I didn't know about the engine cradle until I took the car in for exhaust work. It was when I went looking for the part to get it repaired I was blown away. The part costs more than the car did and that is without the labor to have it installed! I love the car, I love Mopar products and have had many in my many years of driving, but I never expected anything like this. I just want an engine cradle that is affordable so I can have this problem fixed. Chrysler you owe it to every owner of your product to make things right!!!

I purchased a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica from Prime Auto Sales on 10/19/18 for $4573.13. ON 8/24/19 I took the vehicle to Midas to have brakes installed on the vehicle. Midas did not even want to put the brakes on the car, because they say the car is unsafe to drive. They informed me that the engine cradle is completely rusted out and I should not drive the vehicle. They told me that it is illegal for a dealership to sell unsafe vehicles with this much frame damage. This is not something that happens overnight. Midas said repair would be approximately $1700.

They had to know this when they sold me the vehicle. Also they misled me when I purchased the car by saying that it was an all-wheel drive vehicle when it was not. Now, not only am I paying a car loan but because I have a loan I am required to carry full-coverage insurance on a vehicle that is not even safe for my family to ride in. I cannot afford to purchase another car while paying for this car that I cannot drive and could potentially lose my job without a car to drive to work.

Official Chrysler Service repair shop has been doing my oil changes every 3 months - 4 times a year since 2005 when I purchased the car. not once has their mechanic mentioned the rust of the cross member. I only found out and took pictures this week when I had a local shop change my brakes and do transmission service and they showed me the rust, could not believe that no one ever mentioned this as it was extreme with cracks and holes and that Chrysler is aware of this issue regarding rust on cross member due to them not properly coating the engine cradle. Chrysler has had certain vin #'s recalled, but claim not mine though build in 2004, I am in a snow belt state ( NY). they don't want to take responsibility - each person passes the buck. I am afraid to drive car, dangerous and engine can fall out - could cost $4000-5000 to repair front and back . I just want my car covered under their warranty. this problem did not happen over night. I only have 127,000 miles and rarely drive in the snow (car is awful in the snow). I see other class action Lawsuits online have been filed. this obviously has been an ongoing problem . The condition of my cross member did not happen over night .

I am a single parent and this was my first "new used vehicle" I was able to purchase by myself. This vehicle was brought in for a routine oil change when the auto tech. came and said your engine cradle is rusted to the point where it is dangerous. Not only did my heart sink but I thought why and how does some like that happen to a vehicle with only about 77500 miles. As I began to research this issue I find that Chrysler is playing games with Pacifica owners. I have contacted Chrysler directly and this was the reply I received: Hello Heidi,

According to our records, there are no open/incomplete recalls on your vehicle. Should your vehicle be involved in a future recall, you will receive a letter in the mail, informing you of the recall, to the address we have on file. In addition, you can visit http://fcarecalls.com and by entering the full 17 characters of your VIN you can check for any open and completed recalls on your vehicle. In regards to the engine cradle rust that you mentioned in your email, we suggest that you take your vehicle to an authorized Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram dealership for proper diagnosis and repair.

All the best,

Jacob

FCA Recall Center

I wonder if any Chrysler employees would have themselves or their family riding in these vehicles knowing the danger. How can they sleep at night knowing people may be stranded or hurt with this issue.

I was driving my daughter to school and all of the sudden the car began jerking and sputtering. My car had been sputtering a bit for a few days but I thought it was just that I need a tune up or something. I managed to get her to school, drop my son off at his school and make it home. We took the car to the shop to see what was going on and the guy told us that then engine mount was broken and it has caused electrical damage. Some of the wiring had burned up.

He told us that it would be $5000 to fix. Needless to say, it was not fixed. I was hoping to get another year out of the car before I got a new car. But I have had nothing but problems with this vehicle. This car has been my nightmare. My husband contacted Chrysler about this issue which was a waste of time. I would like to know how Chrysler can get away with not doing something about this. I drove my kids in this car, and I am lucky nothing happened. I had no knowledge of these problems until now; and I have to wonder how many other people are out there driving this vehicle that have no idea about these problems either.

I am furious that I am having this problem. I am even more upset that I called the Chrysler dealership, Bob Caldwell Chrysler Jeep Dodge 1888 Morse Rd. Columbus Ohio 43229, and was told that I will have to pay for this problem! I was told that my car orginated from Michigam where there is a lot of salt. I don't care!!!

