Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Only 7 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
There are 9 reports of control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 7 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 26th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 162,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $700–$3,000 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 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 52; the 1998 has 9. 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.
Airbag dash indicator light stays illuminated after start. Dealer service thinks this is caused by a defective airbag system control module. The cost to replace is $600 but they can't be sure if it is not fixed whether or not the airbag system will deploy in an accident. *jb
The airbag light started coming on in my 1998 jeep grand cherokee so I took it to the dealership where I purchased the jeep.they told me that the airbag module has gone bad . How can that be when I never had to use it? To get that fix it cost $500. I began looking up on the internet to see the cost of it.I looked at autozone website to see how much the part cost upon that I came across a recall for my jeep. It's for the air bag light on/accidental deployment. I called daimlerchrysler as stated on the recall .they have given me the run around about the recall. I hope someone in your department look into this as soon as possible because this is not very safe. I know im not the only person to complain about the airbag light in this type of jeep. Please help us before someone get hurt or die. When it's time for the airbag to really work it probably want. So before it happen please help everybody out who is having the same problem thank you lmorgan. *la
My 1998 jeep grand cherokee stalls unexpectedly and sporadically. It seems to happen more often after it's been sitting and not being driven for 3 or more hours, but has occurred at any time or temperature. I've taken it to 3 different mechanics, one who specializes in jeeps and spent hundreds of dollars trying to fix the problem to no avail. No one seems to know why or how this problem is occurring. The following parts have been replaced: idle air control valve, plugs, wires, distributor cap, asd relay, crank sensor, cam shaft position sensor. I've even had the mechanic try the "magic fix" that I've read on many forums about the screws on the ECM being too long. Nothing. I'm getting so frustrated because it's really dangerous when it just shuts off. Most of the time, it will crank right back up if it happens at idle and if it happens during acceleration, most of the time, it will shut off briefly and come back on before I can get stopped. I don't want ot get rid of the vehicle, but I want some answers. I find it hilarious that jeep/chrysler uphold that they aren't aware of any stalling problems that have been reported on the…
Also reported on the 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Other powertrain problem
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
Other body or interior problem
Other fuel system problem
Differential or transfer case failure
Other engine problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 9 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 9 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 160,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
9 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 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