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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
827 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.

2021 Chrysler Pacifica electrical problems

electrical problem

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2021 Chrysler Pacifica Owner Comments (Page 2 of 6)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #96

Dec 102023

Pacifica

  • miles

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

January 2023 the car was at the dealer for two months for the battery heater. The car was losing coolant as the battery heater was malfunctioning. The car was at the dealers for 2 months for the repairs to be completed. December of 2023 the car had -??Stop Safely -?" Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon-??. We pulled off the freeway in a confused state and the car shut off. We called Chrysler who said to have the vehicle towed or driven at our own risk to a dealer. But had no input if the vehicle was actually having a problem or just a sensor. The vehicle was towed and now has been at the dealer for 3 months with no remedy. They say a new transmission is on backorder but not approved by Chrysler.

- Elephant Butte, NM, USA

problem #95

Feb 262024

Pacifica

  • miles
As I was leaving my son's school parking lot - moments away from an on-ramp to a major freeway - an error message flashed on the dash saying "Service Charging System" followed by a message about the vehicle's speed being limited and a red turtle icon. The van instantly was driving strangely. Since I was in a parking lot, I turned everything off and waited for the van to shut down completely. I restarted the van and the warning messages were gone, but the check engine light remained. The van showed more than 15 miles of battery mileage remaining. The week prior, we had taken it into the dealership for the open recalls to be repaired, so we took it back for this issue. The dealership just messaged me saying the van is ready to be picked up and that the charging system was just low. But it still had nearly 1/2 the battery left when this happened! The dealership went on to say, "So here is the deal, we could not verify the concern at this time. There are no codes in the system, nothing to really test for. I can have someone drive it and see if anything happens, but without being able to duplicate your concern, we cannot diagnose it." My sister-in-law had the exact same issue on her own Chrysler pacific Hybrid just a few months ago, while she was on the freeway and her speed was instantly throttled. They replaced the entire electrical hybrid transmission. This is a known issue with this vehicle and it is going to put my life and my kid's life at risk since the dealership cannot reproduce the error. I even sent a picture of the error message, and they say there's nothing they can do.

- Vancouver, WA, USA

problem #94

Jan 142024

Pacifica

  • miles
Without any prior warning or predisposing symptoms, my vehicle lost all power when I was driving in the carpool lane at 70 miles per hour. I had to "coast" across 5 lanes of freeway and come to stop in the emergency lane. When I applied the brakes I had no power to brakes which made the car skid violently. I could have lost control because I was not expecting that secondary issue. The traction conrtol may have been triggered causing the car to overreact. The dashboard lights and "d" on my gear shifter were all flashing. I turned the car off and allowed it to sit for a few moments. I turned the car on again and nothing happened. I turned it off a second time and it turned on, went into drive and I was able to drive the remaining 5 miles home without incicent. I have already completed the recall notice for this very issue back in Jan 2023. However, even though the dealer states they completed my recall work the upbove described incident happened on 1/14/24 nearly a year after their recall completion.

- Canyon Country, CA, USA

problem #93

Oct 092023

Pacifica

  • miles

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

Front park sensor will intermittently go off like it is detecting an object when vehicle is at stopped, but there's no object, went to Chrysler Dealership for warranty 7 Times, Last time dealer service confirm and recreate the problem but can not replace because NO FAIL CODE as me open case with Chrysler. When park sensor fault read when I was at stop I need to get out of the car to inspect to make sure no object is in the front, this is very UNSAFE sometime I have get out of the car in the middle on the road.

- Henderson, NV, USA

problem #92

Dec 132023

Pacifica

  • miles
While driving early in morning on local highway (70mph speed limit), car flashed "Service Charging System" shut off the engine and power to the vehicle including acceleration, and check engline light illuminated. Thankfully early hours made it possible to drift to side of road to put car in park. Engine light illuminated dash and dash flashed "shift to P to start." Car would not shut off after pressing the start button nor depressing the break either (hazards were engaged at this point). Hazards had to be shut off in order to completely shut off the vehicle to restart it. Dangerous on major highway with no lights or hazards on side of road. 25 degrees outside. This is the Second time this has occurred to this vehicle. The last time occurred on 1/20/2023 the exact same way shutting off power and engine of the car on the same local highway with similar cold temperature (always issues with this car in the cold, hybrid battery system fails in cold below 40 or temperatures higher than 90). Last time a grounding issue was found in the transmission and was replaced. I will be contacting the dealership for repair today will update if it is still grounding issues or something new causing same problem. As i made in my last nhtsa report in january on this vehicle, the fact this car shuts down while in motion and you have no control over the car is dangerous and can cost people their lives. As a hybrid system, the van should automatically switch to gas only and bypass the hybrid charging system to continue functioning as any car would. By shutting down the engine and everything you are jeopardizing the lives of everyone on the roads. Both incidents of mine occurred on a highway at high speeds. I am just thankful I was not on a bridge at the time it failed as it would have caused an accident. I heard nothing about or from my last nhtsa report. Please for the safety of everyone look into these hybrids. Look into this car history and you'll see the constant repairs it has had.

