Other steering problem on the 2016 Jeep Cherokee
1 crash 1 of the 41 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2016 Jeep Cherokee report other steering problem at a median of 47,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 27,500 miles and a quarter after 57,500 miles, from 30 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 77,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 68,185 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
37% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,200 miles | 28,451 miles | 48,000 miles | 56,500 miles | 78,385 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 83; the 2016 has 41. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Jeep actively markets and promotes the cherokee as towable four-wheels-on-the-ground behind motorhomes. Before I purchased my 2016 jeep cherokee trailhawk in november, 2015, I confirmed by reference to the owner's manual that this was true. In february, 2016, I began to see discussions in the family motor coach association (fmca) magazine, and in the fmca website forums as to a towing issue when the jeep cherokee is towed four-on-the-ground behind a motorhome; the issue being a severe wobble in the jeep cherokee's front end--severe enough to destabilize the motorhome. Jeep issued service bulletin number 08-022-16 on february 24, 2016, which not only retroactively requires an "accessory kit to enhance flat tow performance" (part no. 68321424aa), but revised the jeep cherokee's owner's manual prohibiting flat towing without this accessory. The problem is that my jeep dealer says this accessory is not available (as of march 21, 2016), and doesn't know when it will be. Jeep apparently is letting their customers bear this burden alone, as I have not had any communication from jeep, and cannot find any evidence that any other jeep…
We have been warned that this vehicle may have a steering wobble when towed behind a motorhome. Fiat chrysler has issued a recall addendum to the owner's manual that a harness wiring kit part no. 68321424ab is recommended before towing, and that if the vehicle is towed without this kit, fiat chrysler will not be responsible for any damages. Also, service procedure notice s13 and service bulletin no. 08-029-16 rev. A have been issued saying that we need a mopar flat tow wiring kit before towing have been issued. Even though our jeep is under warranty and fiat chrysler has issued these warnings, the manufacturer refuses to pay for the installation of the recommended kit. We have gone through our dealer, the district jeep service manager, and also directly to fiat chrysler with no resolution. Fiat chrysler refuses to cover the cost of this repair, which would be $330.00 out of pocket to us. We feel, since our vehicle is under warranty and fiat chrysler acknowledges this problem, that fiat chrysler should pay for the installation of this repair that they recommend and require, via recall. Further, the current new version of the…
Bought car in feb 2016 and was ok to tow 4 wheels down with out any additions. About 2 months later I received a notice that I could no longer tow 4 wheels down with out adding a mopar flat tow wiring kit. Due to battery drainage the front end goes into a serious wobble which could cause accident or even death. Jeep refuses to pay for this addition. I towed this car from az to fl and just last month I did have the wobble and must say glad I was not going highway speed as it could have been very serious!!!! This happened while going through a construction site and the speed was about 35 ti 40 MPH, it was so bad that I had to stop and spend time unhooking and then hooking back up again. Luckily there was place to pull off the road.
Also reported on the 2016 Jeep Cherokee
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Parking brake failure
Excessive oil consumption
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 41 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other steering problem happen on the 2016 Jeep Cherokee?
Across 30 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 47,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 27,500 miles and a quarter after 57,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2016 Jeep Cherokee?
41 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed