CarComplaints.com Notes: The fourth generation Grand Cherokee took the relatively trouble-free run of the 3rd-generation and flipped the script.

From 2010 to 2011, complaints about the vehicle not starting increased 10-fold. In fact, the 2011 model year is riddled with engine problems and a defective TIPM might be to blame. The TIPM (Totally Integrated Power Module) distributes power to all the eletrical components in the vehicle, so when it starts acting funny so do numerous other components in the car. Orders for new TIPMs were so abundant that parts became scarce, prompting a class-action lawsuit claiming Chrysler ignored this obvious defect.

By 2012 complaints dropped back down by about 80%. Needless to say, if you see a used 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee on a lot just keep walking.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
7 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 1
Average Mileage:
46,770 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.

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee engine problems

engine problem

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2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Owner Comments (Page 2 of 2)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #15

Nov 152014

Grand Cherokee

  • 48,078 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I had an extremely dangerous situation occur on November 15, 2014 with our 2011 Grand Cherokee. Around 7 P.M., I was merging onto interstate 95 South from 332, the newtown, pa exit. I did a hard acceleration to avoid traffic bringing up the rear. The engine then accelerated uncontrollably... so fast that the tachometer was pinned to the right side... into the red zone near 7K. A later check of the vehicle maximum speed on the garmin gps revealed it peaked at 97 M.P.H. with my foot completely off the gas pedal, the engine was pinned to maximum revs. I honestly thought it would disintegrate. In the span of a few seconds, I knew not to shut off the engine, as I would have lost steering. I had the presence of mind to put the transmission in neutral, to at least stop the speeding. The engine continued to rev out of control. I believe I was kicking the gas pedal, and the engine eventually released its grip on speed and returned to near-idle, upon which I re-engaged to drive. If a car were anywhere ahead or near me, a devastating wreck would have been the result. I took the Jeep to the reedman-toll service department in langhorne, pa. They could find nothing that would confirm the incident. I contacted Chrysler customer service. An agent named [xxx] took my report and said he had no similar reports. I find it distressing that nothing in the Jeep 'black box' recording system would have a record of this potentially catastrophic incident. The reedman service advisor speculated that I may have 'reset' the software if and when I was kicking the accelerator while the event was under way. 'information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Langhorne, PA, USA

problem #14

Jun 302014

Grand Cherokee 6-cyl

  • 40,100 miles
Traveling at about 68 mph with speed control engaged, after about 30 minutes I noticed a declining vehicle speed & stability control warning light illuminated. After unsuccessfully trying to re engage speed control, I pulled off the highway. I depressed the dash board stability control button several times and the stability control light was still on. I turned off the vehicle and restarted & the stability control light was off. We resumed our trip using speed control with further incident. This has occurred several times since, but only with speed control engaged. On a recent trip after about 30 minutes @ 65 - 70 mph with speed control engaged the same issue occurred again under the same circumstances and same corrective action taken. I then continued for about 2 hours at the same speed without speed control and further incident. Since then a technician has attempted to resolve the issue without results. It is an intermittent issue will be unable to resolve until a full failure of the issue.

- Rockford, IL, USA

problem #13

May 272014

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • 52,000 miles
Experienced unintended acceleration, at a stop or near stop when parking. Although my foot was on the break, the car lunged forward as if the accelerator had been pushed all the way down, hitting the back of a parked truck violently. Although the impact was great, the air bag did not deploy. The incident was observed by the homeowner/truck owner.

- Cobb Island, MD, USA

problem #12

Feb 052014

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • 79,800 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Upon exiting freeway on 2/05/14 car stalled without warning, making it difficult to steer because loss of power and brakes not fully functional I almost ran into street divider, I was able to steer to the side of the road, where I attempted to restart the vehicle. Vehicle did start and seemed fine afterwards. It happened again 4 days later again while exiting freeway off ramp again. I took the vehicle to the dealership where they hooked it up to a diagnostic and found no codes other then a software update they did they could not find a problem. I've read several complaints about this same type of stalling without warning on other Jeep and no one has been able to get any help with this issue. I suppose not until someone dies from this malfunction of these Jeep will Chrysler start to look into this problem and recall the part that is causing this to happen.

