10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
8 / 0
Average Mileage:
20,926 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2017 Chrysler Pacifica drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2017 Chrysler Pacifica Owner Comments (Page 5 of 22)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #346

Oct 182022

Pacifica

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The new auxiliary battery is not working properly which is causing the start/stop component to not work and the light is illuminated on the dash. Also the car has issues with the Torque Converter Clutch and the crank shaft sensor which disrupts the vehicles performance. The vehicle slows down when trying to accelerate and then speeds back up when the transmission realizes it needs to shift gears. The car then jolts roughly after the gear shift while driving. Sometimes car will not start because the auxiliary battery does not have enough power. Also after shutting car off there will be soft banging noises coming from the middle of the dashboard which lasts for a few minutes.

- Hyattsville, MD, USA

problem #345

Apr 032018

Pacifica

  • miles
Since April 2018 the engine start / stop warning light has been illuminated about 80% of the time despite multiple repair attempts by the dealerships. The vehicle has been brought to the Chrylser dealerships multiple times for an ongoing, intermittent issue in which when attempting to accelerate, the vehicle has rough, delayed shifts and appears to temporarily stall and then jolts forward while your foot is steady on the gas pedal. This issue is getting worse to the point that I'm afraid to drive it. Furthermore, at interstate speeds the transmission will not shift gears sometimes. This causes the van to slow down rapidly especially on hills. This has almost caused accidents when I need to accelerate quickly when entering the highway or merging. It's very slow to accelerate and you have to press the pedal hard, then finally catches up and does a rough jolt. This can happen at any speed, but is especially bad when accelerating or driving on an incline. The check engine light is constantly illuminated. The dealerships appear to reset the transmission to turn off the warning light, but within a few miles of driving home from the dealership, the lights come back on. This has happened the last 2 times we have brought the vehicle in for repair. In addition, intermittently the vehicle will idle very roughly, making a louder than normal noise and shaking. When this happens the check engine light will begin flashing and making a dinging sound.

- Dripping Springs, TX, USA

problem #344

Oct 122022

Pacifica

  • miles
Vehicle has intermittent shifting issues. During shifting it may stall/hesitate in shifting to the next gear. During shifting it may slam/hardshift into the next gear. The hesitation in shifting causes a lengthy pause in acceleration and could cause an accident when crossing lanes of moving traffic. The hard shift could cause the vehicle's driver to be startled and react in a way leading to an accident or it can cause car to lunge forward faster than expected causing an accident. The issue is intermittent. There are no warning lamps.

- Sarasota, FL, USA

problem #343

Oct 072022

Pacifica

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

At low speeds when shifting into 2nd gear the car slips, rpm's raise and then it suddenly and aggressively jerks into 2nd gear. If the start and stop feature is enabled and you are in a situation where the feature is engaging and disengaging like traffic then after a few of the jerks into 2nd gear it seems the PCM will get discombobulated and display a P0732 error.

- Fort Drum, NY, USA

problem #342

Oct 052022

Pacifica 6-cyl

  • miles
At low speed, the vehicle will suddenly loose power to the wheels, the engine will then race (causing one to back of the accelerator) and then there is a sudden jerk forward as the powertrain appears to re-engage and normal driving returns. The jerk almost feels like the vehicle has been hit as the driver and passengers' bodies are flung forward. Over the last three years, this problem has occurred at least monthly. When reported to the dealer no diagnostic fault information was found. We are aware of a law suit involving this model vehicle and its crankcase sensor. To our knowledge, our crankcase sensor has not been replaced. Our concern is that the sudden loss of power (and the driver's automatic backing off of the acceleration) could case a vehicle behind us to run into us as the vehicle slows without braking. The power loss often occurs as the vehicle is being accelerated on an entrance ramp or through a corner, but has also occurred during straight line acceleration. The last occurrence was 10/05/2022. The contact has stated that the failure has caused multiple occurrences and almost a rear-ending accident.

