Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 1,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 22nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 1,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 112,527 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.
38% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 miles | 1,000 miles | 49,000 miles | 96,000 miles | 113,527 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 $700–$3,000 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 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 52; the 2012 has 14. 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.
I bought my band new 2012 jeep grand cherokee overland 7 months ago - brand new from the chrysler jeep dealership and about a month after I bought it I started to notice the acceleration is not 100%, the windows stop rolling up or down for hours at a time at random time, the brakes sometimes don't work all the way, the engine jumps when switching gears and most recently my check engine light came on, the car would not accelerate and the rpms would not go past 1.5 even when flooring it & there were loud clicking noises with a loud fan. This time I was not able to drive to the dealership - I had to tow it in because it was not drivable. I have taken it to the dealer ship 3 times for them to check on these things & everytime I take it in they tell me they are "unable to recreate the problems" & cannot help me. I have called numerous times to complain & report issues and they either tell me they cannot help me, they put me on hold for an infinite amount of time, I go to voicemail, or no one is available. They called me today, after having it for 4 days, and told me the check engine light was for a "evap perg system" so they replaced a…
I bought my band new 2012 jeep grand cherokee overland 7 months ago - brand new from the chrysler jeep dealership and about a month after I bought it I started to notice the acceleration is not 100%, the windows stop rolling up or down for hours at a time at random time, the brakes sometimes don't work all the way, the engine jumps when switching gears and most recently my check engine light came on, the car would not accelerate and the rpms would not go past 1.5 even when flooring it & there were loud clicking noises with a loud fan. This time I was not able to drive to the dealership - I had to tow it in because it was not drivable. I have taken it to the dealer ship 3 times for them to check on these things & everytime I take it in they tell me they are "unable to recreate the problems" & cannot help me. I have called numerous times to complain & report issues and they either tell me they cannot help me, they put me on hold for an infinite amount of time, I go to voicemail, or no one is available. They called me today, after having it for 4 days, and told me the check engine light was for a "evap perg system" so they replaced a…
I bought my band new 2012 jeep grand cherokee overland 7 months ago - brand new from the chrysler jeep dealership and about a month after I bought it I started to notice the acceleration is not 100%, the windows stop rolling up or down for hours at a time at random time, the brakes sometimes don't work all the way, the engine jumps when switching gears and most recently my check engine light came on, the car would not accelerate and the rpms would not go past 1.5 even when flooring it & there were loud clicking noises with a loud fan. This time I was not able to drive to the dealership - I had to tow it in because it was not drivable. I have taken it to the dealer ship 3 times for them to check on these things & everytime I take it in they tell me they are "unable to recreate the problems" & cannot help me. I have called numerous times to complain & report issues and they either tell me they cannot help me, they put me on hold for an infinite amount of time, I go to voicemail, or no one is available. They called me today, after having it for 4 days, and told me the check engine light was for a "evap perg system" so they replaced a…
Also reported on the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Other electrical problem
Alternator or charging system failure
Fuel pump failure
Other brake problem
Other engine problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 14 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 module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 1,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
14 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