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #11

Aug 152011

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • 200 miles
The first 3 weeks I had the vehicle the engine light kept coming on. I returned to the lithia dealership in Santa Fe 3 times to have it corrected. They accused me of fueling the car with the engine running. I do not fuel my cars with the engine running. The transmission had to be replaced at 4,000K miles because the robot at the factory did not seat the transmission fluid filter properly and metal flakes were found in the transmission oil pan as a result which damaged the valve box. The vehicle still acts odd at times ' jerking slightly when changing gears. At 45 mph while I was accelerating to merge onto the highway, the vehicle would change gears by itself into first gear. A young tech had been reading a service update bulletin and knew about this issue. It required a patch'for the computer and a download to fix this issue. I thought it was a miracle that I was not in an accident during this time. I have had so many issues with the Jeep not recognizing the key fob upon entry and or trying to start the vehicle. Forget the emergency key that is inside the key fob it was never properly keyed so you could use it in an emergency. At 15,000K miles the front sway bar had to be replaced. This vehicle has not been off-road and for the sway bar to break down like that is inexcusable. Sudden unexplained acceleration.

- Espanola, NM, USA

problem #10

Dec 102011

Grand Cherokee

  • 25,600 miles
Recently having issues while trying to start my 2011 Jeep gc. The engine will turn over but will not start the electronic throttle control (etc) warning light comes on. This has been happening intermittently and becoming more frequent. In doing research, it seems this is a common problem with this model and the replacement part is not only costly, but on bo for a undisclosed time frame.

- Montgomery,, AL, USA

problem #9

Sep 192011

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • 7,100 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I bought a 2011 Grand Cherokee from shave Jeep in thousand oaks, ca. The vehicle started to malfunction within days after purchase. It would seize up, usually at highway speed, stall out, thus losing power steering and brakes. I brought the car in for service about 8 times until I almost got hit by a big rig on the highway at night when my car died. The constant engine light reading was a camshaft position sensor. Chrysler techs attempted to resolve the problem without any luck. Unfortunately the dealer swapped out cars with me and I found out they sold this vehicle without telling the new owners of the major mechanical problems.

- Agoura Hills, CA, USA

problem #8

Dec 192012

Grand Cherokee 8-cyl

  • 20,000 miles
This vehicle is equipped with a adaptive speed sensor that keeps the vehicle at a preset distance from the vehicle in front with cruise control on. Vehicle is also equipped with a forward collision warning system which warns the driver to brake if it senses an approach of an object that is unsafe. The problems: The system will shut it self off, flashing a warning that the forward collision warning system is not working and shuts off the cruise control as well. System always resets itself after minutes, or longer and the cruise control will once again, work. Safety issue the system has the ability to brake on its own if it senses you are approaching a vehicle too fast with cruise control engaged. The problem is that a car may turn off in a separate lane to decelerate or be in a separate lane to accelerate and the sensor thinks the car is in front of it and starts braking severely cause it thinks it is in its path. This is a huge safety concern since any driver behind me would not be expecting me to brake when cars are not in my path. The vehicle has been to Jeep dealer for numerous attempts to fix it. Right now Chrysler is not doing anything about it. According to the repairing dealership, if Chrysler did decide to replace the part, its on back order.

- Green Bay, WI, USA

problem #7

Jan 202013

Grand Cherokee 6-cyl

  • 20,000 miles
Upon slowing down at normal deceleration rates, the brakes lost power allowing car to roll through a stop sign. The issue is intermittent and does not exhibit any observable pattern (outside temperature, etc). The dealer first said it was the rotors glazing, but the issue continued after the dealership turned them and the frequency has not reduced. The second visit found no issues after it was again reported. A third party resource indicated that it could be the master cylinder gasket/seal. Since this issue does not occur regularly and has not been "observed" by the dealership, the dealership will not replace the part. Since it does happen at a rate of only 1-2 times per week, it is tough to compensate for and/or predict when it will occur causing lack of confidence. Other notes are that ABS does not kick in during the loss of power and the pedal is pushed in as far as possible with the car still moving forward between 5-10mph only decelerating slightly.