- State College, PA, USA

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problem #341

Oct 022022

Pacifica

  • miles
My wife pulled out into traffic and the van wouldn't move when accelerater petal was pushed. After pushing it to the floor 3 time it finally began to move.

- Slocomb, AL, USA

problem #340

Sep 012021

Pacifica

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The vehicle is experiencing rough, late shifts when pressing the gas. The vehicle frequently lunges forward while your foot is steady on the gas pedal, feeling as if you have been hit from behind. It has 36,000 miles on it.

- Burke, VA, USA

problem #339

Aug 292022

Pacifica 6-cyl

  • miles
I have noticed for a while off and on that the transmission will jolt when driving. Feels like a hard shifting. It is getting worst to the point that I'm afraid to drive it as feel it may stall. Going up gradual incline have to press hard to get speed up. This can happen at any speed. In town normally driving 35-45 mph. My VIN shows there has been no recalls but this appears to be a known issue via complaints I have sent. Is there a recall" Would dealership know about this issue [XXX]? Is it safe to drive" I have not contacted the dealership yet. Thanks, [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Olathe, KS, USA

problem #338

Jul 202022

Pacifica

  • miles
2017 Chrysler Pacifica Touring L First, multiple warning messages started pop up randomly with alarm sound. The speedometer started shaking. The shift gear was unable to change. The engine was unable to start at the parking lot. After dealer mechanic at Envision CDJR West Covina in California inspected, there was no log in obd2 record and they said that it seems communication was failed and returned the car without fixing. A month later, it started again and the engine had completely shut off at the middle of intersection. Called AAA and took the car to the same dealer. They said this time that the electric harness was short and the entire harness needs to be replaced with the latest superseded part which cost $1500. 2 weeks later, the same issue start again. Nothing had been fixed and the car will be towed to the dealer to inspect it tomorrow. I'm risking my life and very scare to drive this car. I really suspicious that this dealer has no ability to detect and fix the real cause of the issue. Please help.

- Baldwin Park, CA, USA

problem #337

Aug 252022

Pacifica

  • miles
The engine overheated due to a coolant leak and faulty head gaskets that need replaced at 62k miles. A related cyclinder 4 misfire has been occurring since 58k miles. Chrysler refuses to cover the repair under the 60k Powertrain warranty and does not acknowledge the many reports of head gaskets failing between 50-80k miles.

- Blue Springs, MO, USA

problem #336

Aug 292022

Pacifica

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While driving, the motor began to vibrate and lose power as if not firing on all cylinders, and acted as if it was going to stall in the lane of travel, causing me to have to pull off to the shoulder abruptly, striking a mailbox. The vehicle does not display any trouble lights or show any error codes on diagnostic equipment at an independent garage. Vehicle idles roughly.

- Clifton Springs, NY, USA

problem #335

Aug 032022

Pacifica

  • miles
Power steering sticks intermittently causing the vehicle to remain in a state of turn, locks up. The steering wheel must be forced back out of the turn, causing an unpredictable situation when moving back to straight. This is a very dangerous situation to the point where I will not allow my younger drivers to operate the vehicle.

- Saxonburg, PA, USA

problem #334

Jul 132022

Pacifica

  • miles
Started the van up, and when I tried to turn the shift knob, it was locked in place, and would not turn, van remained in Park. The center display (where the speedometer is) said "shifter service." I turned it off, opened the door, closed the door, and started it up again. Momentarily displayed the message again, but this time I was unable to put it into gear. I headed straight to the dealer. Turned out to be failure of the shifter module. it has been in the shop 5 times.

- Lima, OH, USA

problem #333

Jun 142022

Pacifica

  • miles
The 2017 Pacifica will sometimes have a lack of power when trying to accelerate, and/or will jerk or shutter. Other times, mainly when the engine is warm, it will shutter and die when starting the engine. Sometimes it will take two or three restart attempts for the engine to remain running. In one instance in slow moving stop and go traffic the vehicle stuttered and then accelerated toward the car in front and I had to slam on the brakes to prevent a collision. The vehicle has been back at the dealer multiple times and they claim there are not any codes they can use to diagnose the problem. Even when the engine dies it does not cause the check engine light to come on. When they scan the codes they usually find P0171 and P0174, but they say the codes are not active, only stored. I am told the vehicle is current on all power train software but the problem is still occurring almost daily.

