Cruise control failure on the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee
When cruise control failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee report cruise control failure at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 17th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 100,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 51,997 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45,900 miles | 54,420 miles | 62,945 miles | 80,724 miles | 97,897 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 $200–$1,400 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 22 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 1,800 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 44; the 2006 has 16. 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.
When cruise control is set, the truck begins to accelerate rapidly, hitting over 4,000 RPM's. Decelerate and cancel does not work, I have to use the brake pedal to disengage the cruise control. When this happened once in the past, I thought it was something I did or a fluke. Then it happened a second time and beginning 6/6/10, I discovered it now does it every time and I am no longer using the cruise control. *tr
While cruising down the highway with cruise control on, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. Had to hit the brake to disengage. Numerous times since then, when cruise is switched to "on", acceleration happens and I need to hit the brake. *tr
My daughter was home this weekend and said her cruise control was messed up. We took a ride and when she 'set' the cruise the accelerator went to the floor and stayed there till we increased speed by at least 15 MPH. I thought maybe she was doing something wrong in setting the system. Not the case. The cruise is no longer usable and down right dangerous. It sounds like the making of another toyota acceleration problem. I would hope that enough people bring the problem to the forefront so something gets done to repair this problem. *tr
Also reported on the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Other electrical problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Stalling while driving
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 16 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 cruise control failure happen on the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cruise control failure on the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
16 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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