Jan 19, 2022SteeringLane Departure
What Component Failed: Power Steering & Lane Management. When Component Failed: 01/19/2022 at approx. 6:45am Car Available for Inspection?: YES Details: While driving from home to work this morning, the instrument cluster displayed an error message "Power Steering Unavailable Service Required" and a red warning light with a steering wheel and exclamation mark above it. I was traveling at approx. 55mph on the interstate. Because the power steering failed, the active lane management features also malfunctioned. Safety Impact: I was driving on the interstate at a high speed. Fortunately I was on a straight-away and had time to react for an upcoming turn/bend in the highway. Loss of power steering made it difficult to change lanes, merge, and make turns. This decreased safety by making it more difficult to control the vehicle. The lane management feature also malfunctioned and decreased safety. This features warns me if the car is crossing into another lane and also provides steering assistance to course correct when the driver doesn't respond fast enough. Because power steering and lane management failed, I had difficulty turning the vehicle and maintaining safe position in my lane, especially on curvy and high-speed roads. Inspection/Reproduction of Issue: The vehicle is currently at the dealer where it was purchased for inspection by the service dept. This issue has not been reproduced on this particular vehicle. However, this issue was confirmed and reproduced on another Grand Cherokee L I purchased in November 2021. The current vehicle I am reporting the issue for is a replacement car because the vehicle purchased in November 2021 also had the same issue with the power steering, lane departure and lane management.
NHTSA ODI 11448061
Dec 23, 2021Electrical systemVisibility & wipersLane Departure
-The new 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L-Limited was made to be a third, row off-road, all weather driven vehicle. #1: The front windshield is flush with the front pillars. This causes accumulated snow or off-road dirt to easily be pushed to the driver side window (with no way to wash off) and blocking the driver’s side mirror. This makes it impossible to to use the blind spot light on the side mirror. In my case, I had audio alarm turned off as not to wake the kids while driving across the country. So I had a couple of near misses until I was able to stop, clean the driver’s window and turn the blind spot alarm back on. This is not a big deal if driving in clear rain, just not off-road or snow. It’s available for inspection whenever needed. -Our safety was placed at risk by creating a blind spot, making my driver’s side mirror and sensor obsolete. This created me nearly striking the cars beside me. -I just returned from the dealership(Puyallup-Larsen Jeep)an hour ago and the staff admitted it was a flaw. They actually recommend I go buy some aftermarket window lip, that does not exist. It was disgraceful to say the least for them to admit a flaw and suggest I fix it on my own, after having my car for 8 hours and it having 3500 miles on it. -No warning lights other than the blind spot sensors activating that I could be sure was activated or not. #2: The third row seat over heated the phone charging cord, causing light cabin smoke and burning a slight hole in the gym bag. My 7 y/o twins were woken up and advised me she think she smelled smoke. I figured it was nothing, it a brand new vehicle. She said “something is burning Dad”. I turned the cabin light on as my 14 y/o said she now smelled something in the second row. I saw a light fog and immediately pulled over, ran to the back and yanked out the cord out of the car. The cord was overheated to my touch. The cord had burned the plastic bag the Happy Meal toy was inside. Available for inspection whenever.
NHTSA ODI 11444879
Dec 20, 2021Electrical systemLane Departure
VEHICLE LOCKS ARE NOT WORKING SAFELY. When locking doors on the vehicle the doors are easily opened when you pull the handle while sitting in the vehicle. All doors will open which is very dangerous especially since my grandkids sit in the back and can open the doors while the vehicle is in motion. I have a video showing the doors locked and i am able to open the doors when the vehicle is driving down the road.
NHTSA ODI 11444464
Oct 6, 2021Lane Departure
Lane keeping assistance fails and disengages mid trips. The vehicle is then allowed to drift to other lanes without correct or alert.
NHTSA ODI 11435754