NHTSA Complaint #11424759 — 2011 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE

I had repeated engine stalling issues, usually when accelerating, but other times just randomly. The problem is usually momentary, the engine starts running again in seconds. It is also infrequent, only once or twice a month for a vehicle being driven daily. This has caused some very near misses when the vehicle behind me doesn't notice my sudden deceleration (there are no brake lights) and almost rear ends me. Fortunately I have not had any accidents. This was a problem on my 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee VIN 1J8HR58T99C520366. A bad crankshaft position sensor wire in the harness was finally found and replaced which fixed the problem. The problem is very hard for the repair shop to verify, they won't take the vehicle out on the road and drive it long enough so it is hard to even convince them it is a real problem. The shops often attribute it to a bad fuel pump relay, a well known problem with recalls. The replacement relays have very limited availability. I have had to drive on a suspected bad relay for months before recall parts are available. I don't think the relay is the only defect which causes the problem. About 6 weeks ago my 2011 started exhibiting the problem again, but this time with more frequency and more dramatic engine out episodes. The dealer attributed it to the fuel pump relay, which they didn't have, then to a timing sensor (crankshaft I think) then to various other problems including corroded ECM connector pins which were replaced but didn't fix the problem. After 4 weeks in the shop they finally found a bad wire (which connects the suspect timing sensor) inside a wiring harness. The wire was replaced and the problem went away. That is one of the problems that was discovered on my 2009 model! That coincidence can't be explained as a random failures, there has to be a wiring harness issue.