CarComplaints.com Notes: Whenever a new product is introduced, there's bound to be some problems. And man oh man, does the 2006 Commander have some problems.
It's the plight of the 1st-generation adopter: you get the newest and shiniest in exchange for a handful of issues that get ironed out in future versions. But what happens when that handful of issues becomes a bucketload? The 2006 Commander has quality control issues like the door handles breaking off and the sunroof leaking. But what's truly worrisome is the electrical problems like the vehicle shutting down unexpectedly, gauges going crazy or the cruise control having a mind of its own.
Bottom line: if you want a Jeep Commander, you're better off looking at a later model year.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
8 / 0
Average Mileage:
52,823 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.
The contact owns a 2006 Jeep Commander. The contact stated that while driving in inclement weather at approximately 35-45 mph, an elk crashed into the front end of the vehicle. The driver and passenger side air bags both failed to deploy. The passenger seated in the front seat sustained injuries to the back and head. The contact sustained injuries to the neck and back. The manufacturer was contacted and advised that the elk did not impact the vehicle in the area of the air bag sensors therefore, the air bags did not deploy. The contact stated that the air bag was defective and that the air bag warning light was illuminated prior to the crashed. The vehicle was destroyed. A police report was filed of the incident.. the vehicle was destroyed. The failure and current mileage was 114,000. Updated 12/12/12 updated 12/21/2012
The interior door handles are cracked and 1 out of the 4 is broken so that the door can not be opened from the inside of the car. Only 1 is intact but the other 2 are barely working. This is a major safety concern in the event of wreck, fire, or if you drove into high water.
Behind the interior door handle, the housing of the door panel shattered and I couldn't get out of the car without lowering the window and grabbing the outer door handle and opening it from the outside.
As in many previous year models Jeep has allowed its Commander to be manufactured with interior door handles attached to very thin and brittle plastic door panels. This allows the door handles to break loose from the panels and make the handle inoperable. In order to exit the vehicle you have to open the window and use the outside handle. This condition obviously can present a very unsafe situation especially in an emergency situation. It happens to all four doors as time goes on so that it becomes dangerous not only for the driver but all the occupants of the vehicle. Jeep has not found it in their best interest to recognize this obvious defect therefore you must go thru a long complicated procedure to make any type of claim with no guarantee of a resolution in your favor. I would suggest this condition be determined a danger to the occupants of the vehicle before someone gets seriously hurt or dies because they can't get out the door. In reading various complaints at Jeep Commander.com there are hundreds of the same scenarios playing out in the same models that Jeep manufactures. Please try and help correct a serious and dangerous oversite in the design and production of these vehicles. Thank you
- Hobe Sound, FL, USA
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Interior door panels(both front doors) at door handles the plastic around handles has cracked and fallen out making the door handle sometimes unstable to open the door. Concerned from a safety standpoint that at some point the doors will not be able to be open from the inside and could be trapped inside in case of an emergency and the option of powering down the window is not possible.
The contact owns a 2006 Jeep Commander. The contact stated that while driving 10 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 21,128 and the current mileage was 84,000. Updated 08/28/12 updated 09/24/2012
I have 2006 Jeep Commander that front driver side and rear passenger side door handle housing has cracked and broken. I am concerned if during accident if other 2 doors will break and won't have a way out of car.
The plastic inserts that the door mechanism connects to has failed and broken on all 4 doors, in this case the door opened on the highway with no injuries. However when I reported it to Jeep they told me it was due to extreme wear caused by me, it's only me and my wife in our house no kids so the back doors have not been used. Yet they have the same problems. Jeep is happy to fix this at a cost of $2600. When I did some searching online, I found a few websites dedicated to this problem. Sometimes you can't get out of the car, what if their was a fire?
Front passeger door closed on my wifes heel and shattered the door handle. I was shocked that the weight of the door closing on itself would cause this and Jeep will not cover the cost at $500+ a door panel. Now its become a safety issue for me, especially if it happens to all my doors. If we had a fire in the cabin of the car, we would be at serious risk of burns or even death. I know I am not the only one this is happening too, there are many Commander owners reporting the same issues and safety concerns. Since Jeep is not stepping up to help, what is the NHTSA doing about it?
