Diagsheet

2016 Jeep Cherokee · symptom sheet

Airbag warning light or recall

  • 31owner reports
  • 44,000median miles
  • 16involved a crash

Newest report Aug 30, 2026 · checked Sep 9, 2026

31 of the 1,406 complaints on this car describe airbag.

Tick what matches of 31 reports

16
4
10
1

What got replaced

Owners who name the part that was replaced mention the occupant sensor (5 reports).

Recalls and investigations

No recall on the airbags covers the 2016 model year as of Sep 9, 2026.

NHTSA investigations into the airbags on the Cherokee

EA21-002opened Sep 17, 2021
Airbags · model years 2014 to 2018

Desiccated air bag inflator rupture. Open.

NHTSA summary
From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 Blomquist Report at www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/expert_report-hrblomquist.pdf.Consequently, all frontal inflators using propellant 2004 that do not contain a "desiccant" (a substance that traps and holds moisture) in US vehicles are under recall. These "non-desiccated" inflators either have been or are required to be replaced.In some cases, the remedy part for these recalled inflators was, or will be, an inflator using either propellant 2004 or 2004L that does contain a desiccant. None of these "desiccated" remedy parts (which were installed in older model year vehicles) are currently under recall for a degradation concern. Certain subsets of desiccated PSAN inflators using propellant 2004 for use as original equipment, however, have been recalled for a degradation concern. All Takata inflators produced with propellant 2004L contain desiccant, and none of these desiccated inflators using propellant 2004L are under recall for a degradation concern. There have been n

When it happens

The middle half of failures fell between 25,000 and 66,000 miles, from the 21 reports that gave a mileage.

116
317
218
519
820
321
122
223
125
526

What owners wrote

“From airbags all of them. yes its available for inspection. the airbags deployed while I was driving and I couldn't control the car and ended up in a ditch. yes we were put at risk as well as others on the road. Nobody has inspected vehicle at this time. no prior issues or warnings. It deployed without any warnings. There was NO cause for this to happen, No impact when this ocured.”

Filed Mar 21, 2026

“Start driving the vehicle multiple times during the operation you get a service airbag message with a code / dtc of b0020-13 which FCA put out a TSB for but when you do take the car in the code is not stored in memory, so they refused to repair it”

Filed Dec 1, 2023

“My wife was involved in an accident due to the other driver making an illegal u-turn. This collision involved a front impact of her Jeep causing several thousand dollars of damage. During this accident, the airbags did not deploy as would have been expected in an accident of this nature.”

Filed Jun 3, 2021

Should you keep driving it?

This page can't tell you that. 16 of 31 reports involved a crash and 17 people were hurt. Owners who file are the ones who had a bad experience, and nobody checks their reports. If the problem affects steering, braking, power or a fire risk, treat it as a safety fault and have it inspected before a long or high-speed drive.

File your own report with NHTSA. Complaint counts are how a problem gets an investigation.

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