Owners have filed 2,876 complaints on the Jeep Commander, covering 2006–2010. The system named most often is Electrical System (1,135 reports). Worst years by volume: 2006, 2007, 2008; cleanest: 2010, 2009, 2008. 102 reports describe a crash, 26 a fire, 5 a death. On average the car was 6.1 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Jeep Commander
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 2,876 Commander complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 1,135 Read
The battery light came on about 5 minutes after I started driving through residential streets and onto a freeway. I exited the freeway and went to the auto store where I had originally purchased the battery from, about a year ago, which is less than 5 miles from my house. They tested my battery and said the battery…
The contact owns a 2008 jeep commander. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. In addition, there was a burning odor present. The failure recurred multiple times. The contact received NHTSA campaign number: 14V438000 (electrical system). The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the part for repair…
The contact owns a 2008 jeep commander. While driving at various speeds, the key would suddenly move to the accessory position and the headlights and instrument gauges would stop operating. While the vehicle was in reverse, the ignition key moved to the accessory position and the backup camera shut off causing the…
Power Train 452 Read
The contact owns a 2008 jeep commander 4x4. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked with the ignition running and the parking brake engaged when the vehicle independently shifted into reverse. The driver jumped out of the vehicle before it crashed into a waterway. The driver sustained a swollen ankle as a…
The contact owns a 2007 jeep commander. The contact stated that while driving at any speed, the vehicle stalled without warning and the gages failed to function. The contact also stated that while driving at 45 mph, another vehicle crashed into the front driver side of the vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. A…
The contact owns a 2007 jeep commander. While driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the converter and the transmission were replaced; however, the failure recurred. The contact also stated that smoke was entering the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to…
Engine And Engine Cooling 345 Read
My 2006 jeep commander has stalled out numerous times. The service department at the dealership I purchased it from and the jeepcorp. Have no answer nor a fix for the problem. I am afraid that this vehicle is unsafe t drive. One day I was pulling off a parking lot and tried to stop to keep from hitting a vehicle and…
Vehicle continued stalling while is driven a low RPM. More the 25 times. Vehicle was bought with 15, 200 miles. Vehicle has now 52, 300. Everytime is taken to service the problem was mention to the dealer technician but they can't find the problem. Nov 20, 2007 I scratched the left rear fender of the vehicle with a…
The contact owns a 2006 jeep commander. While driving at any speed, the vehicle stalled sporadically without warning and caused a crash. The contact took her vehicle to the dealer on several occasions, but they could not duplicate the failure. On one occasion, the engine light illuminated, but the dealer could not…
Engine 190 Read
The contact owned a 2010 jeep commander. The contact stated while his wife was parked at the supermarket his wife attempted to start the vehicle twice with no avail. The third time she attempted she stepped out the vehicle after she smelled abnormal fumes and someone alerted her that there were flames coming from…
Engine fire under normal operation
After owning the vehicle for several months I had a car accident where a man ran into the back of my 2008 jeep commander due to the vehicle stalled on a street and then shut off. I took the vehicle to the dealer and they could not find anything wrong with the engine. I have driven the vehicle for years without major…
Structure 156 Read
The vehicle shut off without warning while driving 65 mph. Lost control hit side truck try restart but won crank or anything head lights and everthing is normal just won crank again
Along the entire upper body of the car there are cracks in the paint which I attributed to a paint defect. It now has rust damage to the upper frame above the windshield and on the roof of the vehicle where the cracks were. Above the windshield is the worst damage where it has eaten into the frame
The hood is rusting. I was informed by a body shop that the hood is rusting and that it needs to be replaced because it cannot be contained. The "bubbling" has spread across the front edge of the hood to the passenger side of the vehicle. It will soon spread to the driver's side as there is "bubbling" now at the front…
Steering 119 Read
The contact owns a 2007 jeep commander. While traveling approximately 25 mph, another vehicle swerved in front of the contact's vehicles at a higher rate of speed without warning. As a result, the contact's vehicle crashed into the other vehicle from the front. The air bags did not deploy, the power steering failed,…
The contact owns a 2007 jeep commander. While driving 30 mph and proceeding to make a right turn, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The vehicle felt as if it would stall. The contact crashed the vehicle into a gate. The air bags failed to deploy. There was no police report filed and no injuries were…
The contact owned a 2007 jeep commander. The contact stated that while driving at 20 mph, the brakes failed to respond and the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The contact crashed into the rear end of another vehicle. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed and no injuries were sustained.…
Air Bags 63 Read
My daughter was driving down the hwy and a car came out in front of her from the left side and they hit. The other car's air bags all went off. My jeep not one air bag went off after totaling the front end going through a ditch hitting a guard rail etc. Police but on report they went off just took it as they should of…
The contact owned a 2008 jeep commander. While driving 70 mph, the driver lost control of the vehicle causing the vehicle to flip over. The passenger side air bag did not deploy and the driver side air bag did not fully deploy. The vehicle was towed and deemed destroyed. A police report was filed. There were two…
The contact owned a 2008 jeep commander. While accelerating from a stop sign at 5 mph into an intersection, another vehicle failed to yield and crashed into the driver's side door of the contact's vehicle. The contact's vehicle rolled over. The contact stated that the side curtain air bags deployed; however, the front…
Vehicle Speed Control 54 Read
As I was slowly pulling into a parking space with my foot on the brake pedal the car was coasting slowly into the spot. I began to depress the brake pedal to begin stopping when suddenly the brake pedal depressed all the way to the floor and the vehicle began to accelerate. I tried to pump the brake and the vehicle…
On december 2, 2005, my mother was killed in an automobile accident in stanton, delaware. She was operating my 2006 jeep commander, and the incident was caused by unintended acceleration. The delaware state police contacted the office of defect investigation as part of their investigation. The delaware state police…
Petition for the continuation of a defect investigation into unintended acceleration of the 2006 jeep commander vehicle, her mother was killed while operating her 2006 jeep commander. *ts
Commander years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Electrical System | — | 3 | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 16 | 2 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 20 | 11 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 66 | 10 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 412 |
| Average complaints per series | 7 |
| Worst single series | 44 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.1 years |
A model average of 7 hides a worst series at 44. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Commander?
By complaint volume, 2006, 2007, 2008 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Commander years are the cleanest?
2010, 2009, 2008 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Jeep Commander have?
2,876 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2006–2010. Of those, 102 describe a crash and 26 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.