Both the front and rear drivers side door handles broke and you have to roll down the windows to get out of the vehicle. The handles are made of cheap plastic and break easy by normal use. This is a safety hazard that could potentially cost someone their lives. Jeep wants around $1200 to fix the problem but I believe they should fix this safety issue for free and recall the Jeep affected.
Two of my inside door handles have broken. I am very concerned that in an event of an emergency my family and I will not be able to exit the car. With four children it is paramount that this problem is rectified. After much research I found that many other owners of this model and year vehicle are experiencing the same problem. In addition, it is difficult to procure replacement parts. I feel that Jeep should take some sense of ownership for the inherit problem and offer to repair the problem at their expense.
The interior door handles were poorly designed and have all cracked only after a short period of time with normal use. This is a safety issue due to the fact that passengers would have difficulty exiting vehicle in emergency situations. I understand this is common problem in this vehicle. I've read numerous similar complaints from other owners. Chrysler does seem to want recognize this as manufacturing/design flaw, which is unfortunate since it is rather costly to replace the door handles. To replace all four would cost $2,000 plus dollars. Please do something to protect the customers, who deserve better.
Two door handles broke and I was unable to open doors, the plastic shattered in pieces. I had to get out by the passenger side. I love Jeep but this is simply junk!
The inside door handle of the right rear passenger seat broke loose preventing the occupant from exiting the car. Three months later, the inside door handle of the left rear passenger seat broke loose in the same manner. Now the driver's inside door handle is cracked and doomed to fail. Without these handles functioning properly, it is impossible to egress the vehicle without being let out by someone outside the car or by lowering the window and awkwardly using the outside handle. Very dangerous.
The driver and passenger side door handles have gradually cracked and fallen apart so that it is almost impossible to open the door from the inside of the car. This problem has only occurred on the front doors, not the back-seat doors and began gradually back in 2009 - 2010. It has gotten to the point where both handles are falling behind the panel and we are very careful when opening the door now and prohibit us from being able to easily open the front door(s). My family and I have used care when opening the doors and have never used excessive force over the past 4-5 years so there is no logical reason why they have broken the same way on both sides.`
All 4 interior door opening handles breaking/failing: 1 rear door totally inoperable. ***this is a dangerous safety issue if handles break or are inoperable in certain emergency situations, passengers may not be able to exit the vehicle, causing serious injury or death!*** manufacturer charge to replace/repair handles is prohibitively expensive: In my case, the cost of six (6) monthly car payments! manufacturer safety recall warranted!
The door handle has completely broken off the driver's side door. There was no abuse to this door at all. I have searched for a replacement part and the design requires that the entire door panel be replaced. This was changed the following model year as Chrysler knew it was a major defect. This appears to be a very common problem for owners of this year & model of Jeep.
We own a 2006 Jeep Commander. Took real good care of this car. It only has 40,000 miles on it and all four of the door panel have broke I mean into pieces 3 to the point the door latch has dropped down. The first one was when I just shut the door and then notice a crack, and then the rest did the same thing I an concern about my grandkids in the back, if they needed to exit in a hurry they could not. It takes a few minutes to get the latch just right to open the door. We also have had to have the rear end fixes twice. Roaring noise. Eep does not seem to want to do anything about this problem. So don't buy a Jeep. A bad fault in car design.
Front and back door handles break under not much use. They are plastic and believe this is a design and material flaw. When they break, the only way to exit the vehicle is to roll down the window and reach outside and open the door or to exit through another door. This has happened twice to me and from speaking with others, it seems this is a common problem. What makes it worse is that Jeep does not sell just a replacement handle. They make you buy an entire interior door panel at $600+ to fix not including labor. My fear is that this is not just an inconvenience, but a major potential safety problem. I would encourage NHTSA to investigate and would recommend a fix and ultimate recall. This is very dangerous, particularly if you are in an accident situation.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Huntersville, NC, USA