Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee
3 crashes 1 fire 4 of the 129 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 ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee report ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure at a median of 97,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 67,500 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles, from 84 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 142,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 107,000 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.
12% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35,000 miles | 67,223 miles | 98,000 miles | 126,975 miles | 142,000 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
Of these reports, 3 a crash and 1 a fire 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 $250–$1,500 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 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 141; the 2006 has 129. 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 while driving at various speeds the ignition switch came off 4 times while driving due to light contact from contact's right knee. Both the dealer and manufacturer were contacted. Updated 05/16/2006 - a complaint was registered with daimler/chrysler, and contact met with the general manager of the dealership. The service department at the dealership already knew about the problem. The service manager told the general manger that the problem was caused by key chains. However, the contact had removed the key from the key chain and still experienced the problem. Since the vehicle was inoperative the contact had to trade it in and experienced a huge financial loss. *ak *nm
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 jeep grand cherokee. While driving 5 MPH the vehicle accelerated uncontrollably and without warning accelerated 30-40 MPH. The contact was unable to control the vehicle for a quarter of a mile. The contact attempted to apply the brakes and was unable to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was driven into the snow located on the shoulder, which allowed the contact to stop the vehicle. The road conditions were wet. The vehicle smelled as if it was on fire. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and is currently being diagnosed. An electronic diagnostic test on feb 22, 2007 indicated due to the performance liilluminating the vehicle needed a new ignition switch. The vehicle's current and failure mileage was 18,300. *ak
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 jeep grand cherokee. While driving 5 MPH the vehicle accelerated uncontrollably and without warning accelerated 30-40 MPH. The contact was unable to control the vehicle for a quarter of a mile. The contact attempted to apply the brakes and was unable to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was driven into the snow located on the shoulder, which allowed the contact to stop the vehicle. The road conditions were wet. The vehicle smelled as if it was on fire. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and is currently being diagnosed. An electronic diagnostic test on feb 22, 2007 indicated due to the performance liilluminating the vehicle needed a new ignition switch. The vehicle's current and failure mileage was 18,300. *ak
Also reported on the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Stalling while driving
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 129 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 ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure happen on the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Across 84 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 97,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 67,500 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
129 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.0 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