2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Engine Problems

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

On 7/16/2026 exactly 1 week after i purchase the vehicle after fueling i drove about 1 mile when the car started to misfire, when attempting to accelerate. Check engine light flashes a few times and then went off. I then attempted to reverse into my driveway and when attempting to do so the vehicle shut off completely. But started right back up. I then called the dealership and was asked to bring it in. The dealership has the vehicle about 2 days and said it has been repaired it had bad spark plugs. When to get the car it drove fine with no issues until 7/28/2026 when i made an attempt to drive to work, i had driven about a mile from my home and car to a red light when the light turned green i attempted to accelerate and the vehicle was hesitate. Then a few warning lights came on that showed issues with electronic throttle control and electronic stability system service. …

I am reporting a serious safety concern with my 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L. On multiple occasions, while driving and needing to slow down quickly behind another vehicle, the vehicle has emitted an audible warning, the engine has shut off while the vehicle was still moving, and the "D" drive indicator began flashing. When this occurs, the vehicle loses propulsion and I am only able to coast to a stop. I then have to place the vehicle in Park and restart the engine before the transmission will operate normally again. This has happened more than once and appears to occur during firm or rapid braking/deceleration. The braking was not an emergency stop or collision. The vehicle simply required quicker-than-normal deceleration due to traffic ahead. …

Two issues- 1. When pulling out into traffic the engine/gas did not catch and we slowly creeped out across lanes before the gas took. This almost caused us to become t-boned by a passing car. When the gas took the car lurched forward fast which could have been another accident. 2. When driving with adaptive cruise control the forward collision warning fault light and service adaptive cruise control light kept turning on and off with a service needed message on the heads up display. This flashed on and off repeatedly causing driver distraction and also limiting vehicle safety. …

I am the owner of a 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L equipped with the 2.0L Hurricane 4 Turbo engine. At approximately 3,500 miles, the vehicle experienced a spark plug failure/breakage. The vehicle was taken to Nyle Maxwell dealership in Austin, Texas, where a spark plug was found broken and was replaced under warranty on 5/15/2026 after a lengthy wait for the parts of 11 days. This same failure occurred a second time at approximately 4,900 miles on 7/13/2026. The vehicle was again taken to the Nyle Maxwell dealership for repair. Both failures occurred while operating the vehicle on 87 octane regular unleaded fuel, which is the fuel grade stated as acceptable in the owner's manual. I am concerned this is a widespread issue, as other owners of this same engine report similar spark plug failures using 87 octane fuel, per online owner forums. …

Engine failure while driving on the highway. Jeep dealership confirmed failure due to a cylinder 4 misfire. Spark plug in cylinder 4 porcelain came out of the plug and resulted in damaging the pistons and valves. My family's safety was put at risk because we were driving on a highway and suddenly the engine stopped working. Could not accelerate or keep the engine running. Issue confirmed by the service team at local Jeep Dealership where car broke down. The team provided images of exploded spark plug and pieces of it in pistons and valves. Vehicle is in process of being transferred to dealership where car was purchased so that it can be inspected further by manufacturer. Police was not involved. A claim has been opened with insurance company, but they have not inspected it yet. There were no warnings prior to the engine failure. It just happened out of the blue.

I am reporting a serious safety concern with my 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L. The vehicle has emitted an audible warning, the engine has shut off while the vehicle was still moving, and the D drive indicator began flashing and automatically switches to P park. When this occurs, the vehicle loses propulsion and I am only able to coast to a stop. I then have to manually place the vehicle in Park and restart the engine before the transmission will operate normally again. This has occurred with a quick break due to rapid stopping and this has also occurred after making a right turn with no rapid stop. I did include a photo of the message that appears when this happens that states " autopark engaged shifter autocorrect active". I am currently working with the local dealership for diagnosis of the problem.

Vehicle: 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Limited Location: [redacted] Safety Issue Description: When using the remote auto start with the key fob, the engine starts briefly and then shuts off. When the vehicle is manually started, the check engine light immediately illuminates and begins flashing, and the vehicle jerks violently even while in park. The flashing check engine light indicates an active engine misfire, which poses a significant safety risk due to potential engine stalling, sudden loss of power, and potential catalytic converter damage.

I was stuck on the Hot way for 45 minutes cause my car was heating up. It's been in shop four times for heating up on the fourth time I took it in. I was stocked because my electrical started going out. The speedometer started just going around my electrical on my dash started going from heat to cold my seat controls then it started of the dash panel are going to ABS and going to different things showing the speedometer showing the mileage on the car it just started doing its own controls so and then my speedometer just called going fast and went back to deal so and didn't blacked out so I videotaped everything

While driving my 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the check engine light began flashing (a flashing, rather than steady, check engine light typically indicates an active engine misfire). At or around the same time, the vehicle began shaking/vibrating noticeably, consistent with the misfire condition indicated by the flashing light. Separately, I experienced a failure of the vehicle's push-button Start/Stop ignition system. When attempting to shut the engine off by pressing the Start/Stop button, the engine did not turn off as expected. The button had to be pressed several times before the engine finally powered off.

While driving from Tampa to Miramar Beach, Florida, the vehicle operated normally on the highway. However, shortly after exiting the highway and driving in slow traffic, the engine temperature gauge suddenly rose into the red zone, and the air conditioning automatically shut off. I immediately pulled over and allowed the vehicle to cool. The engine temperature returned to normal, and after the engine cooled completely, I found that the coolant reservoir level was only slightly below the MIN mark. There are no visible coolant leaks, no check engine light, and no warning messages currently displayed.

Engine complaints in other Grand Cherokee L years