CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2012 Grand Cherokee hasn't seen the same complaint volume as the 2011, at least not yet.
It's worth noting both model years are part of a class-action lawsuit that focuses on a defective TIPM and a long wait for replacement parts.
The 2012 also received national attention after it failed a Swedish Magazine's "moose test". The test measures a vehicle's ability to swerve out of the way of an obstacle you wouldn't want to hit while driving down the road ... like a moose.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
5 / 83
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
42,602 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
180 amp alternator experienced catastrophic failure causing total loss of all power, battery failure, PCM failure and smoking and burning smell from engine compartment. Experienced loud whinning from alternator while driving immediately prior to failure. Ultimate failure occured as car pulled into parking spot. This is the same issue experienced by 160 amp alternator under recall. It is extremely dangerous and Chrysler/Jeep should be required to fix these issues.
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While driving various speeds and making a sharp turn in either direction, the vehicle suddenly shut off and the driver had to push the start button to restart the engine. The contact indicated that the failure occurred on multiple occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but no failure could be found. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 75,000.
Alternator failed with no warning lights. Heavy smoke poured from engine bay. Faulty alternator caused PCM failure. Vehicle was in motion with no issue. Stopped for gas. Upon restart, vehicle had hard start and then began smoking.
I took my car for three recalls one of them was the brake booster. They called me the other day to pick it up. I went and they told me everything is fixed. The problem wasn't fixed. I almost crashed 4 times and I had to call a tow truck. I called the dealer and they said if I want them to look at the car and find the problem they would charge me. I told him it's the brake booster and showed him a video to prove it. He declined to help me...updated 06/06/17
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While driving 40 mph, all the warning indicators illuminated and the vehicle stalled and lost power. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the alternator needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the check engine indicator illuminated. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 54,000.
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While driving approximately 60 mph the battery warning indicator illuminated. The contact smelled an abnormal burning odor and noticed white smoke. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who stated that the failure was identical to NHTSA campaign number: 14V634000 (electrical system). The manufacturer was notified and stated that the vehicle was not included in the recall due to the manufactured date and the amp of the alternator. The approximate failure mileage was 54,900. Updated 06/13/17 consumer stated independent mechanic removed & replaced alternator w/ new factory alternator and stated that after removed the old, he did in fact smell a burnt smell on the alternator. Updated 9/27/18
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.
This vehicle will stall while you are in drive and driving. There is no indication that the car has stalled. Lights and radio are one. When you go to break, the car will not stop. The following do not work, breaks, emergency break, power steering and throwing the car in park. You have to coast until you stop and hope you do not hit anything. Once you stop, the car will restart. This is a know issues with this vehicle. It has been in over 3 times to get fix. It does have a recall but that has not fixed the problem. It is currently a deadly weapon.
While driving to work one day, I noticed a humming noise coming from the front of the vehicle, shortly before arriving at work the battery light came on so I dropped off the car at a local mechanic to have it looked at. They called me back to say the alternator had went out and would need replaced. After replacing the alternator, my Jeep wasn't starting, so they had to replace the battery and explained the alternator had fried and took the battery out with it. Once the battery was replaced, the Jeep still wouldn't start and couldn't locate the keys (although it was physically in the ignition), they said my Jeep would need to be towed to a Jeep dealership to get the powertrain control module replaced because they couldn't program the replacement module. After getting it towed and having the powertrain control module replaced it is running fine again. In summary, the alternator went out and shorted both the battery and the powertrain control module in the process. In total nearly $1600 worth of parts and labor. A recall exists for several other Jeep models due to this same issue, however my vehicle's VIN isn't listed in the recall.
My vehicle shut down while I was driving making a left-hand turn about 5 mph and started smoking under the hood as I investigated the alternator was smoking and the vehicle would not start and has no power I had to have it towed to the dealer massey yardley service plantation fl. - (recall related incident)
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While driving approximately 55 mph, the vehicle lost power and subsequently shut down. The malfunction indicator illuminated. The vehicle was shifted into park and restarted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the fuel pump relay was replaced; however, the failure recurred several times. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 15V115000 (electrical system) and 15V879000 (electrical system, interior lighting). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was approximately 88,000.
