This vehicle has become a nightmare the past few months. First, my A/C went out due to air compressor failure. Then, my radiator started leaking and the car almost died, so I had to get that replaced. And now, I am experiencing premature transmission failure. I am being quoted at a $9087.24 repair, which is more than the vehicle is worth, and so ridiculous that this website even threatened to reject my post as fraudulent if I posted the repair cost... I am a mom of 3 young kids, (7, 2 and 6 months), and my oldest has medical issues that send us an hour away to see a specialist, that I can no longer get him to due to these issues. We are currently stuck at home, unable to go anywhere, because I've already spent about 8K on vehicle repairs and routine maintenance this year alone, wiping out our savings, and we have no money to replace the transmission, nor to get another vehicle. I have no idea what we are going to do. Praying for a miracle.
My car jerks when shifting gears, loses power then accelerates on its own. Usually happens when going around 14 mph. I drive with Uber and it really panics the passengers. This is very dangerous and could very easily cause an accident. The jerk feels like you are being rear ended. Also sometimes it jerks going around 30-40 mph, but mostly around 14 mph.
We are elderly and bought this car hoping it would last without any problems. Well it didn’t. The transmission started acting up and we can’t afford to get it fixed. I have read this is a known problem that Chrysler knows but has done nothing about it. Please help.
While driving at a very slow speed, the van shifts to what sounds like neutral and the RPMs rise (presumably since I'm pressing the gas pedal to move forward - van goes nowhere). After 2-5 seconds, the transmission engages and jerks the van forward, with a very loud bang, giving the feeling of a rear-end vehicle accident. Based on the loud clunking noise alone, this can't be good on the transmission.
The first issue happened when I was driving down the road at 70 mph. The RPMs shot way up and then the van just quit on me. The dealership said it was the battery and replaced it. It was fine for 3 weeks and then the check engine light came on so I took it in to have the code checked. It came up as a nondescript code so they cleared it. A very long story short, I keep having the same problems. The transmission keeps slipping, all 5 lights just above the shift knob light up and the RPMs elevate - and there is no power going to the engine. It will also display a message that says to ‘service transmission’. Chrysler Cares has been contacted and the dealership I’ve been working with has been really great.
WE BOUGHT THE CHRYSLER VAN NEW IN 2018. TWO YEARS (~20,000 MILES) LATER IN 2020, THE VAN DEVELOPED ROUGH UPSHIFTING. IT DOES NOT HAPPEN EVERY TIME BUT IT OCCASIONALLY BANGS INTO GEAR VERY VIOLENTLY UNDER SLOW ACCELERATION, USUALLY AT 30 - 35 MPH.
WE TOOK THE VAN TO CHRYSLER MECHANICS BUT THEY COULD NOT REPRODUCE THE ROUGH SHIFT SO THEY WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. EVERY TIME IT HAPPENS, IT SCARES ME. IT FEELS LIKE A SLEDGEHAMMER HIT THE VAN! I AM EMBARRASSED TO GIVE RIDES TO OTHER PEOPLE IN THIS VAN.
THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT 9 MONTHS NOW. I JUST CALLED CHRYSLER CUSTOMER SERVICE. THEIR ONLY SUGGESTION WAS TO TAKE THE VAN TO A DIFFERENT CHYSLER DEALER FOR "FRESH EYES". I SET UP A NEW APPOINTMENT BUT I'M NOT HOPEFUL. I ALSO FILED A COMPLAINT WITH NHTSA.
CHRYSLER SHOULD IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM AND ISSUE A RECALL SINCE MANY PEOPLE ARE HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM.
Love the vehicle. However, the transmission shifts from 2nd to 3rd like a rear end collision. This situation will eventually destroy the transmission. Chrysler needs to make an absolute, complete resolution for this defect.
Just like other people says ,it is terrible experience when you suddenly encounter the slip and jerk issue. You do not know what will happen later. At the moment, it just happens at low speed. but if there is something wrong with the transmission, maybe one day it will break on the highway!