- Inwood, WV, USA

problem #91

Nov 292023

Pacifica

  • miles
My new 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Minivan was repaired under the 03a recall on 3/2023. It had another loss of motive power, the same issue that was supposed to be fixed under the 03a recall. The car warned me that it would shutoff soon in the visual display and to move to a safe area. It did shut down immediately. I attempted to restart it several times. After many times it did start and the transmission light remained illuminated. I was driving on the highway at the time and blocking traffic. It's unsafe for the car to shut off randomly. This is unacceptable and unsafe. I paid for a brand new, safe, functioning car. This is a serious problem and is dangerous for my family. I feel unsafe driving a car that will shut off at random times. This has already been repaired once and remains a problem. I need a solution.

- Potomac, MD, USA

problem #90

Nov 152023

Pacifica

  • miles

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

While driving 70 mph on the highway with my three children in the car, my engine suddenly and without warning, shut off. I had to coast over to the shoulder and wait for help. The dash displayed the warning "service charging system" and would not let me put the car in drive. I was VERY lucky that there weren't any cars around me when my acceleration suddenly stopped so I was able to get over on the highway. The car stalled in an unsafe place and left my children and me at risk of being hit from behind while waiting for help. I got the car to the dealer and they have informed me that this was caused by total transmission failure. This was a HIGHLY unsafe situation and it could have ended much worse for my family, and those in vehicles around us!

- Camp Hill, PA, USA

problem #89

Oct 162023

Pacifica

  • miles
Chrysler recall 03A is installed on my pacifica hybrid. Since then, the past two times the van has been driven at highway speed, it has suddenly notified me that vehicle shutdown is imminenent and put the vehicle into limp mode. In both cases, turning the car off and on again allowed normal operation, with the check engine light locked in. The first time the code was P0A43, to be determined what the code is for this most recent event.

- Quarryville, PA, USA

problem #88

Oct 062023

Pacifica

  • miles
Was driving at 72-74mph on Dallas North Tollway on Oct 6th. Vehicle is a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid 2021 model - Limited Plug in Hybrid trim. Battery charge was 2% (less than 1 mile range) Fuel was 95% showing 395 miles of range left After the battery depletes, the vehicle is supposed to switch over into ICE mode (Gas engine kicks on) Car was running only on Electric power and when the battery hit 0%, the car stalled on the highway and showed multiple warning lights Service Hybrid Electric System Charge system not available EBD2 Engine Malfuction Transmission Temperature Automatic Transmission Fluid overheating Check Engine light Car still had power (power steering and brakes working) but lost all propulsion suddenly Luckily i was able to safely pull over on the shoulder Turned car off and on and still had same warning lights and car's engine would not start Finally waited 15 minutes, disconnected battery (12v) and tried it and now engine started Came home and charged battery to 100% (showed 32 miles of range) but now car will never run on Electric motors - Only via Gas engine This is a serious safety issue - I had the same exact problem on my 2018 Pacifica Plugin Hybrid which was diagnosed as a HCM (Hybrid Control Module) issue. It was the subject of a recall. This is the 2021 model with less than 25,000 miles and its still a major safety concern. Chrysler should immediately address the problem and issue a safety recall Car is currently at Frisco Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram for the last 7 days waiting to be diagnosed