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While driving at unknown speeds, the contact heard abnormal noises coming from the vehicle. The battery warning indicator illuminated and the vehicle lost power. The contact was unable to open the doors. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the alternator, belt, and battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 81,000.
The owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While the contact's wife was attempting to park at 5 mph, the battery warning indicator illuminated. The driver smelled a strong smoke odor and observed smoke coming from the front passenger side. The driver exited the vehicle. The fire department was not contacted and there were no flames present. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the alternator, computer, and fuses failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and stated that the VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 14V634000 (electrical system). The approximate failure mileage was 49,000.
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While driving approximately 40 mph, the battery warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the alternator and serpentine belt needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired the VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 14V634000 (electrical system). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 66,450. Updated 05/19/17
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While making a left turn at 10 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician replaced the external fuel pump relay and disconnected the internal fuel pump relay, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer on multiple occasions, but the cause of the failure was unable to be determined. The contact stated that the failure continued to recur intermittently. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 64,000.
First issue to occur was alarm system and horn started going off and locking and unlocking the car when exiting the vehicle in a parking lot. The next issue to occur was one of the courtesy lights began to intermittently stay on continuously both when driving and when the vehicle was parked. 3rd issue to arise was all of the back up lights stopped working altogether. The last occurrence was the engine light came on and coded there was a leak in the fuel system while driving. Vehicle is currently at dealership awaiting authorization to replace the tipm and another sensor.
Hello ! I was driving my jgc in the streets of santo domingo, dominican republic. I was already in a tunel, 1 km long, in terrific trafic at 5 pm when the car suddenly almost stopped.the A/C stopped, mil appeared and almost got impact behind! I push the pedal strong and exelerated.thanks god I live very closed.in the moment I stoped in front of my house the evic start blinking and in seconds everything stopped ! black out ! open the front cover I saw smoke from alternator space ! then I understood the alternator was dead and I reached the house by the last battery power ! so the battery was dead as well ! now I see in the recall system of Chrysler there is a recall ( R60 ) touching exactly the alternator problem ( 2012-2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles manufactured April 22, 2010, to January 2, 2014, and equipped with a 3.6L engine and a 160 amp alternator).my car is one of those cars but there is not a recall for it ! why " the recall is from : recall announced October 08 2014 NHTSA reference #14V634000 Chrysler recall : R60 can I get a recall so the dealer to replace my alternator for free"
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced trouble being operated. In addition, the lift feature functioned intermittently. The air suspension overheated warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was remedied per NHTSA campaign number: 15V115000 (electrical system). The vehicle was repaired; however, the vehicle stalled. When the failure occurred, it took approximately three attempts to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer regarding the lift failure where it was diagnosed that the control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The failure mileage was approximately 72,000.
The contact owns a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While driving 25 mph, the battery warning indicator illuminated and the instrument panel lights flickered and then failed completely. The brake pedal failed to engage while being depressed. In order to stop the vehicle, the parking brake was engaged and, upon exiting the vehicle, the contact opened the hood and fire and smoke were seen coming from inside the alternator. The fire extinguished itself. The vehicle was towed to a dealer. The cause of the failure was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 14V634000 (electrical system). The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 50,000.
Vehicle is an overland model with 5.7 engine. As of 2-7-17 the vehicle has stalled on three separate occasions. All three incidents have been while making low speed turns. The engine just quits without sputtering or any type of warning. All dash lights remain on as if the vehicle were running. Power steering goes out and loss of power brakes makes it dangerous in completing turns and then have to coast to a safe place. Place car in park and car starts right up like nothing happened. The car has 57,000 miles on it and has no previous issues. I have not taken to dealer (yet) as it is no longer under warranty. I have seen other online posts from Jeep owners with similar complaints and am wondering if this is a safety recall issue.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lynnfield, MA, USA