Model year report

2006 Jeep Cherokee: what breaks, and at what mileage

What breaks on the 2006 Jeep Cherokee

On the 2006 Jeep Cherokee, the failure owners report most often is other visibility problem, with 5 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 25,000 miles. Overall it scores 65 out of 100, high risk for a 2006.

High risk for a 2006 — 266th riskiest of the 343 2006 vehicles we can rate. 18 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model.

What owners report breaking

Owners have reported 11 named failure modes on the 2006 Jeep Cherokee, and the three most-reported carry 50% of everything filed.

Other visibility problem leads with 5 reports and about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles.

Premature brake pad or rotor wear follows with 2 reports, median 25,000 miles.

Other engine problem follows with 2 reports, median 25,000 miles.

By system, the reports fall mostly into glass (5), brakes (3) and engine (2).

When these failures get reported

15 of the reports on the 2006 Jeep Cherokee came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 25,000 miles.

The busiest stretch is between 20,000 and 30,000 miles, which alone holds 53% of the dated reports.

100% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles, which is early enough that a fair number of these cars were still under a factory warranty when the owner complained.

Median

Other visibility problem

29k
Premature brake pad or rotor wear

24k
Other engine problem

23k
Other body or interior problem

31k
CV axle or driveshaft failure

27k
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure

23k
Parking brake failure

23k
Other powertrain problem

26k
Other electrical problem

23k
Other suspension problem

36k
Other seat belt problem
no odometer readings given
—

Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens

How reports accumulate

Share of reports filed by each mileage

half by 26.2k

Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.

Line share of reports filed by that mileage
Dashed the median reported mileage

Severity, and what it costs

Nothing in the reports on the 2006 Jeep Cherokee mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.

The average severity weight across every report on this year is 2.67, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.

What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other visibility problem at $150–$1,400, premature brake pad or rotor wear at $300–$1,400, other engine problem at $300–$4,000 and other body or interior problem at $200–$2,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.

22% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.

Every reported failure mode

Mileage figures are percentiles of owner-reported readings. Click a column to sort.
Failure mode	System	Reports	With reading	25th	Median	75th	Per 1,000	Typical repair	Severity
Other visibility problem	glass	5	4	—	29k	—	0.1	$150–$1,400	Moderate
Premature brake pad or rotor wear	brakes	2	2	—	24k	—	0.0	$300–$1,400	Moderate
Other engine problem	engine	2	2	—	23k	—	0.0	$300–$4,000	High
Other body or interior problem	body	2	1	—	31k	—	0.0	$200–$2,000	Moderate
CV axle or driveshaft failure	drivetrain	1	1	—	27k	—	0.0	$450–$2,200	High
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure	electrical	1	1	—	23k	—	0.0	$250–$1,500	High
Parking brake failure	brakes	1	1	—	23k	—	0.0	$250–$1,300	Moderate
Other powertrain problem	transmission	1	1	—	26k	—	0.0	$400–$4,500	High
Other electrical problem	electrical	1	1	—	23k	—	0.0	$250–$2,000	Moderate
Other suspension problem	suspension	1	1	—	36k	—	0.0	$350–$2,000	Moderate
Other seat belt problem	airbag	1	0	—	—	—	0.0	$200–$900	High

This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.

How often, against how many were built

Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2006 Jeep Cherokee draws about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 68th percentile of complaint rates among 2006 vehicles we can rate.

That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.

The working figure is 84,142 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2006 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.

Premature brake pad or rotor wear

Received recall notice for electronic brake module. Rear brakes severely worn and making noise. After much arguing with dealer, they told us brakes are not warranted, they repaired the rear brakes at no cost. Vehicle with dealer 22 days (11/7/07-11/29/07). *tr

27,142 miles NHTSA complaint 666331 filed 2008-04-18

2/14/2007: automatic windows malfunctioning. Passenger window rolls up then half way down. Drivers window not automatic in either direction. It appears, the dealer has finally fixed the problem, on 4/14/2008 after numerous attempts. Rear passenger brake rotor worn severely. Brakes making terrible noise. Dealer refused to fix, said it's not a warranty item. Low tire pressure light comes on frequently. Claims we must have a leak in tire. Continues to do the same thing today 4/2008. Vibration, like an engine miss at idle. Dealer could not duplicate problem, not repaired. Ebs light flashes at random times on dry, flat, straight roads at various speeds. Dealer could not duplicate problem no repairs made. *tr

21,237 miles NHTSA complaint 666300 filed 2008-04-18

How it ranks in the 2006 field

The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.

Risk score against the rest of the 2006 field

Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.

Left fewer and less serious reports
Right more, or worse
Marker this vehicle

Where 2006 sits in the model line

High risk for a 2006 — 266th riskiest of the 343 2006 vehicles we can rate. Because the ranking is against the same model year only, age cancels out of it.

Across the 16 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 1997 comes out best at 63 and 2019 worst at 83, with 2006 itself at 65.

No other year of this model scores meaningfully better than 2006, so if this generation is what you want, the year is not the lever.

Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.

Risk score by model year, out of 100

Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.

The limits of complaint data

18 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.

Of those 18 reports, 15 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 83% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".

Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.

And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.

Questions this page answers

What are the most common problems with the 2006 Jeep Cherokee?

The most-reported failures are other visibility problem (5 reports, median 30,000 miles), premature brake pad or rotor wear (2 reports, median 25,000 miles) and other engine problem (2 reports, median 25,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.

Is the 2006 Jeep Cherokee reliable?

It scores 65 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 266th riskiest of the 343 2006 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2006 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.

Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.

What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car

Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt 20 August 2026 Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed