ABS module or sensor failure on the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee
4 crashes 3 injuries 7 of the 91 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 abs module or sensor failure gets reported
Owners of the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee report ABS module or sensor failure at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles, from 8 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 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 55,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 21,019 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
13% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33,901 miles | 44,250 miles | 51,800 miles | 53,600 miles | 54,920 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, 4 a crash and 3 an injury are 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 $500–$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 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 155,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
1999 jeep brake rotors- shaking while braking. Purchased jeep with 45,000 mile and they resurfaced them before I purchased the vehicle. Know at 60000 mile it shakes again pulling like anti-lock brakes activated. It is very serious shaking and if not prepared could and probably has caused accidents. Took jeep in for unrelated service and they told me that jeep has come out with new rotors for this problem and that it would cost me $407.00 double what regular rotor would cost?? I want to know if someone can help explain why they are not backing their product if they know there is a problem? They obviously know this other wise why are they trying to sell me another product to fix their defective product. I have heard and read many complaints about jeeps and the brake rotor problems know after checking this office's complaint files. Some one please point me to whom I should talk to. I am in the law enforcement field and have never had a vehicle shake while braking like this before is jeep not backing it's vehicles?? *nlm
Dt*: the contact stated at 40 MPH, the vehicle wobbled and the brakes pulsated while pressure was applied to the pedal. Also, the ABS light illuminated intermittently. The dealer replaced the front rotors, calipers and pads, which corrected the problem for a short time. The vehicle has been to the dealer for this problem several times to have the rotors turned or replaced. The average time between failures is about 6000 miles. In 2004 the contact took the vehicle to another dealer who replaced the rotors. Again, the problem has reoccurred and the dealer determined that both the front and rear rotors needed to be replaced.
Dt*: the contact stated at 40 MPH, the vehicle wobbled and the brakes pulsated while pressure was applied to the pedal. Also, the ABS light illuminated intermittently. The dealer replaced the front rotors, calipers and pads, which corrected the problem for a short time. The vehicle has been to the dealer for this problem several times to have the rotors turned or replaced. The average time between failures is about 6000 miles. In 2004 the contact took the vehicle to another dealer who replaced the rotors. Again, the problem has reoccurred and the dealer determined that both the front and rear rotors needed to be replaced.
Also reported on the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
Other powertrain problem
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
Differential or transfer case failure
Other visibility problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 91 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 abs module or sensor failure happen on the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is abs module or sensor failure on the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
91 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 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