2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 2,327 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Electrical system836 (35.9%)Official recall records for this system: 46, covering model years 1996–2024.
• Brakes308 (13.2%)Official recall records for this system: 35, covering model years 1995–2019.
• Engine301 (12.9%)Official recall records for this system: 24, covering model years 1999–2025.
• Fuel system249 (10.7%)Official recall records for this system: 23, covering model years 1995–2024.
• Steering102 (4.4%)Official recall records for this system: 14, covering model years 2000–2024.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)101 (4.3%)Official recall records for this system: 20, covering model years 1995–2024.

Other / uncategorized: 119 classifications (5.1%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (56,883 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, powertrain (transmission & drivetrain) and brakes.
• Safety recalls (469 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, brakes and lights.
• Transport Canada recalls (373 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, brakes and engine.
• Manufacturer communications (14,302 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, equipment & accessories and powertrain (transmission & drivetrain).
• Investigations (153 records, model years 1995–2023) are most frequently classified under: powertrain (transmission & drivetrain), electrical system and air bags (restraint system).

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 1,039reports included a mileage
• 69,223average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1995 813 records for 1995 813
2. 1996 1,011 records for 1996 1,011
3. 1997 1,119 records for 1997 1,119
4. 1998 1,139 records for 1998 1,139
5. 1999 1,836 records for 1999 1,836
6. 2000 1,591 records for 2000 1,591
7. 2001 980 records for 2001 980
8. 2002 1,608 records for 2002 1,608
9. 2003 869 records for 2003 869
10. 2004 1,401 records for 2004 1,401
11. 2005 2,177 records for 2005 2,177
12. 2006 1,379 records for 2006 1,379
13. 2007 1,189 records for 2007 1,189
14. 2008 804 records for 2008 804
15. 2009 195 records for 2009 195
16. 2010 184 records for 2010 184
17. 2011 1,852 records for 2011 1,852
18. 2012 1,923 records for 2012 1,923
19. 2013 1,115 records for 2013 1,115
20. 2014 3,054 records for 2014 3,054
21. 2015 1,893 records for 2015 1,893
22. 2016 735 records for 2016 735
23. 2017 731 records for 2017 731
24. 2018 1,322 records for 2018 1,322
25. 2019 895 records for 2019 895
26. 2020 774 records for 2020 774
27. 2021 1,827 records for 2021 1,827
28. 2022 1,669 records for 2022 1,669
29. 2023 1,456 records for 2023 1,456
30. 2024 906 records for 2024 906
31. 2025 526 records for 2025 526
32. 2026 280 records for 2026 280

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 46mention a crash
• 104mention a fire
• 35mention an injury

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 11
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 256
• Investigations NHTSA 7
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 11
• Owner complaints NHTSA 1,638

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P0405 in 1 record
• P0406 in 1 record

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.