- Frisco, TX, USA

problem #87

Sep 152023

Pacifica

  • miles
There have been several incidents that have to do with the electrical components site, such as the adaptive cruise control not working the lanes assist going off, stating that my hands are on the wheel. When my hands are on the wheel, there have been problems when I go to put it in drive. It'll switch back to park and throw on my parking brake. It has also the auto breaking lights have. Come on, my checken and light has come on. It taking in to the dealership and they found corrosion on some of the wires, replaced them. They also replaced the adaptive adaptive control module. It was supposed to magically fix all my electrical problems. Yet I'm still having electrical problems also my navigation on. A scream down by the cluster cluster. Stays on and doesn't go anywhere. I also have video and pictures and things like that of the situations that have gone on with my Van 4 months and nothing has been fixed. I've been told by the dealer and buy a representative from Chrysler. That's my Van is fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But clearly there isn't an electrical issue and. And I pretty God. Nothing happens to me or my family or someone else because of it. Also, the radio, when you shut your car off and open the doors to exit your vehicle, the radio is still left playing and should not also the auto break in just comes on. For no reason. It happened on the interstwhen we were merging in the traffic. And there's no reason it should be doing some of the things that it's doing.

- Crawfordsville, IA, USA

problem #86

Aug 302023

Pacifica

  • miles

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

This incidet happened on August 30, 10:30am PST. 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Plugin Hybrid vehicle while parked in the garage catches a fire due to Plugin Battery. The car was not in charging when incident happened. The car was last used previous dat afternoon around afternoon for a short trip of couple of miles only, and then parked inside the garage. At 9 am in the next day morning I was in the garage, and no smoke identified. At around 10:15am we noticed burning smell inside the house, and when we checked entire house inside and then garage, found garage was filled with smoke, and smoke is coming out of Chrysler pacifica vehicle. We immediately called 911, and fire department came immediately with in couple of minutes and started working on controlling the smoke and fire inside the car. Fire fighters noticed smoke is coming out of plugin battery, and tried to put out the smoke, they were continuously running water entire day, and could not stop the smoke/fire coming out of the battery. If they stop the water for few minutes, smoke starts again. They have been working on the car to put of smoke entire day, even called chrysler to understand on how to control the smoke out of the battery, no luck, At around 8pm, they have setup 2 hoses running water from the home to the car continuously, and check the car often to make sure it is under control. I will be checking all the night to make sure it won't caught the fire and cause additional damage to the house. My garage is filled with smoke, and my entire house is also had smoke. It is a nightmare situation for me and my family to experience this, I want to make sure every other family purchased 2021 chrysler pacifica plugin vehicle are safe.If we were not home or sleeping in the night, it could have been a much worse situation of losing the family and entire house due to the fire.

- Mountain House, CA, USA

problem #85

Aug 202023

Pacifica

  • miles
The most concerning and potentially dangerous issue I-??m continuing to have with this vehicle is a random, complete shutdown of all engine/battery power. So far this has only happened while driving at a consistent high-speed on a freeway. A warning comes on the center display that says -??Stop Safely. Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon.-?? There is still power steering and hazard lights, but ZERO motor power, neither gas nor electric. I am forced to glide to a stop. If I turn off the ignition, open the door to reset everything, close the door, let the vehicle sit for a minute, when I restart it (so far anyway) everything is back to normal - with the exception of a -??Check Engine-?? light on the display. This first occurred in April of 2023. I subsequently learned there was a recall on the vehicle for this exact problem. The vehicle was taken to LAX Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram where the recall was done, which required a software update. For the next two months there were no issues with this problem. It happened again on June 21st while driving from California to Minnesota. It shut down 5 times. After sitting overnight, it did not do it again and I was able to make it to MN. It was taken to Ryan Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in Buffalo, MN where the service technician said they were unable to duplicate the problem. Nothing they could do. Sent it home with me. The vehicle shut down again on August 12th. Then 10 more times while driving across Kansas on August 20th. You can imagine how harrowing it trying to safely pull to side of the road with dozens of other cars and trucks speeding past, and in one case serving to avoid colliding with me at the last moment. No longer willing to risk an accident, I was forced to ditch the vehicle at a dealership in Denver where it currently resides and awaiting a fix. So far no one at any Chrysler dealership has acknowledged the seriousness of this problem. I have documented most shutdowns on video, but am unable to send.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #84

Jul 252023

Pacifica

  • miles
Vehicle thinks it is charging mode when it is not, sitting in a parking lot. Vehicle when attempting to start says 'Service Charging System' and won't go into drive or even neutral appropriately. Vehicle is stranded otherwise. Under 40,000 miles on vehicle. Online this appears to be a very common problem that Chrysler is yet to adequately address with a recall.

