For 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee L owners, each day is an unknown whether they’ll be able to start their vehicles, and even lock or unlock them. That’s because the key-fobs that control these functions randomly stop functioning. The SUVs become immobile. When you use the regular key, the theft system is activated, leading to other problems.

Which Jeep Grand Cherokee L SUVs are affected?

A number of Jeep forums show Grand Cherokee L owners all experiencing similar frustrations. The end result is they’re stranded wherever the Jeep is parked. While it appears isolated to only 2022 Grand Cherokee L models, other Jeep products could be experiencing these issues as well.

Also, according to the Drive, it looks as though more recently-built 2022 models are experiencing the problems. Those 2022 models built last year appear not to be plagued by the key-fob issues. Some owners have even had the problem happen at dealers, where they sit for days until techs can figure a way to return functionality to the fobs. 

One owner explains that after not being able to unlock the doors or rear hatch, they tried using the traditional key. But that resulted in the Jeep locking down as would happen if someone was attempting to break into the SUV. that quickly followed with the alarm blaring. Nothing could be done because it couldn’t be unlocked or accessed in any way. 

A number of Grand Cherokee L SUVs with this issue are sitting at dealerships with no fix

From there, the Jeep was towed into a local dealership. As of February 12, it has been sitting at the dealership with no solution found. A case has been opened with Jeep, but the dealership has nothing to report. All of this occurred within a few days of taking possession of the L. 

Others say they purchased their Jeep one day and experienced a similar issue the next. One poster had this happen the day he purchased it. Welcome to your new Grand Cherokee! These and other Grand Cherokee Ls were purchased in February 2022. So far. 

The forums speculate that the issue involves the in-vehicle antenna or module, whatever that means. It seems like it is not a software issue but a hardware problem. Frustration continues to mount the longer the SUVs sit at dealerships without any news, as you would expect. 

It has been a rocky start for the L

The Jeep Grand Cherokee L has had a rocky start. It was already the subject of an NHTSA recall at the end of last year. There were over 38,000 recalled due to an issue with the Smart Lighting option. One, or sometimes both headlights would stop functioning. A software fix did not fix the problem. 

This affected Grand Cherokee L models built from the end of 2020 to the end of July 2021. Stellantis issued the recall in November once it determined the software fix wasn’t working. Notices to owners didn’t go out until a few weeks ago. This recall involved dealer technicians reprograming the ECU. 

So it is unfortunate that this recall is overlapping the rising incidences of lockouts new Grand Cherokee L owners are experiencing now. Before this recall, another was issued in October 2021, for high-beam headlight malfunctioning. So the recalls are beginning to stack up.