heard from Chrysler. At this time, my airbag light is still on, and it is indicated in my owners manual that my airbags may not function in a collision, which I feel makes my vehicle unsafe to drive.

- Lockport, NY, USA

problem #6

Apr 142017

Grand Cherokee

  • 64,000 miles
I had the car for 3 years and didn't have any issues. Last Saturday evening 4/14/17 we had just gotten home from running to the store and black smoke started to come up from the front right side of the hood. I backed the car out of the garage and went around the car to see what the issue was. Saw sparks, grabbed my son from the back ran and called 911. With in 5 min the front of the Jeep was on fire. Took 30 min to put out and the car is totalled.

- Batavia, IL, USA

problem #5

Jun 242016

Grand Cherokee

  • 41,000 miles
On June 24, 2016, between 1:30 pm and 2 pm, I was driving from brentwood ca to vallejo ca on hwy 780 w and after turning a curve on the freeway which sloped down towards curtola parkway, I applied the brakes at about 30 miles per hour after I emerged from the overpass which was at least 5 car lengths before the cars ahead of me which was stopped at a red traffic light. However, the Jeep continued to roll even though I pressed on the brakes to the floor board. When I realized the Jeep did not stop, after checking for vehicles on the left from the rear view mirror, I swerved to the left to avoid hitting the truck in front of me, but I still hit the left corner of the Nissan truck in front of me but the truck did not hit the vehicle in front of him. I damaged the right corner of the front of my Jeep. The Jeep is unsafe because the brakes failed and would have caused a fatal accident to me, my three passengers, and other vehicles had I been travelling at a high speed. I complied with all available recall repairs including the brake recall in 2014 and all the suggested Chrysler maintenance on the Jeep. I reported the accident to my insurance geico and to Chrysler.

- Brentwood, CA, USA

problem #4

May 152016

Grand Cherokee

  • 35,500 miles
Failure of automatic rear tailgate and associated obstruction/safety sensor mechanisms. Tailgate opens to within an inch or two of full height then silently starts to fall back at an increasing velocity and slams shut. Pressing the control button to stop the fall does not work nor does the rapid drop stop when encountering an obstruction. When tailgate first started to reverse direction I reached in to press the button to stop or reverse it and it continued downward and pinned my arm and caused me to wrench my back. Had anyone leaned into the back as it was going up, it would have silently slammed back down on their head or neck resulting in serious injury as the tailgate is quite heavy and quickly gains substantial momentum and force. Since the tailgate never reaches full height it appears that safety interlocks do not get activated/triggered hence it becomes a dead drop. It appears that the cause is a loss of pressure in the right rear strut, though other electronic factors may be considered. This is a very dangerous defect that has the potential to cause serious or even a fatal injury. A repair is scheduled at the dealer on May 25. Other incidents of this type have been reported on google search.

- Westport, CT, USA

problem #3

Mar 012016

Grand Cherokee

  • 42,000 miles
On the first of March, my wife and daughter were about to start their day in the usual way. She opened the garage door and used her key fob to remote start our 2012 Jeep gc limited ( around 42K miles) ( factory installed remote starter) she walked away for less than 4 minutes and returned to see smoke coming from front passenger side of Jeep. She called for me, and pushed the aux button to be sure the vehicle was off. I came running and despite my attempts to open the hood and beat back what quickly escalated into open flames I retreated to ensure my family's safety and to be sure the emergency responders were called. Thankfully I was able to remove some potential fuel for the fire by removing our second car from the garage (also a Chrysler) and securing the door between the house and garage. Luck intervened when the flames destroyed the garage door assembly causing the garage door to fall and help remove some oxygen from the fire. Eventually first responders arrived and were able to knock down the fire with foam. Later the firemen pushed the Jeep into the driveway to ensure it was doused. Though the remote start may not be directly responsible for whatever arc sparked the fire, it's my belief that its use contributed directly to the conditions that conflagrated the situation. If the wiring harness is otherwise suspect I would not be surprised considering recent revelations on related models. The vehicle was just removed from the site today 3/9/2016 to copart facility, by insurance company for further investigation into the source of the fire.

- Fabius, NY, USA

problem #2

Jan 102015

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 85,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that the front driver side and rear upper and lower trim, the front passenger side and rear upper and lower trim, and all the dashboard trim was peeling and falling off. The contact stated that the vehicle should be included in a recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 85,000. The VIN was not available. Updated 04/22/2016 consumer was told there was no recall for this vehicle by 3 dealers. Updated 5/29/18

- Sulphur, LA, USA

problem #1

Jan 312012

Grand Cherokee 6-cyl

  • 5 miles
We purchased a new Jeep Grand Cherokee with 5 miles on it. Upon leaving the dealership the engine began making a strange noise. We brought the car back to the dealer and the mechanic told us to leave the car. It's 5 days later and all we know so far is that they have removed the front end of the transmission and they are still working on it. We don't have the car. Additionally, the front driver's side door was not flush with the body of the car. We asked them to look at the door to see if it was not installed properly. They offered to have the body shop bend the door.

- Lawrenceville, NJ, USA