- Williamstown, WV, USA

problem #83

Jul 192023

Pacifica

  • miles
Im not sure if it-??s electrical or what but we lock up car and everything is closed and in the morning we come out and the door is open and it-??s the back sliding door not sure what to do about it or if it-??s broken but having my van completely locked up and then coming out and the door being open is weird and it-??s happened multiple times as well as both sliding doors slam shut and don-??t stop closing once u click button and gets hands and fingers shut in door when is shouldn-??t shut when u put on it or block

- Ocala, FL, USA

problem #82

Jul 132023

Pacifica

  • miles
Recalls 23V-010 and FCA campaign Z76 was completed on 7/11/23. On 7/13/23 check engine light and turtle warning light (limp mode) was illuminated and vehicle will either not move at all or move only 5mph. This happened without warning and could have left me in a dangerous location in lanes of traffic. Vehicle has only 25,000 miles and is under OEM warranty.

- Belton, TX, USA

problem #81

Jun 032023

Pacifica

  • miles
The 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid will lose all power while driving. I have had it back to the Dealer for this Problem. I got a Recall for this in April. I took it in to the Dealer to do. They told me that Chrysler does not have a fix for this yet. Within 400 miles after that it done it again while my wife was driving and caused a crash.

- Candenton, MO, USA

problem #80

Jun 272023

Pacifica

  • miles
I was driving my child to daycare on my way to work one morning. I pulled into an intersection and my vehicle just stopped as if the engine had died with no warning signs, sounds or even symbols on the dash. I stepped on the gas and couldn-??t get it to move all while I had cars coming at me from both sides. I tried turning it on and off nothing would get it to move, eventually the check engine light and another warning came up on the screen saying to service charging system. During all of this I was able to get my child to the side of the road out of harms way incase my vehicle were to be hit and luckily one other driver had noticed what happened and started waving at the oncoming vehicles to come to a stop. We had to have it towed to a dealership were it is currently being looked at and they are still unable to resolve the issue. I am now terrified to drive this car and am very nervous about intersections, this is a very serious problem and am just thankful that others around me were aware and able to help keep my child and myself safe.

- Oakboro, NC, USA

problem #79

Jun 082023

Pacifica

  • miles
The charging system is shutting down my vehicle while driving in high speed heavy traffic. I was traveling with my grandchildren and my dog and my vehicle stopped in 90+ degree weather in the middle of no where. Once it ran again I got it to a charging station so I could continue my travels. The check engine light went away and we were traveling home when the charging system shut us down again doing 65 mph on the interstate about 30 miles from any town with no cell service. My vehicle had to be towed from the 30 miles to the closest town and then towed again from the closest town to the closest Chrysler dealership. They can't even get to my vehicle for over 3 weeks and I am out thousands of dollars in rental car fees. I even took my car to the Chrysler dealer before my trip because the check engine light came on and they ran a diagnostics that said my front camera wasn't working. No a single thing about the problems I was about to encounter for about the 5th time!! This happened last year also and I was without a working vehicle for almost 2 1/2 months. This has been an ongoing problem that started about 5 months after I purchased my vehicle. I don't feel safe on the roads because the vehicle just STOPS!! This a such a lemon of a car and the Chrysler dealer knew about these problems before they sold me my vehicle.

- Grand Junction, CO, USA

problem #78

Jun 022023

Pacifica 6-cyl

  • miles
I stopped my 2021 Chrysler Pacifica, placed the transmission knob into park, opened the driver's door, leaving it opened with the engine running, and walked to the rear of the vehicle. I opened the tail gate and removed some boxes, threw the boxes into a dumpster, which was approximately 20 feet away and forward of the vehicle. I then returned to get two additional boxes from the rear of my vehicle. I retrieved the boxes and as I walked from the rear of the vehicle, it started to back up. I dropped the boxes, jumped out of the vehicle's path and tried to get into the driver's seat to stop the vehicle, but was unsuccessful as the vehicle picked up speed and the driver's door caught me and I fell. My vehicle was stopped after hitting a parked car in our church lot. Just a scratch on my vehicle's rear bumper, but frontend damage to the compact car it hit. No one else was in my vehicle. I then drove to get urgent care from cuts and bruises. (FYI - My insurance covers 100% of my care). I have aa service appointment to have the vehicle checked out tomorrow morning at San Antonio CDJ.

- Windcrest, TX, USA

problem #77

May 262023

Pacifica

  • miles
Was driving when vehicle produced an error message that said it was powering down. Coasted on interstate to a stop. Was not able to restart vehicle. Appears to be a common issue with this model, extremely dangerous.

- Fredericksburg, VA, USA

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