What 1,344 owners told NHTSA about the 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk

The front passenger headrest deployed without reason while driving approx. 35 miles an hour. The headrest hit the passenger in the head causing pain. Passenger was take to ER and diagnosed with mild whiplash. I reported incident to Jeep customer care and was instructed to make an appointment at a dealer. An appointment was made for 7 days later and I dropped off the car. Dealer states they are waiting for an inspector. I called customer care again and was told someone would call me back within 24 hours. 4 days later, still no call. Called on the 5th and was told someone from the legal department will call asap. Waited two more days and still no call or any communication from them. I went back to dealer and took my car back. No warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to the failure.

NHTSA ODI 11597023

The Passenger headrest just snapped forward and the clips broke.

NHTSA ODI 11594092

Active head restraint system on driver's side of vehicle spontaneously deployed while parked. No evidence of collision present.

NHTSA ODI 11591180

The contact owns a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH with a front passenger seat in the vehicle, the front passenger seat headrest restraint was erroneously deployed. During the failure, no collision had occurred to cause the deployment. No injury was reported. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was 101,000. The VIN was not available.

NHTSA ODI 11591267

The advanced headrest deployed on the passenger side without cause. I was getting into the drivers side. It was in our driveway.

NHTSA ODI 11590721

The component that failed is the front passenger active headrest. It is available for inspection upon request. When the component failed, a few pieces of plastic/metal flew out of the headrest. One of the pieces hit me just above my right eye. I haven’t taken my vehicle to a service center as I will be in Alaska for the next 5 months. It has not been inspected yet. I have someone who can take it in to the dealership/auto shop, or allow it to be viewed by my insurance company. There was no indication that the component would fail, at any point.

NHTSA ODI 11585108

The active headrest deployed while I was driving on [XXX] returning home from work this evening. I was very fortunate not to hit the truck next to me or run off of the road as the force of the blow was enough to thrust my head forward and make me see stars. I was able to pull over and after about 10 minutes I was able to see clearly and was no longer too dizzy to drive. This malfunction is extreme dangerous and could very easily result in severe injury or loss of life due to causing a crash. I will be following up with my physician as I suspect the force I felt was certainly enough to cause a concussion. Jeep needs to recall every single vehicle with these headrests and correct the issue. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11573026

The clips inside the headrest spontaneously broke in the passenger headrest separating the soft cushion from the plastic backing, which pushes the headrest 2-3 inches towards the dashboard. This car had never been in a accident of any kind. My wife was in the seat while it happened driving down the road. There were no warning lamps, alerts of any kind. This has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance. I can see the broken clips because it is spring loaded and I assumed if it popped out so easily then I could just compress is back into place, but instead I see 2 broken plastic clips. This now makes it so your seat has to be reclined or your head is pushed forward putting you in an odd position to sit in. I have read on several forums about this issue happening to others and there not being a recall or service bulletin. This is the same headrest as the driverside headrest and I fear this will happen while my wife is driving (this is her daily driver) and will cause a crash. I have included 3 pictures. 1 is zoomed out to show what it looks like, 1 is of the internal area where the breaks are and 1 is marked up of the internal area highlighting the two areas that broken. The internal pictures show the break, the springs that push it forward, which are there so in the event of a crash they reduce the head movement which will no longer happen causing more injury.

NHTSA ODI 11563117

The Active Head Restraint deployed without any known prior accidents and has been known to deploy unexpectedly while driving causing whiplash and neck injuries. The passenger AHR was deployed when I purchased it used from dealer. Having moderate to severe neck deterioration myself I am extremely concerned of it causing life threatening injury or death as it has been reported by other owners to deploy while driving down the road and hitting them in the back of the head "like a baseball bat to the back of the head" as one owner described.

NHTSA ODI 11562495

The passenger side headrest deployed while driving under normal conditions. This vehicle has NOT been in an accident of any type. The plastic inside of the headrest is broken and cannot be reset. I am concerned this will happen to the driver-side while driving if this issue is not addressed and the faulty part replaced.

NHTSA ODI 11555468

Both headrests have deployed on there own breaking the safety clip to retract on the driver and passenger side.

NHTSA ODI 11546508

Passenger headrest spontaneously deployed at a VERY violent force. Will not go back in.

NHTSA ODI 11546540

Driver side headrest randomly popped out and hit me in the back of the head while driving.

NHTSA ODI 11543073

Passenger headrest safety feature designed to reduce whiplash in rear collisions deployed without being in an accident.

NHTSA ODI 11541634

The driver side headrest burst open as I was driving through a residential street and hit me in the back of the head, causing severe pain and fear as I slammed on the brakes.

NHTSA ODI 11541311

The headrest on the passenger side seat deployed without any warning or a collision (AHR system). This vehicle has never been in a collision. It is available for inspection. My daughter was sitting in the passenger seat when it was deployed causing it to hit her in the head with a good amount of force. It has not yet been brought to a dealership as it just occurred. There were no warnings or messages prior to it deploying. I am concerned the driver side will deploy as i’m driving and the safety of passengers in the vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11540190

I’m driving down the road when suddenly, the passenger side active headrest deployed. There was no accident, but the safety device deployed without warning.

NHTSA ODI 11539476

Active head restraint on passenger side deployed automatically. Plastic inside appears to be broken

NHTSA ODI 11539032

Driving and drivers headrest deployed for not reason. No collision, no nothing and just one headrest. There is no easy way to push it back down. It is clearly a malfunction. From what information I’m gathering this is something known to happen but no recall or safety warning is issued. This is very dangerous.

NHTSA ODI 11535918

The drivers side headrest deployed for no reason. This is a major issue that puts the person sitting in the front seats at risk. There was no warning of any kind before it happened. When I called the dealership, they say they have never heard of this issue.

NHTSA ODI 11533275

The passenger side head rest deployed into my wife's head while we were driving. No impact occurred, just deployed without any incident. I've read about this happening to many people across a range of Jeep models, and is a major safety concern. I'm personally concerned this could happen to the driver while driving (myself or my wife) causing an accident.

NHTSA ODI 11531989

Driver headrest failed as my wife was driving her jeep. It deployed hitting her in the back of the head causing a slight concussion.

NHTSA ODI 11531752

The headrest deployed as a result of the AHR system despite no accident having taken place. This presents a problem as there are reports of drivers/passengers getting concussions from the impact. The driver seat headrest is still intact, however, this poses a risk of this happening while driving, at any time. Sudden deployment may cause injuries, or an accident which will put passengers and other drives on the road at high risk.

NHTSA ODI 11528858

The contact owns a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated while driving approximately 3 MPH, the passenger’s side headrest exploded without a crash or an impact. There was an abnormal popping sound during the head rest deployment. The contact called the local dealer and left a voice mail message but had not received a response. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 73,000.

NHTSA ODI 11528328

Summer of 2021 the passenger headrest airbag broke without any problem to cause it to pop open and it cannot be reset. Luckily no one was in the passenger seat. No one was in the car when it popped. Noticed it next time I got into car to take my husband to chemo treatments.

NHTSA ODI 11527223