Fifteen of the complaints mention fire. Owners of the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee described smoke pouring from the hood, alternators burning, a dashboard glowing orange around a USB port — and filed it all, report by report, into NHTSA’s public database.
By May 17, 2018, when FCA reported campaign 18V332 — the fifth Jeep Grand Cherokee electrical recall in five years, a wiring campaign spanning much of the Chrysler lineup — the 2014 Grand Cherokee’s electrical-system complaint file held 237 complaints, of which 15 reported fires. The earliest was filed almost exactly five years before.
Five Jeep Grand Cherokee electrical recall campaigns
The 2018 wiring campaign was the fifth electrical-system recall on the 2014 Grand Cherokee: 14V391 (July 2014), 14V634 (October 2014, alternators), 17V435 (July 2017, alternators again), 17V741 (November 2017, alternators a third time), and 18V332 (May 2018, wiring). The alternator campaigns address diodes that can fail and short — producing, in the recall’s own words, “heat, smoke and/or fire originating within the alternator.”
As always in this series: those five campaigns draw on an overlapping pool of complaints, so their pre-recall counts are never summed. The 237 figure is a single snapshot at the final campaign.
What owners were telling NHTSA
Quoted from NHTSA’s public complaint records (capitalization normalized; checkable by ODI number). Owner reports, not verified findings.
“While driving approximately 20 mph, the ‘battery voltage low’ indicator illuminated. The vehicle was pulled into a parking lot and the driver noticed smoke from the hood. The driver opened the hood and noticed that the alternator was on fire. The driver extinguished the fire… The dealer and manufacturer stated that there was no recall.”
— ODI 10981604, filed May 1, 2017
“Sudden alternator fail. Burned up and caught fire… Saw recalls on this for the 2014 Grand Cherokee but not sure why my VIN doesn’t apply? Having same exact problem as the rest of them that were recalled.”
— ODI 11012817, filed August 4, 2017
“On December 24, 2017 my alternator short circuited and my alternator caught on fire… I drove less than a mile, and it started to have an electrical burning smell… I drove ten feet and there was smoke everywhere in my vehicle.”
— ODI 11063592, filed January 18, 2018
What this does — and doesn’t — show
The electrical bucket is broad: those 237 complaints include everything from dead batteries to infotainment glitches, and complaint data cannot say how many describe any recalled defect. Complaints — including the fire reports — are self-reported and unverified. The checkable pattern is the sequence itself: a five-year, five-campaign series of electrical recalls on one vehicle, each arriving with a progressively larger public complaint file, many of whose narratives describe the same failure the recalls name.
If you own a 2014 Grand Cherokee
Five campaigns means five chances that one applies to your VIN and was never repaired. Check the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee recall page or NHTSA.gov — recall repairs are free at FCA/Stellantis dealers. If you experience an electrical failure or fire, report it to NHTSA.
Jeep Grand Cherokee electrical recall: quick answers
How many electrical recalls does the 2014 Grand Cherokee have?
Five campaigns between 2014 and 2018: 14V391, 14V634, 17V435, 17V741 (three of them for alternators), and 18V332 (wiring).
What do the alternator campaigns cover?
Per the official summaries, alternator diodes can fail and short — the recall language itself warns of “heat, smoke and/or fire originating within the alternator” — and dealers replace affected alternators free.
What should owners do about the Jeep Grand Cherokee electrical recall?
Check your VIN at NHTSA.gov or our 2014 Grand Cherokee page — with five campaigns, the odds one applies to your truck are real.
About the data
Counts are complaints filed with NHTSA describing electrical-system problems on the 2014 Grand Cherokee before campaign 18V332’s report date (public records through July 14, 2026; independently re-verified July 15, 2026). All five campaign numbers and every ODI number can be checked at NHTSA.gov. Definitions and limitations: the methodology section of our flagship study. Part of The Warnings Were There series.