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 at 70mph on the interstate, the vehicle completely lost power. The check engine light turned on, the message "Service Charging System" came up, and the gear knob blinked. We had to pull over on the side of the interstate. When we pushed the "off/on/acc" button, it would appear that it turned off, but it would go back into on status, but still wouldn't allow you to shift into drive. (You could turn the knob, but it wouldn't do anything). Finally, we had to remove the keys from the car to turn it off. Once we were able to do that, it did turn back on and allowed us to go back into gear as normal. We were able to drive a few miles, and then it did it again. We had the vehicle towed. Chrysler had to put a whole new transmission due to a hybrid part within the transmission that failed. Concerned that this happened with the transmission that only had 17k miles on it. Chrysler still cannot answer if they have fixed the issue with the transmissions they are currently building. When you are driving in construction season on the interstate and your vehicle completely powers off, it could make for a deathly accident. This isn't something you should have to worry about with a car only a year old. I found a US Department of transportation investigation where 40 others have reported the same issue. ODI Investigation : PE 22-008
Driving as usual and without warning, no check engine light, the van stalled. It lost all power in the middle of the road and would not start back up. Pushed out of the road & waited on a tow truck. 2021 with 14,000 miles. Dealership pulled the code poa43.
I was driving about 45mph and my Pacifica hit 0 miles on the electric miles on the hybrid system (I had over half a tank of gas). At that same time as I was pushing on the gas pedal to accelerate the van and nothing was happening, the acceleration wasn't working. I put the pedal all the way to the ground and nothing happened and I drifted to a stop. I was luckily not on a freeway, however was on the side of a very busy road in the dark with cars flying closely by with 1 of my kids in the car freaking out. It was so dangerous and scary. After the van sat idle for about 10 minutes and got a little hybrid charge I was able to accelerate a little to get my car around the corner and pulled to a safer spot off the road before it coasted to a stop again. Roadside assistance towed the van to my dealership. The dealership had my van for 11 days this time. When they turned it on the next morning it wasn't working still. They got it into a service bay and the next time they went to move it it started working on it's own. No service lights ever turned on and they couldn't figure out what caused the issue. They had Chrysler Engineers involved in the process and after 11 days gave me the vehicle back stating that all they did was 6 software updates and they couldn't find anything else to fix since it started working again on it's own. The van has never accelerated the same since. Now 2 months later I have a service light on for my Powerterrain and am so worried about losing acceleration again while driving my kids or something. It's so dangerous and they don't know what's causing the issue and I feel like the van is just a ticking timebomb for an accident with as many service issues as I've had with it. So many issues to name, but the loss of motive power was so dangerous. My van wasn't even a year old yet when that happened and it had 14,000 miles on it.
The vehicle is a PHEV. The system that malfunctioned is related to the vehicle charging system. The vehicle seems to think it is plugged into the wall when it is actually not plugged in. It is a safety issue because the vehicle will not move -- my family could have been stranded. Planning to tow the vehicle to a dealership to have diagnosed within one week or so. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone yet. There were no warnings prior to the failure. Currently there is a check engine light on as well as an image of a plug/cable indicating that the vehicle thinks it is plugged into an electrical outlet (which it is not).
Driving around 40 MPH when car alert came on to Shift into P and lost all forward drive. Needed to pull onto a side street since car would not accelerate. Car said service charging system and would not recover. Could not turn car off but A/C system stopped working. The transmission light were flashing from P to R to D but would not engage. Had to be towed to dealer to await troubleshooting.
- Glenmont, NY, USA
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The vehicle loses power while driving. I have to pull over shut it off and turn it back on. Most of the time it happens when I'm driving 75 mph. The service charging indicator pops up while also telling me to shift the car to park. Dealership diagnosed it to being a transmission issue. Drive motor A is failing in the transmission and is causing it to over heat. Which causes it to shut down. A quick restart and the van is going again.
car stalled at high speed in HOV fast track in rush hour traffic - terrifying! was running on electric mode. Heart stopping emergency tow. First Chrysler dealer where car was purchased said they could not trouble shoot for 2 months. Found another dealer, had it towed there. Waiting to learn what the problem is. Only 14,000 miles and under warranty.
