10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
45,979 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.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #29

Oct 012008

Grand Cherokee

  • 74,000 miles
I recently purchased a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee overland over the summer of 2008. I live in mn and it is rather cold here. Around October the heat in my Jeep when out, I took it into the shop and they told me it was the "blend door" that was causing the problems and its going to be $800 to fix it because removal of the dash is required and there is a lot of labor for a part that only costs $50. I have been doing my research and it seems this is a very common problem for Jeep owners and it is actually quite common when you reach around 60,000-80,000 miles my car had 74,000. I go to college and don't have that kind of money to fix it right now and I live in a very cold state, im very upset with Jeep right now if problems like this are happening to people something should be done about it.

- St. Paul, MN, USA

problem #28

Dec 102008

Grand Cherokee

  • 87,000 miles
Loss of any and all heat. Started with the failure of the blend door actuator, resulting in the loss of heat on the passenger side. Blow cold air when setting is set at a high temperature. Then the recirculator door that fell off the small hinge and dropped on top of the blower disrupting the flow of any air though the heating system. Then the blower itself failed resulting in no air, hot or cold, being produced. Currently no heat or defrost is being produced resulting in limited visibility while driving and no heat when outside temperature today is at 1 degree above zero and over a foot of snow.

- Gorham, ME, USA

problem #27

Feb 202007

Grand Cherokee

  • miles
Little to no heat on passenger side then no heat in truck. Heater blend air duct had to be replaced a cost of 89dollars for part and 900 dollars labor an as it turns out this is a very common problem with Jeep.

- Pine Bush, NY, USA

problem #26

Dec 012007

Grand Cherokee

  • 65,000 miles
Blend air door failure. Repaired by Jeep dealership. Repair failed again in 6 months. Steering column noise. Failure of repair (tsb) in 2 months.

- Highlands Ranch, CO, USA

problem #25

Oct 142008

Grand Cherokee

  • 60,000 miles
2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee (wj). Heater blend doors failed, disabling the heating system. This is a very common problem, and extremely expensive to fix. In aerospace, this would be considered a safety issue, as the windscreen becomes impossible to defrost.

- Notre Dame Ile Perrot, 00, USA

problem #24

Oct 032008

Grand Cherokee

  • 77,840 miles
No heat on the drivers side. Dealer said they changed the blend door and recirculation door and actuators, all with in 2 hours. The job is quoted at 10 hours because they have to remove the whole dash. Since they fixed it,3 days later the code for the blend door came back up, and the dealer could not tell me why. All they said was don't worry about it.

- Carpentersville, IL, USA

problem #23

Oct 052008

Grand Cherokee

  • 50,100 miles
Blend doors failure, cold air only, no heat at all. $1,100 plus repair bill. Only 50,000 mile on vehicle.

- Tallmadge, OH, USA

problem #22

Jun 062008

Grand Cherokee

  • 52,000 miles
Heater stuck on defrost.

- Garnet Valley, PA, USA

problem #21

Jun 012006

Grand Cherokee 6-cyl

  • 40,000 miles
Blend door failure - in addition to creating an interior temperature control problem, this can become a safety issue when the defroster is needed. Repair costs can exceed $1,000 since the dash must be removed to replace this relatively inexpensive part.

- China Grove, NC, USA

problem #20

Jan 062006

Grand Cherokee 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 50,000 miles
Jeep Grand Cherokee HVAC blend door has malfunctioned on my vehicle and thousands of others. Jeep needs to fix this problem that was caused by a manufacturing defect.

- Buda, TX, USA

problem #19

Jan 062008

Grand Cherokee 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 23,800 miles
Broken blend doors and re cir door.

- Glenolden, PA, USA

problem #18

Dec 022007

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 47,513 miles
Failure to defrost front window during cold weather = impossible to see traffic.

- Crown Point, IN, USA

problem #17

Jan 012007

Grand Cherokee 4WD 4-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 41,000 miles
Blend doors on 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee intermittently do now work. In winter sometimes I can get heat, sometimes I cannot. Not only does this effect the comfort level in the vehicle but also is a safety issue in that it affects how well the defroster work. In the summer, sometimes I can get cold air out of the air conditioner and sometimes I cannot this is a well know malfunction with Grand Cherokee.

- Athol, ID, USA

problem #16

Apr 282007

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 71,693 miles
Vehicle has no heat or windshield defrost functions at all. Had not previously used vehicle until later in day so had not noticed failure which was now apparent from purchase in April 2007. Will be unable to use beyond summer months without major expenditure estimated to be between $1,000 & $2,000.

- Orwigsburg, PA, USA

problem #15

Dec 102006

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 49,000 miles
The 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee blows cold air out of passenger's side vents, including the front window vent that was supposed to defrost the window. I had to stop and scrape inside and out when it was cold outside. This was dangerous!!! the defroster needed to operate properly, and there were thousands of Jeep with this problem.

- Denver, CO, USA

problem #14

May 032007

Grand Cherokee

  • miles
Air mixer door failure causes cold air to come out of the defroster and fogs the windshield up.

- Kaysville, UT, USA

problem #13

Sep 272006

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 66,000 miles
Ventilation system fails, blowing some cold, some hot air out of different vents. Nothing I do will stop the air.

- Ballwin, MO, USA

problem #12

Feb 242007

Grand Cherokee 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
Driver sdie blows cold air when heat is on, passenger side is blows hot. No corrections made at this time.

- Tucson, AZ, USA

problem #11

Jan 102007

Grand Cherokee

  • miles
The actuator doors on my 2003 Jeep with duel climate control failed. This seems to be a very common problem and could be dangerous because there is no defrost when these actuator doors break.

- Westfield, NJ, USA

problem #10

Dec 202006

Grand Cherokee 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 50,000 miles
I own a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee limited with 52,000 miles. The events leading up to the failure of the ventilation system were (1) rapid fogging of front windshield, (2) fogging of front passenger windows, (3) failure of passenger heat while still maintaining driver heat function, and (4) only cold air release on passenger side of Jeep. Consequently, (1) the windshield and front windows do not defog, and (2) no heat whatsoever comes from the passenger side floor and dashboard ventilation system. To correct this problem, a "blend air door" is necessary at a cost of approximately $1,200 inclusive of 7 hours of labor. According to the certified service department at the local Jeep dealer and online forums, this has become a very common problem for 2000-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee limited with duel zone ventilation systems.

- Athens, GA, USA

Read the next 9 complaints »