We have had our 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Van into the dealership twice in the last 3 months for the same problem. The car jerks and makes a clunking noise when shifting while driving. When we first took the vehicle in, they couldn't duplicate the problem. When we took the van in the 2nd time, the dealer's mechanic went for a ride with us. When it jerked and made the noise, he told us that this normal for our vehicle. Said it had something to do with us letting off the gas pedal to slow down and the car was down shifting at the same time as up shifting. This makes no sense to us; but, he told us that there was nothing to fix and that it wasn't causing any damage to the vehicle. This is our first new vehicle and it is frustrating that it's doing this.
I have had this van since April of 2018, This vehicle has had several safety recalls and the transmission seems to jerk and slip in low gear. I have taken this thing in to the dealer service area and the recalls were fixed , but the jerky feeling of the car is still there. The part of the Valve body is 30 days out. I sent a complaint into Chrysler about this and I have read a lot of complaints of the same thing about this model and they sent me a generic response ,like they did not listen , I have asked to have them take this back and pay it off so I can get a different vehicle . Too many owners of this vehicle are having the same issues . And Chrysler seems not to care about the customers . My local Dealership has been great . But I want another Vehicle !! I am paying too much for this vehicle to have issues like this .
My complaint is the same as the other 3 on here. The car randomly will not shift into gear and revs up then jerks into gear. It is like the transmission is slipping and has done this for some time now. It also happens when I put it in park while on a hill so I have to make sure nothing is in front of me or it will hit it.
We have been having this issue with our Pacifica for a while. We have reported it to the dealership 4 different times and there has been no resolution. This issue happens randomly and does not matter how long the van has been driven. It started out happening occasionally and now happens just about every other day. If feels like a clutch popping. The van will be moving but does not engage to the next gear and suddenly pops into gear with a very noticeable jerk. The dealership has let me know that they search other dealership data bases for similar issues, but they have not seen anything to date- which is more of a concern as I am the 3rd on this forum to complain about the exact issue.
Let me preface this by saying the problem has been going on since the vehicle had about 3k miles. I mentioned it at the 2nd service, but as I had already lost the vehicle for a week due to 3 recall repairs. At the 2nd service I lost my vehicle for half a week as the dealership tech didn't put the oil cap on and the vehicle broke down on the side of the highway. I kept hesitating to take it in for service. I mistakenly assumed since the dealership kept my vehicle for half a week, they would diagnose the issue that I had just mentioned, but they did not.
To the problem- when moving gear selector from park to R or D, the transmission CLUNKS, very similar to the sound of a Harley Davidson shifting in to gear. Not a good sound for a brand new car. Every now and then, when shifting while driving, it would suddenly slip, increase RPM, then suddenly engage, rough enough to bump your head against the headrest, but nothing major. As of getting it back from the service where they let me leave with the oil pouring out of my vehicle. it makes a grinding noise upon start up (I realize this is unrelated to engine oil), and now it shifts hard frequently. I just drove a 3 mile round trip to drop the kid off at school, it did it 3 times. Now its hard enough to actually smack your teeth together.
Unfortunately this is our only vehicle at the moment, and the dealership does not do loaners on warranty repairs, so not sure what to do outside of renting a car for a few days. Will update once I finally get it in for repairs.
While driving at a very slow speed, the van shifts to what sounds like neutral and the rpms rise (van goes no where). After 2-5 seconds, the transmission engages and jerks the van forward, with a very loud bang, giving the feeling of a rear-end vehicle accident.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
click to see larger images
This vehicle has become a nightmare the past few months. First, my A/C went out due to air compressor failure. Then, my radiator started leaking and the car almost died, so I had to get that replaced. And now, I am experiencing premature transmission failure. I am being quoted at a $9087.24 repair, which is more than the vehicle is worth, and so ridiculous that this website even threatened to reject my post as fraudulent if I posted the repair cost... I am a mom of 3 young kids, (7, 2 and 6 months), and my oldest has medical issues that send us an hour away to see a specialist, that I can no longer get him to due to these issues. We are currently stuck at home, unable to go anywhere, because I've already spent about 8K on vehicle repairs and routine maintenance this year alone, wiping out our savings, and we have no money to replace the transmission, nor to get another vehicle. I have no idea what we are going to do. Praying for a miracle.
- Raissa M., Brunswick, GA, US