While driving on highway at approx. 75 mph using adaptive cruise control, the red power cord shaped warning indication appeared on the instrument panel. At the time the warning appeared, the vehicle was in battery powered mode. At the same time the warning showed, the electric motor stopped providing power. The vehicle did not transition to hybrid mode (gas powered), and depressing the accelerator did nothing. The vehicle began to slow from highway speeds, while other cars were in the vicinity. While all this was happening, the "D" on the gear selector was flashing. There was also a message saying to put the vehicle in park to restart, however, i did not want to attempt that at highway speeds. Other systems seemed to operate as normal, brakes worked, the electrical system seemed to be functional other than the described fault. I pulled over to the shoulder and stopped the vehicle completely. I turned the vehicle off, then on again, and was able to put the vehicle in drive without any faults occuring. Normal operation resumed after that.
Driving on the interstate at 70-75 mph and lost all forward drive. Car said service charging system and would not recover. Got towed to dealer and troubleshot and replaced the transmission
I was driving on the interstate in the middle of morning rush hour traffic at approx. 65 mph and approximately 1/4 mile before a tunnel my van completely shut off and I was not able to accelerate or maintain speed. I was in the far left lane when this happened and immediately crossed the 3 lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder on the right side. I then tried to turn off and restart the van 3 or 4 times after periods ranging from 5-20 minutes apart and the van would only allow me to go a foot and shut off again. After waiting for over an hour in the 30 degree weather with no heat, I was finally towed back to the dealership. Due to many fortunate circumstances (i.e. none of my 3 children [ages 4, 2, and 9 months] were in the van, I was not yet in the tunnel, no cars were immediately behind me, and I was able to get across all 3 lanes before I lost speed) nobody was injured. However if any of these variables were different, the situation could have been devastating. My van has now been in the shop for over 3 months waiting for a part (engine coolant heater pump) and I still do not have a working vehicle. The issue with the engine coolant heater pump is a known issue to Chrylser, resulting in vans shutting down in the middle of driving, yet Chrysler has not issued a recall or notified owners of these dangers. After waiting on the part for 2 months, I called Chrysler Customer Support and was assigned a case manager, however they have to this point, one month later, still not helped at all and within the last 10 days not returned any of my voicemails or emails. My car is available for inspection and this issue was inspected/documented at the service department of my dealership. The problem has been confirmed by the dealership as well as the tow truck driver. About 10 days prior to the incident, my check engine light went on. I immediately scheduled the next available service appointment at my dealership, but the problem occurred 2 days before my appointment.
Car stalled out while driving at 35 mph. Lost all propulsive power. Indicated -??service hybrid system-?? and -??shift to park-?? error on multi function display. Was able to safely coast to side shoulder and stop. Car would not move again after this reading the same errors even after shifting to part and attempting to restart car. If this had occurred on a multi lane highway it would have been extremely dangerous.
Driving on the freeway at speed (approximately 65 MPH), the vehicle suddenly lost power and displayed "Service Charging System" message on dashboard. Accelerator pedal was non-responsive. We had remaining battery charge and fuel in the vehicle (it is a PHEV). Pulled over to side of freeway as vehicle was decelerating and came to a stop in the safest place our momentum could carry us to. We were eventually able to get the vehicle restarted by putting the vehicle in Park and pressing the start button 3 times in a row without touching the brake. This issue has happened four (4) times in the last several months, and has occurred on the freeway each time, and each time with remaining battery charge and fuel in the vehicle. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer for this specific problem.
While driving, the vehicle flashes a warning that a charging fault has occurred and instructs the driver to stop and put the vehicle into park. Once stopped and in park, the vehicle will not shift or drive. This has happened at least 6 times and the dealer has not been able to fix it.
