Owners filed 7,347 complaints about the 2015–2025 Jeep Cherokee with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 6th-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2015 model year drew the most (1,771), and the single most-reported problem area is transmission / powertrain, named in 50% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2015, with 1,771 complaints, led by transmission / powertrain (994).
- Spike years: 2015 (2.6× the typical year), 2016 (2.1× the typical year), 2017 (2.0× the typical year), 2019 (2.4× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: brakes complaints came at a median of 21k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 81 complaints mention a fire and 180 mention a crash; owners reported 153 injuries.
Jeep Cherokee complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,771 | Transmission / powertrain (994), Engine (363), Electrical system (324) | 28k mi | 45 | 28 |
| 2016 | 1,406 | Transmission / powertrain (629), Engine (314), Electrical system (297) | 44k mi | 37 | 14 |
| 2017 | 1,333 | Transmission / powertrain (646), Electrical system (342), Engine (258) | 41k mi | 24 | 6 |
| 2018 | 683 | Transmission / powertrain (292), Electrical system (190), Engine (155) | 33k mi | 11 | 5 |
| 2019 | 1,640 | Transmission / powertrain (802), Engine (457), Electrical system (340) | 21k mi | 40 | 19 |
| 2020 | 298 | Transmission / powertrain (171), Engine (41), Electrical system (34) | 49k mi | 9 | 5 |
| 2021 | 162 | Transmission / powertrain (93), Engine (26), Electrical system (22) | 49k mi | 10 | 4 |
| 2022 | 51 | Transmission / powertrain (28), Engine (8), Electrical system (8) | 60k mi | 3 | 0 |
| 2023 | 3 | Transmission / powertrain (2), Air bags (1), Parking brake (1) | 12k mi | 1 | 0 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Jeep Cherokee problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transmission / powertrain | 3,657 | 50% | 40k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Engine | 1,622 | 22% | 30k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Electrical system | 1,557 | 21% | 34k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Brakes | 446 | 6% | 21k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Speed control / acceleration | 366 | 5% | 23k mi | — |
| Steering | 334 | 5% | 23k mi | Power steering repair cost |
| Fuel system | 179 | 2% | 25k mi | Fuel pump repair cost |
| Air bags | 175 | 2% | 36k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Jeep models in the index
- Jeep Wrangler (6,869)
- Jeep Grand Cherokee (4,849)
- Jeep Compass (2,469)
- Jeep Renegade (2,200)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.