This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
On 11/05/2023 at approximately 12 pm while getting onto the highway of 183 in Austin Texas @ Lamar increasing speeds from 45 to 65mph the engine shifted hard 3x. The engine surged then a hard shift. This occurred 3x. I-??m certain you understand the complexities of austin Texas traffic. No matter the time of day. Imagine those complexities with a car that was poorly made by a company that has never been held accountable.
Exceedingly jarring transmission shifts at both low and higher speeds that are startling to the driver and could cause an accident. This has been a chronic issue that happens frequently but not in every use of the vehicle. Below is a date in which this recently occured.
The issue is the Pentastar V6 engine defect. It has caused engine misfires resulting in bucking and surging, decreased engine performance, hesitation, loss of power, premature wear on internal components.?The potentially dangerous issues on the -??defective design-?? of the engine-??s needle bearings within the rocker arms, the use of sub-standard materials and procedures during manufacture, -??defective or miscalibrated-?? ECM software, and poor quality controls.? The Defect causes unsafe driving conditions because the Class Vehicles, that includes 2020 chrysler pacifica, have a significant chance of failing while being driven. Further, even the lesser symptoms of the Defect affect vehicle performance and safety, making it harder for a driver to control the vehicle as it loses power, hesitates, or misfires. the vehicle has only been inspected by the mechanic at the dealership we leased the vehicle from.
Three times now while driving the car just turns its self off with no warning. One incident was car wouldn-??t start after just driving 20 minutes before with no problems. Steering wheel and brake were stuck in place so unplugged the battery and waited a few minutes. Hooked back up started the car with some struggling and the security light stayed on. Second incident was while driving car just turned off with no warning. Was told battery was dead so replaced the battery. Same day after thinking the car was fine we went somewhere and when turning on the car the security light was on again. Drove and the car turned off again while driving. Was able to restart and drive when the car shut off again with no warning. Had the car jumped and had someone check alternater and batteries again and they are all fine. Diagnostics talks about power train and faulty wire when everything checks out fine. Very scary when your family is in the car and not knowing if the person behind you is paying attention so you can get over safely. Taking car to a dealership on 9/11/2023.
Twice now the A/C has quit, and a short time later the Hybrid battery severely overheats and the van shuts down. This happens at highway speeds, and the vehicle loses power and shuts down. This is dangerous to have a sudden shutdown at 75 MPH. When driving in hot weather for a couple hours, the electric A/C compressor quits. On this van, the Hybrid battery is cooled by the passenger HVAC system. When the A/C quits first you feel the air from the ducts getting warm. Then you get a message on the dash for "Battery Conditioning" and a Check Engine light. If you keep driving, it stalls and will not restart until the battery cools off. It takes about 3-4 hours to get the van to move again at reduced power. If you let it cool overnight, the van drives normally until the next incident. There are trouble codes set for battery overheating, P0A7E, P1AA6, P1A9A, P1A21, P1AA2, P1A9E. There have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to diagnose the van by Chrysler dealers. Dealers can't/won't replicate this due to having to drive for approximately 2 hours in high ambient temps. The vehicle is fine in moderate or cold temps due to not needing the A/C to cool the battery, it is cooled and heated by secondary systems in those conditions. This issue is very dangerous because lithium batteries do not like extreme high temperatures, this issue could cause a thermal runaway event of the battery. Many of the codes that were set are for the battery temperature exceeding 131F (55C), which is severely hot for Li-Ion. This is much hotter than safe high temp recommendation for Li-Ion. Recall 03A for not giving warning before stalling was performed, however this issue is not the same symptom, nor the same cause as that recall. That recall involves a transmission short, not battery overheating. My van has had multiple reflashes and is up to date on all software. My vehicle was a "lemon law" buyback for the same stall issue, and was purported to have been fixed before I purchased the van.
- Dimondale, MI, USA
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When pulling up to a stop light the car shuttered and shifted into park and engaged the parking brake with no warning. Then it said safe hold temporarily disabled as well as the auto start stop light on the dash came
While driving at highway speeds a warning flashed on the dashboard "Stop Safely Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon". I was able to coast to safe stop off the highway and drive slowly on battery powered acceleration for a few miles until the vehicle completely died. The gas engine did not engage during this period. I shut the engine off with emergency lights on while on a two lane road. After restarting the engine, I drove for about 30 seconds before it completely failed again, and pulled off in a residential area. I waited about 5 minutes before restarting the engine and attempted to drive the vehicle again. The gas engine did not engage and the same warnings were displayed as we attempted to reach a charging station to get to safe place to stop. The vehicle lost all power again after about 20 seconds and we pulled over. I waiting about 10 minutes until restarting the vehicle and the gas engine engaged. We were able to drive the vehicle to a safe location to park and unload 2 kids and an infant. My family was absolutely at risk during this incident. I'm bringing the vehicle to a dealership immediately and considering a complete replacement. This is unacceptable. A family should not have to fear for their lives while driving a American made vehicle on American roads.
The contact owned a 2020 Chrysler Pacific. The contact stated while entering the vehicle unknown warning lights illuminated, and the contact shut down the vehicle and restarted it. When the contact restarted the vehicle, the contact noticed that the engine was running rough and shut down the vehicle. When the contact exited the vehicle, it roll backward on its own and rear-ended into a fence causing damage to the fence and damage rear passenger side bumper. No one was injured. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an unknown place. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 27,000.
