Trunk Wiring problems of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee

The vehicle started to rattle and shake while running. When stopped on a red light the wiper came on and the vehicle turned it self off. After 2 tries to restart the vehicle I smelled burned rubber and opted to turn on the hazard lights and abandon the vehicle to safety to wait for a tow truck. The hazard lights lasted less than 2 minutes before dying completely. I was stranded on a 3 lane avenue without any hazard lights or any public lighting. When the tow truck finally came in the car was been pulled up the flatbed the rear door unlocked itself and all the papers where dispersed thru the avenue at night. We had to shut the door with duct tape and take it home. Next day the truck was taken to the mechanic where he first tried changing the battery (which was less than 6 month old) and he noticed that the positive cable turned cherry red. He proceeded to remove the battery and to follow the cables. He found a main cable close to the alternator in the engine compartment that the covering had pealed off and was making contact with the body. He proceeded to change this and also found out the alternator had been fully burned out (although I did not see fire or sustancial smoke I did feel that nasty plastic/rubber smoke scent) . He told us he didn't understand how this vehicle had not caught fire during this incident due to the wiring failure. After replacing the cable, alternator and battery it now seems the ecu or other electronic component was also damaged during the incident. I have learned of other vehicles (same year model milage) with similar problems, one of them had to use a fire extinguisher for its alternator.

While motoring along, my wife and I noticed an acrid smell which became more and more intense until our eyes began to burn and it became clear that the acrid smell was from our own vehicle, and not from another source such as some other vehicle driving ahead of us. We pulled off the road and immediately we saw smoke coming from the passenger-side sun visor which was is the up position. We shut the car off and flipped down the sun visor to see what was going on, and the visor broke off as we did so. Sparks and molten metal began dripping from wires which protruded from the headliner. It was clear by the amount of smoke that the headliner itself was on fire in between the passenger compartment and the roof panel, and almost immediately flames burned through the headliner material. By purest chance a police vehicle drove by at that moment; we flagged the officer down and he produced a fire extinguisher from his vehicle and put out the fire. The flames were spreading so quickly that it was clear that, had the officer not happened by at that moment, our vehicle would have been completely destroyed. The fire department was called and they disconnected the battery to insure there could be no further electrical fire and that it was safe to tow away the vehicle. In 2014 we received a recall notice from Jeep (real p36) which cited a possible risk of fire due to resistance in the wiring of the vanity lamp. The recall repairs were performed by our local dealer in December, 2014.