10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 4 / 3
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 8 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 20,926 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
For the past year the car jerks forward and stalls while driving. Especially after going from a stop. Sometimes it is so bad, you violently jerk forward. Have broughten to dealer twice for this. Once they did a softward update, that did not help. Second time they said it was normal
- Lake Forest, IL, USA
Vehicle stalled on freeway, gradual lost of power and came to a stop. Tried to inch vehicle to the side shoulder to avoid traffic. Called assist and was able to re-start van after a few times trying the push start button. Drove straight to dealer but they gave no explanation. Bought vehicle less than 30 days before incident occurred.
- Santa Clara, CA, USA
Vehicle engine and electrical system shut down while driving 35 mph in traffic. Total looks of power steering also occurred. Our family with small children also were in the car. This could have been much worse if it occurred at highway speeds on a busier road. Once stopped the dash alerted us to shift to park to restart vehicle. We did but car would not start. No attempt to turn over at all. Put flashers on and parts of dash, uconnect screen and interior lights flashed also. Car has 10,000 miles only and has been relatively trouble free to this point. I see many like complaints on this website and in online forums. To date it seems reading feedback from others affected, even after multiple occurrences and trips to the dealership, Chrysler has not identified a root cause or been able to permanently resolve the issue. This is a huge safety issue and we will not drive this car again without a definite resolution.
- Mount Laurel, NJ, USA
Vehicle purchased in December 2016 for $44,000 from safford of fredericksburg. On October 14, 2017, I was driving with my wife, three children and mother-in-law and experienced a loud malfunction that rendered the car inoperable. Luckily we were not on the highway at the time and the vehicle was eventually towed to safford of fredericksburg, Virginia for repairs. The right front axel had ruptured (total miles on the car were 8,311 at that time). The service agent (jim bogan) noted that this had been flagged on other occasions as identified issues at other service department requiring the next "generation" of axel assembly parts for the repair. Shortly after receiving the vehicle, we returned to the same dealership to address a loud girding noise also associated with the right front axel. In early December, 2017 we had the vehicle towed once again to safford of fredericksburg where they again had to repair the right from axel. Intermittently and over the past year while these issues were occurring, we continued to experience electronic issues with the sliding doors and rear lift hatch as well. The uconnect entertainment system will also malfunction from time to time. Several software updates have been initiated, addressing window and transmission concerns according to the dealership's service department. Yet, the vehicle does not function properly, where idle and transmission functioning often appears compromised (rough idle, rough shifting, sudden RPM increases and acceleration bursts when shifting from reverse to drive). I fear this car is not safe for my wife and three young children.
- Dumfries, VA, USA
Vehicle shuts off while driving and cannot be restarted until it comes to a complete stop. Vehicle has stopped running while slowing down for a light, it has stopped after getting off expressway and while driving through a parking lot. In the last two months it has stalled at least 10 times.
- Vero Beach, FL, USA
Transmission will lockout normal operation and blink "N" on both instrument cluster and gear shift knob. When failed, the vehicle will not operate in either reverse or drive and it appears to hold in park. Vehicle then needs to be shutoff and restarted, sometimes multiple times, before the vehicle can move again. My wife reported a very rough gear engagement that felt like she was rear ended but it appears to have been a violent gear change. I took car for a test drive and pulled out of my driveway in reverse, pulled into the street, stopped, changed to drive and experienced the lockout with a screen saying "service trans, press brake when stopped, key off engine to engage park". at this point I was stuck with my vehicle blocking the entire street and I could not use drive, reverse or put the car in neutral to push it. If felt like it was in park. I tried to shutdown and restart the vehicle to get it moving but it took about 4 attempts before I could get it into drive and out of the way. We took car to dealer and they rebuilt transmission valve body. A few months later the problem came back. I had to tow the vehicle to the dealer as I was afraid of getting stranded. They pulled 5 trouble codes and try again. I have picture of the dash and I have a brief video of the failure in my driveway.
- Burbank, CA, USA
Zf 9 speed transmission suddenly disengages at slow speeds passenger sliding door slow and rough when opening.
- Jacksonville, FL, USA
Van stalls while driving. This has happened more than once. Dealer could find no codes as to why this is happening. Very dangerous when it happened at hwy speeds.
- Downers Grove, IL, USA
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. While driving approximately 70 mph, the vehicle lost power. The contact managed to drive to a friend's residence and called sahara Chrysler in las vegas, nv (702-479-2121). The contact was advised to proceed to the shop. The vehicle shut down en route and was towed to the dealer. In addition, the oil pressure indicator illuminated. The technician diagnosed and repaired the serpentine belt, the pretensioner belt, and the splash shield. The technician stated that the oil pump pressure became stuck and caused the engine to go into limp mode for safety. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred after approximately 30 miles of driving. The vehicle was pulled over to the side of the road and was shut off. The contact called aaa roadside service and the vehicle was towed to falls Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge in cuyahoga falls, oh (330-923-3041). The dealer diagnosed that oil leaked from the left valve cover to the alternator, serpentine belt, and the cylinder head cover. The vehicle was repaired and was successfully test driven by the technician. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, provided a case number, and offered a rebate. The contact declined the rebate. The failure mileage was 2,879.
- Copley, OH, USA
Vehicle shut off while driving down the road. Happened twice since owning the vehicle 7/15/17 & 9/9/17. Vehicle dashboard said "stop and shift to park". we took to dealership and they said they couldn't replicate program.