- Shrewsbury, MA, USA

problem #6

Apr 172012

Grand Cherokee

  • 25,000 miles
While backing up a moderately steep gravel driveway in 4 low range I applied the brake and shifted the vehicle from reverse (R) to drive (D) and the engine immediately went to almost full throttle for 2-3 seconds and even though I was pressing on the brake as hard as possible the car lurched forward and hit a bank of snow. This is the only time this has happened so far but I'm very aware now every time I shift.

- Marblemount, WA, USA

problem #5

Mar 022011

Grand Cherokee

  • 1,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. While traveling 30 mph the contact attempted to accelerate but the vehicle did not respond. Seconds later, the vehicle suddenly surged forward without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the computer was adjusted. The vehicle recurred two weeks later. The current mileage was 26,536 and the failure mileage was 1000.

- Charlestown, RI, USA

problem #4

Jul 012011

Grand Cherokee

  • 2,000 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving 40 mph the vehicle surged forward and the accelerator pedal depressed to the floor unexpectedly. The failure occurred a total of three times. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 2,000.

- Bedford, NH, USA

problem #3

Mar 122011

Grand Cherokee

  • 4,000 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4X4. While stopped at the light, the check engine light illuminated and the vehicle suddenly accelerated while the brake was depressed. There was an abnormal increase in rpms to 3,000. The contact placed the gear in park, turned the vehicle off and the engine returned to normal for a moment before continuing to accelerate abnormally. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who performed a diagnostic and located the failure at the throttle body. The dealer replaced the accelerator pedal and the throttle body but to no avail as the failure continued to recur. The manufacturer was contacted and they advised the contact to take the vehicle back to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 4,000 and the current mileage was 4,300.

- Wantath , NY, USA

problem #2

Jan 312011

Grand Cherokee 4WD 6-cyl

  • 3,500 miles
I purchased a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee X package on 1/18/2011. 2 weeks after purchasing vehicle I was stopped at a light, while my foot was on the brake the car surged forward almost hitting the car in front of me. Car continued to accelerate on its own I had to ride the brake home. Dealer said he never had this problem before and had no clue what to do so he had to wait for Chrysler to call him to tell him what to do, should have red flagged this answer. # days later dealer called said car was fixed, it was a bad sensor on the gas pedal, replaced, and agreed me it was safe to drive. A week later, I was stopped at a stop sign waiting to make a right turn on the way home from dropping off my kids at school, the car accelerated forward suddenly, electronic throttle light and engine light came on, the car accelerated forward skidding out onto the sidewalk almost hitting a pole. Due to my quick thinking I avoided death twice in this car. My husband and I bought this as a first car for my daughter, the thought of a new driver driving this deathtrap is scary. I will never put myself or anyone in my family in this car, it is seriously a death threat to drivers and pedestrians. Chrysler better man up before more people lose their lives.

- Wantagh, NY, USA

problem #1

Nov 062010

Grand Cherokee

  • 250 miles
When driving between 0 to 5 miles per hour I pressed on the accelerator pedal while the auto was either on level surface or at the beginning of a small incline the auto did not move forward. Then I shifted the auto into reverse and stepped on the accelerator pedal and the auto did not move backwards. I then turned the auto off with the auto shifted into park. Then I restarted the auto and shifted into drive and pressed on the accelerator pedal and the auto did move forward. The same day I brought the auto into the Jeep dealer whom I leased the auto from just five days earlier, to identify and fix the defect causing the aforementioned problem. On Monday 11/8/10 the dealer informed me the vehicle is operating as designed and they found nothing wrong with it, and they returned the vehicle to me. I am concerned that the defect which caused the aforementioned problem on 11/6/10 could cause reoccurrence(s) of the aforementioned problem (even at higher speeds)

- Roslyn Heights, NY, USA

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