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2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee: jerking or lurching

11 of the 413 complaints about the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee describe jerking or lurching.

owner complaints
11
of this car's complaints
3%
recalls
0
Is there a fix? 93 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Jerking or lurching by model year

What owners say

Filed Oct 29, 2026 · Transmission · 65,000 miles · MO

The contact owns a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended and the vehicle jerked abnormally. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the failure was not duplicated. The failure was a persistent failure. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with transmission failure. The contact was informed that there were metal shavings inside the oil pan. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was being repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 65,000.

Filed Oct 15, 2026 · Brakes, Wheels · HI

Suspected Right-Rear Brake Caliper Failure Resulting in Sudden Vehicle Stop Vehicle: 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4 Incident date: [XXX] Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Approximate mileage: 64,000 miles Affected component: Right-rear brake caliper assembly On [XXX], while traveling approximately 5 mph, my 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee experienced a sudden, violent mechanical jolt. The vehicle abruptly stopped, jerking forward and backward with substantial force. When I attempted to accelerate again, the vehicle felt physically restrained, as though something was preventing the wheel from rotating. The vehicle would not drive forward normally, and the AutoPark system engaged under certain conditions. After exiting the vehicle, I discovered a large bolt marked with an “M” lying in the roadway. I initially did not realize it belonged to my vehicle. The responding tow truck operator later identified the bolt as associated with the right-rear brake assembly. During his inspection, the tow truck operator discovered that the right-rear brake caliper was displaced and movable near the wheel. He repositioned the assembly sufficiently to facilitate towing the vehicle to Cutter Jeep in Pearl City, Hawaii. The vehicle’s front and rear brake pads and rotors had previously been replaced on [XXX], at Wolfchase Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Tennessee using genuine Mopar parts. The vehicle had approximately 50,006 miles at that service. The dealership confirmed a two-year parts warranty in writing. The vehicle also underwent routine maintenance at Cutter Jeep on June 26, 2026. I am extremely concerned that this mechanical failure caused my vehicle to stop abruptly at very low speed. Had the same failure occurred while traveling at highway speed, it could potentially have resulted in a serious loss-of-control collision. I am requesting that the federal safety agency evaluate this incident as a potential vehicle safety defect involving the right-rear brake caliper mounti INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.

Filed Sep 8, 2026 · Airbags, Transmission · 42,000 miles · NY

The contact owns a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving 5 MPH, the vehicle jumped. The contact stated that while driving 8–9 MPH, the vehicle jerked, and there was an abnormally loud sound coming from the vehicle. In addition, the air bag warning light was illuminated. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The failure was not duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure reoccurred. In addition, the contact stated that the transmission was replaced in 2025. The contact was informed that the air bag was not covered under unknown recall. The failure mileage was approximately 42,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Filed Aug 12, 2025 · Brakes, Steering · 34,000 miles · MO

The contact owns a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the ESC and “Service 4WD” warning lights illuminated, causing the vehicle to shake abnormally. Additionally, the transmission unexpectedly shifted to 4WD Low while driving. The steering wheel vibrated while making a turn, and the vehicle jerked. The vehicle also intermittently failed to start immediately and made a clicking sound. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who determined that the ABS had failed, and that the drive train control module and transfer case control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 34,000.

Filed May 19, 2025 · Transmission · IL

Once you start driving after letting the vehicle sit the transmission will “slip” multiple times jerking the car and everyone in it. Occurs every day around 4 pm and various times

Filed Apr 30, 2025 · Acceleration, Engine · NJ

The car have a lot of problems engine total failure, mounting joints failure, acelere by him self, jerking,,while driving vehicle kicks aggressively in to gear, oil cup broken down make in the engine to blow oil over , no oil in engine. Sometimes missing 3. Quarters of oil because the seal of the engine no last , is a lot problems in this car

Filed Sep 25, 2023 · Brakes, Driver assistance · CA

On many occasions, warning lights come on for no reason. The dealer has "updated" software, but to no avail.. Collision warning, stop/start error, throttle body error and more. On the last event we were driving uphill, approx 25 mph, nobody in front of us, and the brakes slammed on with multiple errors showing.. the car then lurched forward with active breaking, stop start error, throttle body sensor all showing up and going away. This happened 4 times on the evening of Sep 15th. The errors and random and intermittent.. They replaced a "secondary" battery at one point, and that did nothing. They told us we needed to drive it for over 100 miles, to charge the battery, but it did not fix the stop/start or any other error. Now it is in the Cerritos dodge dealer and we have a formal complaint filed with Chrystler.. The dealer states they can't find any problems.. During most of the events, the errors and warning lights do not stay on longer than a few seconds. I have one picture I was able to take when the warning lights stayed on a little longer.