The vehical shutdown on the Interstate at highway speeds for the second time in 4 days. The deal has scheduled time to review the problem but shutting down is a safely issue.
Have a 2021 Pacifica Hybrid Pinnacle purchased 01/2021. Since getting the vehicle randomly the car will not start, the gear selector flashes and will not drive. Have to continually restart the vehicle to get it to move. Then randomly while driving the car would display a check engine light and message Service Charging System. This would occur 1-2x a month. When you plug the car in the indicator lights would flash, the fan would spin up very loud and not engage charging. This would last for a few days. Took it into service around 5 times to two different dealers and could not recreate either issue. Then in April 14 2022, while driving on the freeway roughly 75 the engine cut off, message came up Service Charging System, Shift To P To Start. Check Engine Light comes on, drive selector in bottom right flashes, gear selector light flashes. Have to restart it multiple times, get the vehicle to sleep by open door, and pressing start button multiple times with foot on brake and off brake. Eventually got it to start again and happened again 15 minutes later. Took into service again, they replaced some wires and it failed again twice driving on the freeway over 70 on April 22nd 2022. Took into service again and they replaced the wiring harness and a sensor in the transmission. Got it back and it failed again while pulling into my driveway on April 30th 2022. Vehicle is still in service and they are unable to find the root cause. In 4 of the 5 stalls, driving at a high rate of speed completely losing engine power with children in the car presents a severe safety hazard. Thankfully each time have been able to safely pull over. Has been in service 4 times in the last month over this specific issue. About 10 times total on service charging system message.
In November 2021 the vehicle began by losing electrical power in the hybrid motor system. The "check engine light" (CEL) came on. Dealer attempted to fix it and "briefly" turned off the CEL. The CEL came back on a short time later. The car began "shuddering" when driving it. The cabin heater stopped working. Electric motor worked for a short time. Dealer diagnosed a "defective hybrid heater" - Chrysler error code "POE15". The dealer said that there were no parts for this repair and said it was okay to drive. Vehicle then continued "shuddering". Then a loud whining noise developed when it was moving. Dealer then diagnosed the same prior error code was causing additional issues. The dealer and Chrysler advised to stop driving the car until a fix was developed and parts became available. The car has been out of service since early January, 2022. Judging briefly from one online forum, there are at least 65 other owners with this exact problem. (pacificaforum.com)
the electric heater for the battery has been broken for 3 months now. Chrysler cannot seem to find a replacement part. what this does is cause the engine to come on and go off way more then expected. this also can cause weird transmission and acceleration issues when the car doesn't know which one to pick. this is also putting a lot more pressure on the transmission and causing issues with which device is sending the power. this has been going on all winter and Chrysler cannot find the part to replace.
wife was driving on the freeway when all of a sudden an error light on the dash appeared reading "Service Charging System, " the accelerator no longer delivered power, and the car began quickly slowing down. Luckily, my wife was able to coast to the side of the freeway. The Pacifica remained on with all systems working (radio, lights, etc), but the car accelerator would not deliver power and the car could not be turned off. After several minutes the car was able to be turned off and after sitting for approximately 15 minutes on the side of the road it started again and was driveable. This process occurred twice.
While driving, the vehicle shut off. Steering and brakes were still working, it's already happened 2 times and I was able to coast off the highway. After turning off and on the with the starter button the car starts normally with only the engine light on. There are several other posts on forums of others owners having the same problem.
While driving, the vehicle shut off. Steering and brakes were still working, so I was able to coast off the highway. The check engine light, a battery fault indicator, and a service charging system warning all displayed on the dash. This is the second time this has happened, and a Chrysler dealer service center installed software updates they claimed fixed the issue. It is now back at the dealer. The first time this occurred, it was on a busy road with no shoulder near a dangerous turn. I was stopped in the road for several minutes before I got it to restart and was able to limp to a safe parking spot. There are several other posts on web forums and YouTube of other owners having the same problem.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Milford, OH, USA