2020 Jeep Cherokee
This year drew an ordinary 279 complaints for a Jeep Cherokee — the model's median is 1,325. What they were about is the unusual part: 31.9% of them mention ptu, against 12.2% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Jeep Cherokee, which began in 2014. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 279 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 1,325 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- ptu — 31.9% of this year's complaints, against 12.2% across the model's other years (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: ptu, ptu failure, unit ptu, ptu failed.
- unit — 24.4% of this year's complaints, against 9.5% across the model's other years (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: unit, transfer, power transfer, transfer unit.
- grinding — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: grinding, noises, grinding noise.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
When I attempted to turn left onto the highway from a complete stop on an incline, I pressed the accelerator and the car made a loud grinding noise. The vehicle would not move forward or reverse. The parking brake engaged on its own and would not disengage. Af…
SVC 4WD light came on. Took it to Jeep dealership to have them look at it. PTU "power transfer unit" is bad. Got a second opinion at an automotive repair shop, they too diagnosed PTU is bad. Repair shop printed a Safety Recall with our vehicles VIN number. Wen…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V191000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 19V637000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 26V290000 POWER TRAIN
How this was worked out
Every year of the Jeep Cherokee was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2020 Jeep Cherokee? What happened to yours?
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