Three federal complaints in the whole model year, because Jeep built almost none of them before the line stopped. One recall, and its remedy has not been published yet.

One of the three complaints on file, reported here as a single incident rather than a pattern, because on this year there is no volume from which a pattern could emerge. The owner states that while driving, the vehicle 'suddenly came to a complete stop, after which the contact became aware that the parking brake had engaged independently.' Restarting restored normal function, but the failure 'became a regular occurrence' with the brake warning light illuminated. The dealer 'diagnosed a failure with the electronic parking brake control module,' repaired it, and the failure recurred; a second visit produced no diagnostic result. The failure mileage was 54. There is no recall and no manufacturer bulletin in our sources covering this, so we cannot tell you it is common or rare. What we can tell you is to take a warning light on the parking brake seriously on a 2023 rather than assuming it is a sensor.

The third complaint on file, and the most serious of them, again reported as a single incident. The owner states that while reversing out of a garage, 'the air bags were erroneously deployed,' with six of the vehicle's eight air bags going off including both front bags, 'although no crash had initially occurred.' The vehicle then 'erroneously drove forward and crashed into the interior garage wall.' The owner was hospitalised with a fractured tibia, a chemical burn and respiratory irritation from the air bag propellant, and the vehicle was destroyed. Both the manufacturer and the dealer examined it and 'the cause of the failure was unknown.' Failure mileage was 11,500. This is one filing. It has not produced a recall and it does not appear alongside similar reports on this model year, because there are only two other reports. We include it because on a three-complaint year, hiding the one severe filing inside an average would be dishonest.

Chrysler published two reprogramming bulletins that reach the final model year, and both are worth asking a dealer about because software updates on a low-volume final-year car are easy to miss. The first covers 2021 to 2023 cars where 'customers may experience a moan noise or shudder feeling from the rear axle during low speed cornering, most notable in a parking lot or low speed maneuvering,' fixed by reprogramming the drivetrain control module, the computer that manages the four-wheel-drive hardware. Test it with slow full-lock circles in both directions in an empty car park. The second is specific to 2023 and covers reprogramming the transmission control module where the car has set a P0810-00 clutch position control error or a P16F0-00 communication fault, alongside an adaptation routine running while the car is stationary. Neither is a recall; both are free under warranty and cheap outside it.

The 2023 uses the same ZF nine-speed automatic, the 948TE, as every other Cherokee, from the German gearbox maker ZF. By the final model year the calibration problems that shaped this model's reputation have had nine years of software revision behind them, and a used-car reviewer's mechanic calls the gearbox 'pretty reliable actually,' noting that 'the early models of these were plagued with operational issues mostly caused by software glitches' since 'rectified in a whole bunch of recalls.' The remaining consideration is maintenance rather than defect. An owner-mechanic reports that Jeep 'classifies the fluid as a lifetime fluid,' that a dealer told him the car 'does not have a service for the transmission,' and that the unit is sealed with no pan and no dipstick, only drain and fill plugs. On a 2023 the fluid is certainly original. Treat a drain and fill as ordinary maintenance rather than a repair.