BEIJING, Dec. 5 -- China's top quality watchdog said Friday that 8,646 Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicles (SUVs) will be recalled due to problems with the steering column control.

The recall, filed by the Chrysler Group (China) Sales Limited, starts Friday and affects vehicles manufactured between October 2013 and April 2014, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said in a statement.

The steering column control module (SCCM) in the affected vehicles is defective and may lead to malfunction of the vehicles' electronic stability control (ESC), raising risk of collision, the statement said.

Chrysler will redesign the program for the module to eliminate the problem.