Home / Car Problems Checker / 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 1,644 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

1,644

Complaints

filed with NHTSA

Involved a Crash

owner-reported

105

Involved Fire

owner-reported

Injuries

across all reports

Years to Avoid

Jeep Grand Cherokee — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee

118 complaints

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee

1,639 complaints

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee

1,644 complaints

2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee

804 complaints

2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee AVOID

2,381 complaints

2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee

1,366 complaints

2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee

311 complaints

2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee

364 complaints

2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee

855 complaints

2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee

370 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Electrical System 837 reports

Service Brakes 308 reports

Engine 285 reports

Fuel/propulsion System 216 reports

Unknown Or Other 120 reports

Power Train 102 reports

Steering 100 reports

Air Bags 43 reports

In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Electrical System ODI 11164306 12/31/2018

WHILE DRIVING LOCALLY ON A CITY STREET, HEARD A LOW WHINING SOUND, FOLLOWED BY THE DASHBOARD BATTERY WARNING LIGHT BEING ILLUMINATED. SOUND INCREASED AND DECREASED WITH VEHICLE SPEED. DROVE IMMEDIATELY HOME, LESS THAN A MILE, PARKED THE VEHICLE, OPENED THE HOOD AND ISOLATED THE LOCATION OF THE WHINING SOUND TO THE ALTERNATOR AREA. AT THIS TIME I COULD ALSO SMELL A BURNING ODOR…

Engine ODI 11057774 12/31/2017

AT APPROXIMATELY 60,000 MILES, BOTH ENGINE MOUNTS FAILED. THE PROBLEM PRESENTED AS A ROUGH IDLE CONDITION BUT WAS ACTUALLY THE MOTOR MOUNTS.

Engine ODI 11057776 12/31/2017

AT APPROXIMATELY 50,000 MY VEHICLE DEVELOPED AN EXHAUST LEAK.

Electronic Stability Control (esc) ODI 10938898 12/31/2016

TIPM FAILURE WITH LIGHTS NOT WORKING

Electrical System ODI 10938938 12/31/2016

MY POWER DOOR LOCKS STOPPED WORKING. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT TO HAVE IT REPAIRED AND THE DAY I WAS GOING TO DRIVE MY JGC TO THE DEALER, ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. PARK ASSIST STOPPED WORKING, ANTI SKID AND 4 WHEEL DRIVE ALSO INDICATED ERRORS. BUT WORSE, I COULD NOT MOVE THE SHIFTING ARM OUT OF PARK. I HAD TO HAVE IT DRAGGED OUT OF MY GARAGE BY A LOCAL TOWING SERVICE. THE DEALER SA…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee reliable?

Owners have filed 1,644 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, most often about electrical system. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.

Which Jeep Grand Cherokee years should I avoid?

The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.

Where do these complaints come from?

Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.

Do complaints mean a recall is coming?

Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.