Sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2009 Jeep Patriot
When sunroof failure or glass breakage gets reported
Owners of the 2009 Jeep Patriot report sunroof failure or glass breakage at a median of 40,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 1,900 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 123,082 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.
50% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,918 miles | 11,389 miles | 41,500 miles | 71,500 miles | 125,000 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 $700–$4,500 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2012, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2010 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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 purchased a new 2009 jeep patriot on 7/10/09 and paid cash. On 8/20/09 I took it to the dealership with 2,563 miles on it because water was pouring into the dash, radio, and onto me while driving after a rainy night. They adjusted sunroof glass and resealed open seams in sunroof fame and said it was fixed. On 9/10/09 I took it back to dealership with 3,316 miles on it for the same exact problem of water pouring from the dome light all over the dash, radio, and me again after another rainy night. They replaced sunroof glass weatherstripping and said it was fixed again. On 11/17/10 after a very long hard rain I took it back to dealership with 18,706 miles on it with water pouring from the dome light and from the rear dome and from the passenger side rear door area. The carpet was soaked and the dome light had stopped working. They repositioned drain tubes and replaced sunroof glass and seal. In the process they broke our headliner but agreed to order another one for us. On 12/14/10 after another hard rain I took it back to dealership with 19,604 miles on it with water pouring from headliner at the passenger rear door area and…
I purchased a new 2009 jeep patriot on 7/10/09 and paid cash. On 8/20/09 I took it to the dealership with 2,563 miles on it because water was pouring into the dash, radio, and onto me while driving after a rainy night. They adjusted sunroof glass and resealed open seams in sunroof fame and said it was fixed. On 9/10/09 I took it back to dealership with 3,316 miles on it for the same exact problem of water pouring from the dome light all over the dash, radio, and me again after another rainy night. They replaced sunroof glass weatherstripping and said it was fixed again. On 11/17/10 after a very long hard rain I took it back to dealership with 18,706 miles on it with water pouring from the dome light and from the rear dome and from the passenger side rear door area. The carpet was soaked and the dome light had stopped working. They repositioned drain tubes and replaced sunroof glass and seal. In the process they broke our headliner but agreed to order another one for us. On 12/14/10 after another hard rain I took it back to dealership with 19,604 miles on it with water pouring from headliner at the passenger rear door area and…
Water leaks through sunroof and while driving leaks from front light, back light, and door panels. Worried about electrical issues due to water damage. Could cause safety systems to malfunction. *tr
Also reported on the 2009 Jeep Patriot
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other body or interior problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 23 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 sunroof failure or glass breakage happen on the 2009 Jeep Patriot?
Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2009 Jeep Patriot?
23 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 195 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