— Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid transmission problems caused safety regulators to open an investigation which has now been closed based on Fiat Chrysler's actions.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the July 2022 investigation into Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) that lost power and stalled.
Owners complained the 2019-2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids suffered internal transmission problems caused by connector short circuits.
NHTSA found most Pacifica Hybrid stalling events happened while driving more than 25 mph and left the minivans unusable.
FCA announced a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid transmission recall for more than 67,000 model year 2017-2023 minivans. Chrysler said the transmissions had defects in the wiring for the motors which caused the minivans to stall.
The automaker confirmed what NHTSA had found, which was an "electric motor position trouble code" that caused regulators to first open the investigation.
This caused NHTSA to close the investigation, but now the government has opened a "recall query" due to Chrysler's Pacifica Hybrid recall repairs.
According to FCA, dealers were told to update software to limit motive power while warning the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid driver to pull over to a safe location. In short, Chrysler updates software for what is really a hardware problem.
NHTSA is concerned with this "fix" because the transmission problems can still occur, and drivers, occupants and others could be in danger if a driver must pull over in an unsafe location.
CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid recall query.
