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.
While driving vehicle, car shifted to neutral then park then neutral, while in drive moving down road. Numerous warning came on including "service shifter", check engine, front end collision sensor, abs brake sensor, along with a message to put car in park before shifting. The day before a warning of service shifter came on and the car was unable for a few minutes to shift out of park. Then the codes suddenly went off. Took it to auto zone to check codes and it said no codes were found or stored. First time was September 25, 2023. The next time when it shifted itself out of drive while driving was September 28. Drove home from getting checked for codes with nothing showing up. Drove 5 minutes on October 2, and a bunch of random codes flashed. Took to shop and they found no codes. All warnings went off. Said nothing anyone could find wrong. Said nothing showing up and was fine to drive. October 5 was driving home, 526 miles later with no warnings, and suddenly stopped driving while in motion on road. Same codes flashed. Shifter stopped working. Car wouldnt start or shift. Completely broke down. Had to be towed to dealership. They say transmission needs to be replaced and it is only 500 miles out of warranty. The same 500 miles we had to drive to get it to throw codes. Had previously taken in when I thought transmission was problem when it was dropping gears. They said software update. Continued dropping gears after they "fixed it" and when I called they said it had to relearn how I drove. Almost had 2 major accidents now when it stopped completely on its own while driving.
Powertrain Stalls randomly when moving from first to second gear and when changing in and out of park. Vehicle also has loss of power and freezing electronics. The entertainment system and navigation system may stay frozen until vehicle is restarted and in some cases may not turn off even while vehicle is not in a powered state.
Diagnosed by certified dealership as having a warped cylinder head causing coolant to leak into the combustion chamber. Occurred at about 73,000 miles. Based on research I've done, this seems to be very common, yet Chrysler has neglected to do anything about it. It the problem seems to occur just after the standard warranty expires, leaving customers on the hook. It puts safety at risk because it burns coolant and releases that exhaust into the air and ruins engines.
- Burke, VA, USA
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The check engine light came on, upon inspection at our mechanic we discovered our head gasket was blown. Searching for recalls online I found several other owners of Chrystler Pacifica that have the same issue of blown head gasket at relatively low mileage. Contacted Chrystler and there is no current recall for any of those components.
While driving, the car malfunctions stating to have the shifter serviced. All of the alerts start going off and it feels like my car isnt shifting properly. Some times when I start it, the shifter will not respond. I have taken it to be serviced and it seems to be electrical.
When moving forward after being parked, the jerks and bangs into second gear. It feels as if the car has been hit. This happens pulling away from stop lights, leaving parking lots and pulling out of my driveway.
I have a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica that keeps dying. I bought my Pacifica new from the dealer and now it has 100K on it. Since we bought it, I has a tendence to dye on us from time to time. The past 5 years we have owed it, we have been through 4 batteries. This past week, my Pacifica decided not to start. The battery was only 8 months old. We had it towed to the dealer, where they said there was a problem with the sensors in the shift knob that goes into the transmission. The mechanic said, he has see a few of the same problems with 2017-2022 Pacifica's. The dealer said I would have to take it to a transmission place to have the transmission looked at. Sees like many Pacifica have this problem with the shift knob sensors.
Engine temperature suddenly rose to the point where an alarm appeared on the display (no prior warning or prior instance of this). Allowed temperature to cool, drove vehicle home gently. Subsequent examination showed coolant level in reservoir below minimum with no physical evidence of leakage. Obtained correct manufacturer-specified coolant, topped up and continued to monitor. Pattern developed where the coolant level would be at minimum after approximately 200 miles of driving, vehicle appeared to be operating normally otherwise. Continued to top up coolant level as necessary, still no sign of any physical leak. Vehicle then began to produce error codes for misfire on either Cylinder 1 or Cylinder 3 - no discernible -??pattern-?? to the codes appearing or clearing. Vehicle was subsequently examined by an independent repair facility who determined that the cylinder head for cylinders 1, 3 and 5 is warped.
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle inadvertently downshifted and lost motive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who advised the contact that the failure was known to the manufacturer and that an update was required for the transmission control module. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provide no assistance. The failure mileage was 181,000.
Engine stalled while making a right turn with incoming traffic. It felt as if the vehicle had gone in Neutral position. The vehicle was unresponsive to the throttle until I manually put it in Low gear (L) and then back up to Dive gear. I was looking into the recall and it sounds similar to U01.