Filed Jul 14, 2022 · Transmission · WI

The transmission was slamming into gears while attempting to accelerate onto a road way from a mall parking lot and any time we met a hill of even the smallest incline, the transmission would be slamming gears again so we struggled when met with needing to accelerate. When attempting to accelerate, transmission began slamming into gears, would and wouldn't shift, transmission would go into limp mode rendering the vehicle unable to operate safely and causing us to loose speed. Any inclines we would lose the ability to accelerate and would hope we'd make it up the hills. Any time I attempted to accelerate, the transmission would begin jerking the car in a forward and backward like motion while it was attempting to find what gear it needed. When that would happen, the tack would jump all over the place as would the gear number on the dash (I have video of all this) Our safety was put at risk due to other oncoming traffic and my vehicle unable to accelerate as it should have and was expected to, putting risk to us getting hit by multiple other motorist not realizing we were experiencing a malfunction with our transmission not permitting us to accelerate as we normally should of been able to. Vehicle is going in later today (07/14/2022) to be looked at after it's oil change and tire rotation. I was told if it can't be replicated, there is nothing they can do about it. I showed them a video of what was happening (a video I took while on a non-busy side road with no traffic) and the Service manager told me that it doesn't matter if I have a video - if their tech can't replicate it, then there's nothing they can do. I no longer feel safe pulling out into other traffic with this vehicle due to this situation coming on completely unexpectedly. There were no warning signals, alarms or anything. The problem randomly began happening and it lasted for over 54 miles as we were just trying to get back home from being an hour away from home with our child in the car.

Filed Jul 8, 2022 · Suspension · 42,000 miles · AR · crash

The contact owns a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH during rainy weather conditions, a vehicle in the left lane attempted to turn into the lane in which she was in however that driver did not wait for the contact to pass and resulted in crashing into the middle-rear of the driver side. The other driver did not have his turning signals illuminated. The air bags did not deploy. During the incident, the contact crashed into a curb and then into a residential yard. The contact was able to get the vehicle out of the yard. The police arrived on the scene, and there was a police report filed. There were no injuries reported. The vehicle was driven dealer the following day; and diagnosed failure with a left pension, chamber link, bearing, toe suspension, rear axel, and compression; all those parts were replaced. The vehicle was then driven to a tire shop for alignment repair. The contact then experienced failure with the vehicle inadvertently jerking her off the road. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer; who performed a test drive and informed the contact the lane departure was not operating. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 42,000

Filed Oct 13, 2021 · Transmission · NH

Car does not down shift properly from 5th to 1st gear or shifts hard into upper gears causing the car to jerk or jolt into gear. The Sport mode engaged the steering becomes sloppy loose and car becomes unstable to maintain control, unless returned to auto mode. Dealership techs claim they cannot diagnose because the computer system does not show any error codes the repairs they have done are computer updates which were supposed to fix the transmission issues it did not. FCA Stellantis refuses to acknowledge the problem and has told the dealerships to not pull the car in for any work unless they can show computer code failure or they will not compensate the shop for any warranty work. Jeep knows there are many issues involving this model including engine shutting down while in motion and again refuse to warn Jeep owners this particular model puts them at serious risk for injuries and death if car fails while its being operated on freeways. Another major issue concerns usage of ACC the car can slam on brakes Inadvertently, or puts the car into neutral mode while traveling at speed limits up to 70mph. I have had my car in the shop over 6 times out of service for 18 days for the same problem, the dealers are being forced to cover up for the manufacturer for a faulty unsafe vehicle. The Technicians going so far as to blame the owner for operator error, yet the problem remains. This car is a menace and should be recalled.

Filed Nov 28, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · PR

My grand cherokee high altitude 2021 start jerking during acceleration at 500 miles aprox. Then the problem was more continues and in parking or neutral the car start jerking, vibration engine and exhaust smell wear. Check engine flasing. Code p0304 was registered.

Questions about the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee jerking

Is jerking or lurching a common problem on the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

11 of 413 owner complaints about the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee (3%) mention jerking or lurching. The model year with the most reports is 2014.

Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

There are 0 recalls and 93 service bulletins for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.

Other symptoms on the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Fuel pump 26Power steering loss 26Check engine light 25Lane assist 21Stalling 21Headlights 20Loss of power 19Won't start 15Sunroof shattered 12Fire or smoke 11Adaptive cruise 10Start-stop 10No deployment 9Overheating 9Warning lights 9Won't shift 8Transmission failure 8Engine failure 7Misfire 7Ball joint 6Collision warning 6Hesitation 6Backup camera 5Knocking 5

All model years of the Jeep Grand Cherokee

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