Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2006 Jeep Wrangler
Only 6 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
There are 6 reports of control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2006 Jeep Wrangler, 6 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 15th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 45,600 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 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 900 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 245,000 miles.
By volume the 2018 carries the most reports, with 38; the 2006 has 6. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 jeep wrangler. While accelerating from a complete stop, the transmission shifted violently into second gear. The engine began to rev rapidly. The failure occurred only after the vehicle was initially started or whenever the engine was turned off and restarted. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the PCM was reprogrammed. Three weeks later, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the PCM was replaced; however, the failure recurred nine months later. The vehicle was not repaired for the most recent failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 73,000.
The PCM used with automatic transmissions has a serious and very common failure. Chrysler has known since 2006 and has made no effort to date to rectify the issue. The tcm side (internal with the PCM) has a problem that causes harsh shifting issues. The only known successful repair is to replace the PCM. This has caused them to be unavailable and when they are, they are 3 to 5 times more expensive than other years. Also, these remanufactured PCM's are not reliably repaired, it is usual that several different PCM's be installed before a reliable one is found. I know of a 2006 jeep tjl that had six mopar remanufactured computers installed in 90 days, all by the same dealership, before one that actually worked was found. There are hundreds of posts on every online forums that jeepers use that discuss the problem in great detail. A quick google search will net you all you ever wanted to know about the 2006 wrangler automatic transmission PCM failures.
Hard shifting from 1st to 2nd. Stuck in 2nd while in interstate traffic. What a nightmare! It's all over the internet about the bad PCM problem but no help from the dealer due to the age of the vehicle even with only 19000 miles.
Also reported on the 2006 Jeep Wrangler
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other fuel system problem
Other steering problem
Other suspension problem
Other powertrain problem
Fuel pump failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 6 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 2006 Jeep Wrangler?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. 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 2006 Jeep Wrangler?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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