While driving in normal conditions most, if not all, of the van's dash warning lights lit up, the van came to a stop on its own (without input from driver) in the middle of the street, put itself in park and would not shift into drive again. This happened in the middle of the street and before it could be moved onto the shoulder. The battery had to be disconnected to allow the computer/electrical system to reset, only then would it move. We are very lucky that this occurred within a 35 mph zone and not in interstate traffic. Even with this happening in a lower speed zone it is still very dangerous for the van to stop unpredictably in the middle of traffic. Again, had this been on interstate it could have been deadly. When attempting to put into reverse or drive, the shifter would shift itself back into park. If placed in neutral the van would engage the electronic parking brake and would not disengage until placed back in park. Given that the main purpose of these vehicles is to ferry children, it is especially concerning that the van is behaving the way it is.
Driving the car and the engine shut off on me. Brakes didn-€™t work. Steering didn-€™t work. Just coasted on a busy highway to safety. I-€™m lucky I-€™m not dead. No warning it would happen.
The transmission lurches or stalls. A check engine light will come on and says to service the transmission. While moving it will automatically detect a problem them engage the parking brake. While the check engine light is on, it will not go into gear. It will put itself in park if i try and out it in drive or reverse it just wont move. Has been going on since 6,000 miles and Chrysler constantly tells me there's no problem and it's normal. Now at 50,000 miles and it's still a huge issue. Chrysler has failed to document every time I've complained about it. Refused to give service records.
Was driving the vehicle and all of a sudden the vehicle lost ability to accelerate. Warning of "Service Charging System" appears on the dash and the "D" indicator starts blinking. Warning of "Shift to P to Start" appears and check engine light comes on. I tried to shift to park and restart the vehicle, but it did not do anything. I was on a decline, so was fortunately able to coast into a parking lot. This is the 5th time this has happened while driving the vehicle. There is no warning that it will happen and it is extremely dangerous for the vehicle to lose all motive power without warning. I was lucky to not get rear ended. The vehicle has been serviced at a dealership two times for this same issue.
Severe shaking, or rough idle, when in park or drive but at stop. Chrysler dealership was washed their hands of this issue. I have had it in at least 4 times for rough idle/shaking issue. Has yet to be resolved and is still under warranty.
The contact owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle made abnormal sounds with the Auto Start/Stop, and electronic throttle control warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure, and no error codes were retrieved. The dealer replaced the battery; however, the failure recurred with the brake warning light illuminated. Additionally, while the vehicle was being taken back to the dealer, the vehicle unexpectedly rolled backward while the transmission was shifted into drive(D). The dealer test-drove the vehicle; however, no error codes were retrieved. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
Driving on the road and vehicle lost all propulsion. Warning comes up on the dash saying Service Charging System and Shift to P. At that point, one has to coast to a stop on the side of the road. Vehicle would not restart. After waiting and completely shutting down the vehicle, it did restart. This is the second time this has happened over the past two months. The dealer updated software as a "fix" the first time, which has not fixed the issue. It also happened a third time when pulling into the dealer for service today. Dealer was able to see the issue. It is extremely dangerous, as there is no warning before losing all propulsion and it can happen at any speed and at any time. Please note that this appears to be the exact same issue addressed with NHTSA recall 22V-865, and both vehicles are manufactured by FCA and likely use the same hybrid electric powertrain. By addressing this loss of propulsion issue in the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid now, there is a chance to save lives (there was a death caused by the Jeep 4xE recall issue) by mandating this same recall for the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid.
All of a sudden while driving 40 miles per hour, -€œservice charging system-€ warning showed up on dash, asked to put car in park and unable to accelerate. Car stopped working in the middle of a busy road, unable to be restarted for 10 min.
I was returning home from a road trip and with five miles left the accelerator stopped working and the check engine light came on with the service electrical system message. I was able to safely coast to the side of the road. It started working again but it stopped working 5 more times and barely made it to my driveway. It-€™s been in the shop since 7/6 and now they say a new hybrid transmission will be in on 8/3. This is the worst situation that I have ever had with any vehicle!
Vehicle completely lost all electrical and drivability components while driving. Car could not be restarted or shifted into gear to get out of lane. Gave multiple warning lights. Vehicle was towed to dealership and was assessed a few days later.
On July 30th 2022 the van suffered total loss of motive power while driving on a rural highway at 65mph. The incident put my family as risk as I was required to coast the car off of the side or the road to keep from becoming an obstruction to traffic. If the incident had occurred on a 3 lane highway or in heavier congestion I may have been unable to pull off the road before losing my momentum. The van showed no prior indication of malfunction until it shuttered as the engine stalled. Following the shutter and loss of all forward power the car dash produced a check engine light followed by a warning to Pull over and place car in Park. I pulled over to the side of the road and was able to place the car into park and shut it off. After that the car would not start or shift out of park and only displayed "Service Charging System" on the dashboard. The car was then towed to the nearest Chrysler dealer (Watson Benzie, LLC 1514 Benzie Hwy Benzonia, MI49616-9650) where it was determined that "Power Inverter Module" had failed and needed to be replaced. As of September 19th 2022 the car is still at the dealer awaiting a replacement part. The damaged part should be available for inspection.
The vehicle, shortly after starting, says service charging system and loses power completely. Power steering goes out along with any brake assist and no gas pedal power. I-€™ve almost hit several cars while trying to regain control of the vehicle. When I finally get it to stop, the work around I-€™ve found is to power off the car for a few minutes, power it back on, then it-€™ll work. But this happens about once a week. The dealer attempted a repair once but issue persists. We-€™re taking it back in. But based on online forums, this is a dangerous and widespread problem with the Pacifica Hybrid. Please investigate! I have kids. Thanks!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Austin, TX, USA