- Lame Deer, MT, USA
Vehicle lost motive power while attempting to excelerate from a stop on a city street. Vehicle was restarted but loud clunking noise and violent shaking came from engine compartment. Vehicle was towed and has been at the local dealer since with little communication about a prognosis or permanent fix.
- Claremont, CA, USA
I was driving in a neighborhood area approaching my community service event at a boys and girls club. Searching for street parking, I was about to slow down releasing my accelerator pedal and suddenly the car stalls. I safely steer to the right and make a stop in attempt to move out of the way in a busy street. The screen on my car instructs me to put my gear back to park in order to continue, I shift it to park as it says on the screen and the screen instruction remains the same. The start button light is indicating that my car is still on so I shift my gear to drive and stepped on my accelerator pedal. The engine revs, but it does not move. I put my gear back to park and pushed the button to turn the engine off. Then I push the start button again to turn it back on. This time I shift it to drive and I am finally able to drive forward. I was stuck in the stalled position for a few minutes in a panic trying to figure out what was going on. Imagine if this happened on a freeway or a very busy major street. It would be very dangerous to me and my family as well as other drivers around. I demand a safety recall for the safety of my family and others. Updated 8/16/18
- Corona, CA, USA
I was driving on the highway with congested traffic at around 10mph. Without any prior alert, the engine shut off by itself and the vehicle lost its power. I had to turn the transmission to P from D and restart the vehicle.
- La Canada Flintridge, CA, USA
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. While reversing out of the driveway, the contact placed the vehicle in the drive position. The vehicle displayed as if it were in drive mode. When the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle reversed. The contact also stated that the vehicle jerked occasionally no matter the speed. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an unknown dealer to be diagnosed, but the results were not yet available. The failure mileage was 19,555.
- Acworth, GA, USA
We purchased the vehicle at a local dealership in July 2017. In August, vehicle lost power steering communication unexpectedly. Dealership was able to restore power steering, however, they were not entirely sure of the cause. In October, the vehicle lost electrical communication and was stuck on a busy highway off-ramp after stopping at a stop light. We were unable to move the car for 30 minutes. Dealership unable to determine the cause and advised us that the car company said they needed to give us the car back. The car has been in the shop for a total 22 of days and nothing was fixed the second time to prevent this from happening again.
- Lewis Center, OH, USA
While stopped at a traffic light, the ess feature of the vehicle typically stops the engine to reduce CO2 emissions and supposedly save on gas. As soon as I release the brakes, the engine re-starts and off I go. However, in this instance, after I let go of the brakes, the vehicle began rolling backwards, which caused me to step on the brakes right away or I would have hit the car behind me. I let go of the brakes again, then the engine restarted as usual. This is very concerning and a potential safety issue.
- Ocoee, FL, USA
With only 7300 miles on the odometer, as of this writing 11-21-17, my Pacifica has failed to start on 4 separate occassions. With each event, all the warning lights on the main and radio dash lit up and flashed on and off. Also, the wiper blades came on and stayed on, not being able to shut off with the designated switch. As well, numerous "warning windows" popped up on the center dash info screen...service electronic stability, park brake unavailable, blind spot alert unavailable service required, service tire pressure system, park sense unavailable, service air bag system, warning bells constantly chiming, entire dash goes completely dark and radio turns off and on by itself. The last attempt to start, 11-20-17, after numerous times in an hours time, the engine did start only to shut down almost immediately. The vehicle has been towed to my local Chrysler dealership twice now and is still there as of this writing. On the first event when towed in, I was told that a service writer also could not attempt to start the vehicle, but when the service tech tried, it did start. I was told to come pick up my vehicle that there were no error codes found and my vehicle was operating normally. I really dread the day when my Pacifica dies while driving, as that apparantly has happened to many dozens of other 2017 Pacificas already, placing the occupants in extreme danger. I just read an article in the New York times with regards to this dangerous issue and I near the point of demanding that Chrysler buy back my vehicle. I do have multiple videos taken on my cell phone but do not have the ability to upload them just yet.
- Hobe Sound, FL, USA
After sitting at a red light I attempted to drive forward when the light changed and the car would not move and I got a message on the drivers console that said "shift to P to drive" I attempted to shift but the knob wouldn't turn and so I had to turn the car off, shift to park then turn the car back on and then shift back into drive to move forward. This has happened twice now within the span of 3 days. The car has roughly 4.5K miles on it...updated 11/14/17 updated 11/16/2017
- Edgewater, MD, USA
My wife was driving home from work and slowing down to approach a red light. As she was slowing, the vehicle experienced total systems failure. The touch screen display became scrambled, steering was unresponsive and the vehicle slowed to a stop. My wife was unable to accelerate, shift gears or turn the vehicle off. Three police officers pushed the van into a nearby parking lot. During this time no one was able to turn the vehicle off or shift gears. Finally, the car essentially rebooted itself and all systems seemed to return to normal. The car was towed to the dealership on 10-27-17, 12 days after purchase with approximately 400 miles. The car has been at the dealership for 6 days now and no problems have been found. They have not been able to recreate the problem and no error codes were found. This means the car has now been in the shop for 1/3 of the time that has passed since we first drove off the lot. This failure is disturbingly similar to numerous other complaints that have been filed. Thank goodness my wife was slowing down when this happened or it could have caused a serious accident and even death. I refuse to allow my wife or children back in this vehicle with something so catastrophic happening after so few miles. I have opened a case with Chrysler and waiting for them to get back to me. I hope a formal investigation is started soon and Chrysler acknowledges the issue to protect the safety of everyone.
- Gahanna, OH, USA
- Levittown, NY, USA