2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee: start-stop system problems

Filed Feb 23, 2026 · Body, Electrical · CA

The Hood Ajar message stays on and then the service auto start/stop unavailable message comes on. Hood is actually closed and this warning is incorrect but will have to stop car to try and reset it. Hood latch was replaced. First time did not fix it. Took it back and dealership did something else to fix.

Filed Jul 31, 2023 · Body, Electrical · 80,000 miles · AZ

The contact owns a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the "Liftgate Cannot Be Opened While Vehicle Is In Motion" message was displayed. Additionally, there was a burning odor detected after pressing the Auto Start/Stop button to start up the vehicle, with smoke coming from underneath the hood. The power liftgate was intermittently inoperable and also inadvertently opened while parked in the garage. The dealer was made aware of the failure and confirmed there was no recall associated with the VIN. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 23V338000 (Electrical System, Structure); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

Filed Nov 29, 2022 · Engine · 109,000 miles · KS

The contact owns a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, the engine would not turn over. The contact stated that numerous attempts were made before the vehicle started. The contact stated that the check engine and Stop/Start lights were illuminated. The contact had driven the vehicle to an Auto Parts store where it was diagnosed and determined that the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) cooler needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The contact researched online and related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 20V699000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The failure mileage was approximately 109,000.

Filed Oct 13, 2022 · Engine · WA

Purchased the car brand new back in 2017. In 2020, while driving normally, the car loss power and would not accelerate and started to have rough idles then auto stop/start came on followed by check engine. Brought it to the mechanic for diagnose and told me that there is a misfire on cylinder 2 and VVT sensor needs to be replaced. Brought it to the dealer and they fixed the issue. Two years after (present) at 100K miles, The car started to have the same issue. Yes it was high mileage but it was driven responsibly along with timely and proper maintenance from the dealer. The car started to have rough starts and white smoke on cold start. And on August 26, 2022 the car would not start. Got it towed to the dealer and told me that it has a bad starter. I was quoted for almost $2000. Once they got it to start after 3 weeks, they noticed the white smoke, the diagnosed it and told me that It has a blown head gasket. The car was driven responsibly and never overheated. They quoted me for $4600 just for the head gasket replacement. They still have my car and haven't decided what to do as it is very frustrating to think that in a short period of time, the car just gave up on us and will leave a huge hole in our pocket. It is our family car and now realized that Jeep (FCA/Stellantis) don't care about their customers because I have seen the same exact reports like mine. I don't get why it's not a recall yet. Please! Make this a recall because it's leaving families to have more financial hardship because of faulty engines that Jeep brand created.

Filed Aug 30, 2022 · Engine · 61,000 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while stopped at a stop light, she depressed the accelerator pedal to activate the Auto START/STOP feature; however, a message stating, "Stop Safely Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon” was displayed and the vehicle failed to restart. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 61,000.

Filed Aug 31, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 131,000 miles · TX

2017 jeep grand cherokee limited 131,000 miles purchased used less then 24 hours later on 8/20/2020, engine shuts off while moving, approx 20 MPH, five lane road.had to put in park, foot on brake and use push to start button nothing happened. No warnings started on the third try. Reported problem to salesperson he doesn't care because its already sold. No problem for ten days. Yesterday, 8/30/2020 it shut down four times while in motion stranded my wife would not start after multiple attempts. I brought another key fob to the scene after several tries, it started. I then drove it around with my key fob and with the automatic stop/start save fuel button turned off but engine still stopped while car was in motion. There were no check engine lights or any other codes

Filed Jun 16, 2019 · Electrical, Engine · 30,000 miles · KY

Vehicle comes to a stop and activates auto stop/start. When lifting foot of brake to proceed to a turn, the engine turns on, vehicle moves, then turns off displaying, 'auto stop/start not available', for approximately two and a half minutes, I was stuck in the middle of an intersection trying to turn over the car. Eventually after putting the vehicle in park, releasing the brake and turning off the vehicle completely, I pressed the brake and turned on the vehicle successfully. Numerous occasions of this very same incident have occurred in random. Random engine shut offs while in motion have occurred as well requiring the same steps listed above. Vehicle is equipped with this 'eco technology' 100% of the time unless, a button is pressed to deactivate temporarily. (no way to permanently shutoff this feature, no solution from dealership.)

Filed Nov 9, 2018 · Electrical · 260 miles · AE

Takata recall upon driving mt jeep gc on the highway this morning, everything was going fine, I exited the highway at stop light and as usual, the stop/start engaged, when the light turned green a lifted my foot of the brake so the car will start again but it didnt. So I turned off the radio and auto light and forced the car to natural and pressed the start button and car started. On guage display a red battery light came on and a message that said " park car, vehicle will shut down soon", so I drove around 15min's to find a safe parking spot and stopped in supermarket parking lot.. 2min later the car shut down. I carry with me portable jumper so I opened the hood and connected it but no power was reaching. So I lifted the passenger seat and gained access to the main battery and connected the jumper directly to the terminals but still, no power was circulating. So I connected it to the auxiliary battery and power was there. And the car started. Put not safe to drive. I picked up my jeep four days ago new from the dealer, so when this happened my car had 250miles on it.