Transmission has been problematic for the past two years. We have had it checked twice but nothing can be found during the inspection. It shifts very roughly by jolting you forward when you are accelerating from a slow speed or at times when you are coasting as well with no foot on gas or break. You feel jolted as if you were rear ended by another vehicle. I was driving with my family, to include 3 young kids, on interstate I95 on 8/19/23 when the vehicle suddenly jolted 3 times and then the check engine light came on. I was not able to pull over right away, and when I tried to press the gas the engine revved high but the vehicle barely moved. After putting my hazard lights on I was eventually able to pull over and turn the engine off. After a few minutes I restarted the car, the check engine light was on. I got off the next exit and had a mechanic take a look and the P0732 code -??Gear 2 Incorrect Ratio.-?? showed. The interstate is highly traveled and we were in very real danger. I was scared for my family's life, as well as those around us because we had NO CONTROL over how the vehicle was behaving and could not accelerate to a proper highway speed. The vehicle has now been towed to a local transmission shop. Other Pacifica's have been recalled with this error code, there is even a TSB # 21-008-21 from Mopar regarding this exact issue dated 3/12/21. Their lack of action put my family's lives at risk as we could have been hit by a tractor trailer on the 70 mph highway due to this transmission failure. I would like Chrysler to fix this!
While driving on the highway, our car started to make a jerk, like it was having trouble shifting gears, which is weird because we were driving through Kansas and the road was smooth and flat. Then suddenly the car lost power, but did not turn off. Pressing the accelerator did nothing. We turned on the emergency flashers and pulled over to the shoulder, shifted into park and then turned the car off. We waited a few moments then restarted, everything appeared fine. We started to accelerate and merge back into the highway when it started to happen again. This time, our dash reported a message of "shift into p to start." We again pulled over, waited even longer, and restarted again. After about 5 miles, it did it again. After several occurrences of this, we eventually looked to have it towed to the nearest dealership. However, now it also has trouble starting. This is incredibly concerning, losing power going 75mph.
The head gasket failed and coolant leaked into the cylinder. Safety wasn't necessarily put at risk because the check engine light came on before anything happened. Vehicle has been inspected and confirmed failed by independent service center.
I was coming home from work and I was waiting to make a left turn onto a road named Vincent Rd in Orlando, FL which meant that I had to cross 3 lanes of highway. Once all traffic was clear I started crossing 3 lanes of highway and the van started making a loud grinding sound when pressing on the gas. The vehicle moved forward into the first lane of traffic and would not go anywhere from that point. I was stuck on the highway now with oncoming traffic and idiots would not stop. Of course the cars that were in the lane that I was in had no choice but the other two lanes were not stopping until somebody offered to push me across the other lanes to a parking lot. All I can say is God Bless my mailman as he is the one that actually pushed me across the highway. In my opinion, I feel that this could have been more serious. I had to have the vehicle towed to Greenway Chrysler where it was determined an axled failure on the left front wheel. Bottom line is that this situation could have been really bad but thankfully it was not. I know there have been issues with the 2017 Pacifica's over time and I believe axle failure is one of the major issues.
This week was the SECOND time our van lost both low beam headlights at the same time while driving at night. Both times the dealership wanted over $500 to replace them. Our drive train will catch while driving. We took our van in for this problem and were told by the dealership that "its just the way the transmission is made" When we bought the vehicle it was two years old and had rust spots on the hood. We had it repaired. Now, two years later the same rust bubbles are starting to appear on the hood.
I was stopped at an intersection & the transmission lights went out, the knob froze & the car would not move. I was stuck there for 45 minutes before it decided to start & go into gear. The readouts on the dashboard kept flashing Service shifter, Service transmission, Service airbags, parking brake unavailable, ACC unavailable the tachometer & speedometer & heat & gas gauges were going to the top then dropping back to zero. This is not the first time the vehicle has acted up. When I have been driving on the Highway the transmission has acted as though it could not shift. I would press the gas & the tachometer would go up over 3000 but the speed would not go over 35mph. This problem has been ongoing since October 2022. Getting more frequent as time goes by. I have had it into Tacoma Dodge/Chrysler several times & they keep telling me they can-??t diagnose the problem. It is unsafe to be on the road in a vehicle that can freeze up at any minute, but it is my transportation & I have appointments etc. that I must go out to.
More often than not, At roughly 17, 25, and 35 MPH, the transmission will disengage to shift, take its time to get into the gear it needs, and clicks into gear very rough. When this happens it is hard enough to slam you back into the seat, which has caused me to swerve pretty bad. I have taken it to a dealership, and they say its a known issue and the only "remedy" is to update the vehicle, but it wont actually fix it, it will keep on happening.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Brooklyn, NY, USA