2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee Cruise Control Problems

Multiple times the vehicle will drive very jumpy even if not pressing on the gas or brakes. When accelerating or braking the car will randomly drastically respond to the pedals or barely respond almost making it impossible to stop at times. The inconsistency of breaking and gas power has caused me almost be hit or hit someone else repeatedly.

While merging onto RT684 I went to accelerate and the car was non-responsive to me pushing on the gas. The car continued to not respond to the accellerator and then the "Service 4wD" light came on the dashboard. This was a safety issue because I had no notice that there was an issue until after the issue took place, a car was very close behind me and almost hit me from behind while I had my 2yr old son and newborn in the back seat. This vehicle has had a number of safety related issues: did not respond to the break on 12/24/24, has been in the jeep dealership service center for over 115 days since my lease began May 2023. The most recent incident was on 12/20/2025 where it did not accellerate while merging onto the highway. The was in the shop from 12/20/25 - 12/30/25 upon return the car had very stiff steering and the car felt jumpy on 1/6/26 the "service 4wD" light went on again and has been in the shop from 1/6/26- until present.

The engine would randomly accelerate , rev and make a whining noise, slip into neutral and I would have to pull over and shut it off sometimes in an unsafe area. Occasionally when I would start the engine it would rev as though I had my foot on the gas and I would shut it back off. I was traveling on the highway approximately 70 mph and cancelled the cruise control to go around a curve and pressed on the gas to merge into 70 mph traffic on another highway, and nothing happened. When I got to the end of the ramp the car was going 32 mph with my foot to the floor on the gas panic stricken. Suddenly the gas engaged and I shot into the traffic trying to avoid me. I took the car home, parked it in the garage and called a local dealership for service explaining the problems I was having. I went to resume my trip in a friends car because I was frightened to drive mine. While I was away my partner went to move the car a few feet to get to the trash barrel and when he put it in reverse the car shot 8 feet at high speed out of the garage and hit a tree. He went to the hospital and the car was taken on a flatbed to the dealership where I purchased it. There is considerable damage. The acceleration problem happened at least 15 times and I have several adults that were in the car and witnessed it. Chrysler did the diagnostics and said there is no defect. I would Never attempt to drive the car again and if I traded it in then an unsuspecting person could be hurt or killed in it.

The problem happens intermittently and not all the time. I will be driving on the highway or in the city and sometimes when I barely touch the gas pedal my car will accelerate at high speeds, and the RPM gauge will go all the way into the seven mark and it Turns red and it starts beeping and the only way to get that off is for me to let off the gas pedal and come to a stop and then shift it from drive to park and then that’ll usually fix the problem. And other times when I’m on the highway. I will barely touch the gas pedal and it’ll accelerate at high speeds and I’ll have to go from the gas pedal to having to slam my brakes on to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of me. A friend of mine who had driven my vehicle, called me and asked me if I noticed that it was doing that as well and I explained to her that I I was aware. I have not taken it to the dealership yet for that problem yet however, I do have an appointment made. I’m just waiting on them to find me a loaner vehicle that will seat my six person family because I cannot drive a different vehicle that does not fit my whole family .

I rented a 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee at our local airport (Monterey, California) and drove it to Los Angeles and back for a total of about 700 miles over four days. I am an experienced driver and have been working on cars all my adult life. On several occasions, I attempted to the use the cruise control function to set a fixed speed for my journey. In doing so, I would first turn cruise control ON, accelerate to the desired speed, then MOMENTARILY press the SET button, at which point the vehicle would 'remember' my current speed and maintain this speed indefinitely. Nothing unusual about this, and it's how I've used cruise control in multiple cars over the years. Now, as in a lot of cruise control systems, one may use the SET button to cause the vehicle to accelerate, instead of pressing on the gas pedal. This is also a common way of doing things. One holds down the SET button, the vehicle increases speed, and once the vehicle gets to the desired speed, one releases the button and the current speed is maintained. But not in this Jeep Grand Cherokee. Instead, I found that if I pressed and held down the SET button for a few seconds that the vehicle would CONTINUE TO ACCELERATE long after I had released the SET button. For example: Traveling at 75 mph, I held the SET button for two or three seconds and released it. The vehicle began to accelerate at about two seconds, but continued accelerating for a period of twenty seconds, until I finally stepped on the brake, at which time the vehicle had reached 91 mph. In my run to LA and back, I tested the system several times. In the above example, I used my cell phone to make a video recording of the event. I'm glad to share this with NHTSA staff. My general belief is that this is not a one-off defect. It is the way the system is designed to behave, and it's unsafe. There are a few comments on the web pertaining to 2021 & 2022 Jeep products that support what I have said here.

The contact owns a 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated at high speeds and the contact lost control of vehicle and drove off the road. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact drove over metal fragments on the roadway causing damages to the front driver’s and passenger’s side tires before the vehicle came to a complete stop. The vehicle was towed to a Collision Center. The dealer was contacted but no assistance was provided. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 11,000.

The vehicle while in cruise set at 70mph accelerated to nearly 90mph and would not disengage even when brake applied, had to turn vehicle off. It has done this twice almost causing an accident. Vehicle has also suddenly applied the brakes very hard while driving approx 55 mph, nothing in front of vehicle. Apparently vehicle was applying the brakes because when we reached home the brake rotors were glowing cherry red. Dealer has looked at it once and said in is probably our pedal getting stuck on the floor mats. I did not have foot on any pedal while in cruise. This last time no check engine light cam on.