Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure on the 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Only 5 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 arm, ball joint or bushing failure gets reported
There are 6 reports of control arm, ball joint or bushing failure on the 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 5 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 108,000 miles. It is the 43rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 160,000 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 $400–$2,200 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 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 40,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 165,000 miles.
By volume the 2021 carries the most reports, with 15; the 2004 has 6. 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.
Dt*: the contact stated a popping noise occurred in the left and right side of the front of the vehicle while making a right or left turn and traveling as low as 5 MPH. The noise does not occur while traveling straight. The vehicle was taken to a dealership who determined the right side ball joint was defective and was replaced. About one month later the noise reoccurred on the right and left sides. There is an NHTSA recall, # 06v288000, regarding the suspension: front: control arm: lower ball joint. The vehicle VIN was not included in the recall.
I bought my vehicle in december at one of your dealerships and when I test drove it I told my salesman that is swayed in the back end and he said I just have to get used to it cause I'm used to a car. This problem has gotten worse and I had it looked at and the ball joint is about to fall out and the rear tension bars and parts are broke and have been since I purchased it. This is unsafe and I have my children in this car. It has even ruined my tires especially the passengers back one. The dealership looked at it and said it will be over 1,000 to fix and they will only cover 220 of the cost and I pay the rest. I paid over 7,000 for the jeep and I feel it's their job to fix it all. If not I will never buy another chrysler product again. This motion is enough to pull me all over the road in all weather conditions.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 jeep grand cherokee. While driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle lost acceleration and started to wobble. The failure began approximately six months ago. The vehicle was taken to global transmission in jamaica queens, new york and the control arm was replaced. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 175,000.
Also reported on the 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Other body or interior problem
Other visibility problem
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 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 6 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 arm, ball joint or bushing failure happen on the 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Across 5 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 arm, ball joint or bushing failure on the 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
6 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