Cruise control failure on the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee
When cruise control failure gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee report cruise control failure at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 20th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 90,000 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.
31% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 miles | 33,000 miles | 57,195 miles | 80,635 miles | 110,000 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 $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 2011 has 22. 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.
Hi, my name is [xxx]. On jan. 18, 2011 I purchased a 2011 jeep grand cherokee x package from grand prix jeep and suburu, for my daughter, for her first car. On march 12, I was stopped at a light, my foot on the brake, the car started to rev high and then was trying to accelerate forward, I thought the cruise control was on, I had no idea what the problem was, but it was so scary. I had to ride with my foot on the brake the whole way home. Engine light came on and so did the electronic throttle light, which looks like a lightening bolt. I brought the car to the dealer, spoke with ethan. I explained to them of the sudden acceleration problem. He said he would take a look at it and let me know the problem. I called on monday, no one looked at the car, stall. Tuesday, I called and spoke to ethan, he said he had no idea what was wrong with the car and he had to wait for chrysler to call him and let him know what to do, scary. Miraculously wednesday he said he replaced the gas pedal the sensor was bad, and the car was fixed. Still terrified from te first occurrence, I took the car home. Om march 24th, 2011 it was beginning to snow, I…
This vehicle is equipped with a adaptive speed sensor that keeps the vehicle at a preset distance from the vehicle in front with cruise control on. Vehicle is also equipped with a forward collision warning system which warns the driver to brake if it senses an approach of an object that is unsafe. The problems: the system will shut it self off, flashing a warning that the forward collision warning system is not working and shuts off the cruise control as well. System always resets itself after minutes, or longer and the cruise control will once again, work. Safety issue the system has the ability to brake on its own if it senses you are approaching a vehicle too fast with cruise control engaged. The problem is that a car may turn off in a separate lane to decelerate or be in a separate lane to accelerate and the sensor thinks the car is in front of it and starts braking severely cause it thinks it is in its path. This is a huge safety concern since any driver behind me would not be expecting me to brake when cars are not in my path. The vehicle has been to jeep dealer for numerous attempts to fix it. Right now chrysler is not…
This vehicle is equipped with a adaptive speed sensor that keeps the vehicle at a preset distance from the vehicle in front with cruise control on. Vehicle is also equipped with a forward collision warning system which warns the driver to brake if it senses an approach of an object that is unsafe. The problems: the system will shut it self off, flashing a warning that the forward collision warning system is not working and shuts off the cruise control as well. System always resets itself after minutes, or longer and the cruise control will once again, work. Safety issue the system has the ability to brake on its own if it senses you are approaching a vehicle too fast with cruise control engaged. The problem is that a car may turn off in a separate lane to decelerate or be in a separate lane to accelerate and the sensor thinks the car is in front of it and starts braking severely cause it thinks it is in its path. This is a huge safety concern since any driver behind me would not be expecting me to brake when cars are not in my path. The vehicle has been to jeep dealer for numerous attempts to fix it. Right now chrysler is not…
Also reported on the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Other electrical problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other brake problem
Fuel pump failure
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 22 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 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 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 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
22 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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