Filed Sep 24, 2018 · Engine · 5,000 miles · ND

2017 jeep grand cherokee laredo shuts off while driving. First noticed about a month after driving it. Approx. Mileage about 5,000 on initial complaint; current mileage about 23,000. Vehicle will beep at you and dash will state "vehicle not in park". First time it occurred at night and I lost all exterior lights. Other times when engine shuts off it keeps radio and interior dash lights on. Multiple dealerships state that they cannot recreate the issue and that no codes are being stored. Chrysler hooked up a data recorder to the vehicle and stated nothing out of the ordinary showed up once it happened. Was also told that if vehicle lost all power during the incident, that the data recorder would not reflect those conditions. The company will not replace, repair, or buy back without a diagnosis. Huge safety concern for not only the passengers and driver, but also others on the road. If on a busy street it shuts off with no lights, there will be greater risk of causing an accident at speed. According to dealership reps, looked into push button controller and receiver, auto start/stop feature, key fobs, and engine fuel system. All open recalls have been performed on my jeep. All recommended factory maintenance has been performed at the dealership. This is not the only issue recorded, but is the most serious due to life safety concerns.

Filed May 22, 2018 · Electrical, Transmission · CA

When engine start stop feature is activated the car engine shuts off when idling at stop lights, the problem occurs when you take foot off brake and the engine restarts it either lunges the car forward forcibly or the car lunges backwards as if the transmission clutch didnt properly engage to move the car forward, my car has automatic transmission. When car is off and you touch handle to open door it sometimes causes electrical shock. We noticed these issues during the first week of driving car may 2017

Filed Mar 18, 2018 · Electrical, Transmission · NC

My car has stop/start system so when I put my brakes on to stop the vehicle it cuts off the engine and when I take my foot off the brake it automatically restarts the engine. Very recently when I had stopped at a traffic red light, and a traffic jam, engine shut down with braking and did not restart. I could not restart the car either, and the gear was locked on park. Could not put the car on neutral gear to move it out of main road. There were about 10 cars behind me. Very scary and dangerous situation. It finally restarted after several trials, may be 10 or 12 trials while I was waiting tor the tow truck to arrive. I was also worried that the car could not be towed without putting it in to neutral gear. This happened on four different times. I took it to a dealer service center three different times for this same problem. They first changed auxiliary battery and told me to drive the car. The very next day car started stopping again. They then changed the 2nd (main) battery. Problem remained. Then finally they found that one of the battery wires was not securely connected to the starter via a connector. They have put a new connector. It is a scary situation, and can lead to loss of life on road. If it knocks off the engine behind a traffic jam and does not start back it may lead to serious accident and even death. It is only 6 month old brand new car and I did not expect this problem. It can not be easily put in neutral gear if engine can not be started which is a major traffic hazard. This needs to be thoroughly investigated and recalled. They have provided an option to override park gear in to neutral but it is not very easy for a person to locate and find the override option. I think this problem is a major traffic safety hazard. I request you to kindly investigate this problem with jeep grand cherokee. Thank you very much.

Filed Aug 20, 2017 · 5,500 miles · OH

I have experienced numerous instances of the vehicle remaining in run mode after I push the stop button to shut it down. This only occurs when the ess (engine stop/start) is enabled. My initial belief was that the ess was restarting the vehicle. Upon further observation, I now believe that the vehicle is ignoring the stop button input. I realized that this is a safety issue when the vehicle failed to shut down at a gas station and I refueled with the engine running. I failed to realize that the vehicle had not shut down due to excessive noise in the area. The vehicle fails to shut down under these conditions: 1.the vehicle is running and the ess is enabled. 2.I pull into a parking position and hold the brake long enough for the ess to begin the stop engine sequence. 3.I push the shifter into park as the ess is in the stop engine sequence. 4.I immediately depress and hold the stop button. 5.the vehicle fails to shut down. The vehicle will not shut down until the stop button is released and pushed a second. I estimate that this happens to me approximately 20% of the time I attempt to shut down the vehicle with the ess enabled. This never happens when the ess is disabled. I have taken my grand cherokee to the dealer and a star case was created at fca. This failure to shut down was demonstrated to the mechanic on my vehicle and on another grand cherokee from their lot. Fca acknowledged that the failure to shut down situation does occur as I described. However, fca has not indicated they are taking any steps to correct the problem. Fca seems to be indicating to me that the solution to the problem is that I need to be more careful. I do not find this to be an acceptable answer. I believe that the ess under engineered, under developed and lacks the sophistication needed to be safely used.