2020 CHRYSLER PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID Complaints

Twice now the A/C has quit, and a short time later the Hybrid battery severely overheats and the van shuts down. This happens at highway speeds, and the vehicle loses power and shuts down. This is dangerous to have a sudden shutdown at 75 MPH. When driving in hot weather for a couple hours, the electric A/C compressor quits. On this van, the Hybrid battery is cooled by the passenger HVAC system. When the A/C quits first you feel the air from the ducts getting warm. Then you get a message on the dash for "Battery Conditioning" and a Check Engine light. If you keep driving, it stalls and will not restart until the battery cools off. It takes about 3-4 hours to get the van to move again at reduced power. If you let it cool overnight, the van drives normally until the next incident. There are trouble codes set for battery overheating, P0A7E, P1AA6, P1A9A, P1A21, P1AA2, P1A9E. There have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to diagnose the van by Chrysler dealers. Dealers can't/won't replicate this due to having to drive for approximately 2 hours in high ambient temps. The vehicle is fine in moderate or cold temps due to not needing the A/C to cool the battery, it is cooled and heated by secondary systems in those conditions. This issue is very dangerous because lithium batteries do not like extreme high temperatures, this issue could cause a thermal runaway event of the battery. Many of the codes that were set are for the battery temperature exceeding 131F (55C), which is severely hot for Li-Ion. This is much hotter than safe high temp recommendation for Li-Ion. Recall 03A for not giving warning before stalling was performed, however this issue is not the same symptom, nor the same cause as that recall. That recall involves a transmission short, not battery overheating. My van has had multiple reflashes and is up to date on all software. My vehicle was a "lemon law" buyback for the same stall issue, and was purported to have been fixed before I purchased the van.

The second row seats recline locking mechanism failed. It does not lock leaving the seat to collapse and extend. It is unsafe because it does not lock making it unsable for anyone that sits in it and could cause injury. The component has not been inspected by the manufacturer or anyone. I am taking to dealership. Last time I did they did not inspect but told me they have seen problem before and requires seat replacement at $3600 per seat. I left without inspection when one seat failed. Now my other second row seat is also failing. My car is no longer able to transport my children as I do not have enough available safe seats with the second seat failing. There were no warning lamps. I noticed this when my daughter said her seat was moving while I was driving.

The car has lost power while driving multiple times. It was in the shop for many months more than once regarding the issue. An error came on the screen saying “vehicle speed may be reduced” then it stopped. The most recent time. After the recall fix. I got a second warning telling me to pull over because the car was going to stop. I barely made it off the highway into a parking lot. The time before that I was off the side of the road on a frontage road because the car could not make it to a parking lot.

The contact owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated and slowed down with a message to “Pull Over Safely – Engine Will Shut down” displayed. The contact pulled over and the vehicle shut off. The contact was able to restart the vehicle, but the failure persisted. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and the contact was informed that software update needed to be performed. The vehicle was repaired but the failure reoccurred. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 58,000.

The contact owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The contact stated that after waiting for approximately 15 minutes, the vehicle failed to restart and was towed to the residence. The contact stated that prior to the failure the vehicle was repaired June 16, 2023, under NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V010000 (Electrical System, Hybrid Propulsion System). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

My family was driving down the highway and an error message came on the dashboard telling us to " stop safely. Vehicle will shut off soon". The vehicle lost acceleration power making it dangerous to change lanes. We made it to the shoulder and turned off the car. We called our service station since they had just done a recall update regarding these types of error messages. We were able to start the car again with only the engine service light on. We assumed there was some type of issue as we transferred from battery to gas since it's a hybrid. We had just drained the battery when this error message had appeared. However, this happened again less than an hour later into our trip but and our battery had gained some power due to hills. We again pull to the shoulder. We're able to turn off the car. Let rest for 1 minute restart and then it was drivable. In total this happened six times on this long distance trip. Never before have we had this issue. The car has 24,000 mi on it. Our safety was put at risk because we had to pull onto the shoulder on busy highways and restart the car. We've scheduled a service appointment at the first available time with the local dealership. We are currently out of town on vacation and cannot take it to the dealership that did the recall.

When driving car gives the warning that FCW is not working and other error messages on the screen. When you apply the break, it automatically started breaking having sudden stops which is dangerous to drive on roads. For some reason those check engine lights will go away after some time and everything seems to be normal. Towed to dealer and reported to Chrysler multiple times and they are not taking car of this ones as they cant replicate the issue.

The vehicle stopped in February 2023 due to a power inverter problem (it’s subject to an NHSTA safety recall). We were driving to Florida from Philadelphia when a “red turtle” warning light came on. We were able (luckily) to get off the highway before the vehicle stopped with all electrically systems impacted (the car wouldn’t even turn off). We managed to pull into a parking lot then had the vehicle towed to the nearest dealer. Since then we have been trying to get the car repaired to no avail.

The contact owned a 2020 Chrysler Pacific. The contact stated while entering the vehicle unknown warning lights illuminated, and the contact shut down the vehicle and restarted it. When the contact restarted the vehicle, the contact noticed that the engine was running rough and shut down the vehicle. When the contact exited the vehicle, it roll backward on its own and rear-ended into a fence causing damage to the fence and damage rear passenger side bumper. No one was injured. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an unknown place. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 27,000.

The contact owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V010000 (Electrical System, Hybrid Propulsion System); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.