— A Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid recall is under investigation after more hybrid battery fires were reported after the recall than before.
The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid recall was issued in February 2022 following hybrid battery fires when the ignitions were turned off.
Though all the hybrid minivan fires occurred when the vehicles were turned off, eight of the fires occurred when the minivans were connected to battery chargers.
The recalled 2017-2018 Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) were built between August 12, 2016, and August 7, 2018.
Fiat Chrysler engineers did not know the root cause of the Pacifica Hybrid fires that occurred at the high-voltage batteries. So FCA designed a software update to detect "thermal events" by monitoring the hybrid battery.
However, Chrysler said this was just an interim recall repair while engineers tried to find the root cause of the fires.
Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid owners who had their minivans "repaired" continued to complain about fires near or at the Pacifica Hybrid battery packs.
FCA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discussed the ongoing Pacifica Hybrid battery fire investigation and the search for the root cause. NHTSA also learned there have been more battery fire complaints since the recall than before the recall was announced.
Safety regulators say about 16,700 minivans are involved in the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid battery fire recall investigation.
CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of the federal investigation.