I did not create this problem and they need to fix it for free. I spend a lot of money at this dealership and I don't want to hear that I need to pay thousands of dollars for a problem I did not create. Further more, I question why the dealership did not tell me about this problem before now. They have worked on my car several times before and not one person mentioned this issue. The cost of getting this matter resolved would be more than the value of my car. I do not wish to get a new car I want my car fixed.

I took my 2005 Chrysler Pacifica to my local mechanic before taking my grandchildren on a 3 hour highway trip to check on a cracking noise in the front of the car. It's a good thing I did. The mechanic found a huge crack that had rusted through the engine cradle and told me the car was not safe to drive. He also said my car was the 4th Pacifica he had seen with the same issue in the last 2 months. Chrysler did not issue a recall for this dangerous defect, even though they admitted to not properly undercoating the vehicles during assembly. I don't intend to go down without a fight on this issue. I'm waiting to hear back from Chrysler. I will post my progress on the issue as it progresses.

My Pacifica was making a clunking noise in the front end and swaying when going over dips and bumps. When I took it to our mechanic, they said it was the sway bar links. However, they also noticed that the engine cradle was rotted. I had noticed a hole in the cradle weeks before while the car was on the ground, but the damage was really noticeable when up on a rack. The cross-member that the lower motor mount sits on was rusted on the inside and an extremely large hole was forming there. It would have went soon. They found me a cradle and allowed me to inspect before putting it in since used ones may be going bad as well. Cost to fix was $1300 with labor for installing cradle, sway bar link and alignment. If you experience these issues, make sure that you tell your mechanic to specifically check the cradle because it had been in the shop for two oil changes prior and they never mentioned it. The car will be hitting 250,000 miles soon and hoping to make it run for another year or two. Fingers crossed!

Update from May 14, 2015: The cradle they put in gave out in two months. These are harder to get now. Mechanics found another one and ordered all new fasteners for it. All was under warranty, so did not pay a cent for this fix. We are now at 253,000 miles.

We have an 05 Chrysler Pacifica Touring vehicle. There has always been a shake/rattle to the vehicle We've ha it looked at a handful of times only to be told that they can't pinpoint the problem. The inspection is up end of Jan so it's in the shop. The shop called and told us that the Engine Cradle is rotted thru and needs replaced. Advised a couple thousand for this to be done. I checked and found recalls but the dates of recalls from Chrysler is for vehicles manufactured Feb 23 2004 thru March 31 2004. I contacted Chrysler and spoke to Quincy who told me the same information and that they were SORRY they could not help me.

Here's the kicker - this car runs great in the snow and besides the shaking at names and the noise that's been there, we really have had no major issues- we got our daughter the same year, make of the car. So now, my child is driving around in the potential death trap of a car also. Her car was manufactured in Sept of 2004 so it's out of Chrysler's recall dates also. So upset, 3 -4 thousand dollars for repair on a car that's worth approx 6500? I am ill and can't work and my 55 year old husband just had a heart attack in November and is just back to work. This is his vehicle. It can't be inspected due to the problems and we don't have that extra money on hand due to the past year of medical expenses. Chrysler should be ashamed of their selves. I don't know what to do at this point.

Took my Pacifica in for a routine oil change + fluid check and walked out with the news that my engine is about to fall out. I keep this vehicle in mint condition, heck I even bust out those microfiber cloths after washing it to make sure there's no water spots -- but I never knew there was a problem underneath with rust and corrosion on the engine cradle. "Sucks to be me" I thought. That is until I started researching this problem and found out it's a widespread issue. In fact, Chrysler even extended the warranty for a VERY small number of Pacificas after getting pressured. It was only 7,000 models or so I think. Guess it sucks to be all the rest of us.

I was told by my mechanic that my engine cradle was corroded. I didn't even know what an engine cradle was! After he told me it was the same thing as the sub-frame, I knew I had a big problem. As far as I understood it, the sub-frame hold everything in place -- the engine / motor mounts, lower control arms, struts, etc.

When I asked him how bad it was he showed me a rusted spot that he could stick his hand through. When I asked him what caused this he told me that Chrysler didn't put enough coating on the engine cradle and it was eventually eaten away by rust due to road salt, etc.

He told me he wouldn't even recommend driving it home because the engine could fall out at any point! I asked him if I could just push it off a cliff ... I was only half-kidding.