- Hernando, MS, USA

problem #332

Aug 072022

Pacifica

  • miles
Vehicle was misfiring, took it to the mechanic said it was the 3rd cylinder. Had that replaced, but the vehicle continued to have problems. It lost power while driving but I was able to maneuver it off the road. Took it back to the mechanic where he stated the head gasket had busted. There was no sign or indication of the vehicle overheating or anything prior to all of this.

- Broken Arrow, OK, USA

problem #331

Aug 162022

Pacifica

  • 108,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power while making turns. The failure nearly caused a collision. The vehicle was able to restart and was taken to the dealer; however, no error codes were retrieved. The dealer reset the transmission. The contact stated that it was a recurring failure for five years; however, the dealers were unable to repair the vehicle due to no error codes being retrieved. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 108,000.

- Montpelier, OH, USA

problem #330

Jun 252022

Pacifica

  • miles
Issue started June 25, 2022. Initially, the shift knob would intermittently lock in park while the engine was running and foot on the brake, unable to shift out of park. Eventually problem cleared itself. Was advised by local auto parts store to replace aux battery and issue should clear. I replaced the auxiliary battery myself the dealership installed the main battery on July 6. Dealership was unable to diagnose. No issues for about 1 week. Problem started again. Check engine light came on along with Service Shift Sensor error message. We made an appointment for the dealership and returned with it on July 19 and told them we needed it back by July 21 end of day. We got the car on July 21. Dealership was unable to service. On July 22, we pulled into parking lot and all systems and vehicle shut down. Multiple error messages. Finally got the car started again and had to wait several minutes for the shift knob to "unlock". Was able to reverse out of parking space but after shifting the knob into Drive, the transmission remained in neutral leaving me stuck in the middle of traffic lane unable to drive. That cleared after a couple minutes, and I was able to get it home. I opened the hood and the battery terminals were loose. I tightened them. The negative terminal on the main battery would not tighten down. I replaced the neg terminal with OEM part from Mopar auto. The error cleared up for several days. On August 1, my wife was driving the car and the transmission shifted into neutral on it's own and then slammed into park in the middle of traffic without warning or shifting the knob. This was a very dangerous situation! We made an appointment for Aug 8 with another dealership. The vehicle had 84 error codes tied to this issue. They determined the vehicle needed a new Electronic Shift Module which they replaced and TCM was reprogrammed. We got vehicle back Aug 12. Shift knob still locks in park. Still not fixed and will not drive due to danger.

- N Charleston, SC, USA

problem #329

Jun 232022

Pacifica

  • miles
While my wife was driving on the highway she heard a loud pop in the van. the cv axles pulled away from the boots. and the transmission failed. Two issues that happened at the same time. the van has a digital dial to select gears and she could not reengaged the park and stop the vehicle and also could not shut the van off. the van is a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica limited with 48,000 miles on it. the dealer claimed it was due to the driving as they have found dirt around the cv joint however the dealer sold us a protective liner for the under body and i purchased it because we live on a dirt road. we believe these are 3 product liability concerns that need to be addressed.

- Florence, WI, USA

problem #328

May 072022

Pacifica

  • miles
When turning around longer corners on the highway, the steering wheel jerks and I have to yank it free. The steering column was replaced and it did not help. Now they want to try replacing the struts. The van also jerks, stalls, catches a gear and bangs at different times. Most of the time this occurs from a full stop turning into a lane. When it stalls, it puts myself and children in danger if another car doesn't slow.

- Dwight, KS, USA

problem #327

Jun 082022

Pacifica

  • miles
6-8-22 Driving roughly 15 MPH through town square and screen said "shift to P" could not steer and vehicle shut off. No other warning lights or messages were displayed. Has not had any precious similar issues. I put it in park, turn the vehicle off and restarted it. Started fine.

- Salem, AR, USA

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