2020 CHRYSLER PACIFICA PLUG-IN HYBRID Complaints

Vehicle completely lost all electrical and drivability components while driving. Car could not be restarted or shifted into gear to get out of lane. Gave multiple warning lights. Vehicle was towed to dealership and was assessed a few days later.

On July 30th 2022 the van suffered total loss of motive power while driving on a rural highway at 65mph. The incident put my family as risk as I was required to coast the car off of the side or the road to keep from becoming an obstruction to traffic. If the incident had occurred on a 3 lane highway or in heavier congestion I may have been unable to pull off the road before losing my momentum. The van showed no prior indication of malfunction until it shuttered as the engine stalled. Following the shutter and loss of all forward power the car dash produced a check engine light followed by a warning to Pull over and place car in Park. I pulled over to the side of the road and was able to place the car into park and shut it off. After that the car would not start or shift out of park and only displayed "Service Charging System" on the dashboard. The car was then towed to the nearest Chrysler dealer (Watson Benzie, LLC 1514 Benzie Hwy Benzonia,MI49616-9650) where it was determined that "Power Inverter Module" had failed and needed to be replaced. As of September 19th 2022 the car is still at the dealer awaiting a replacement part. The damaged part should be available for inspection.

The vehicle, shortly after starting, says service charging system and loses power completely. Power steering goes out along with any brake assist and no gas pedal power. I’ve almost hit several cars while trying to regain control of the vehicle. When I finally get it to stop, the work around I’ve found is to power off the car for a few minutes, power it back on, then it’ll work. But this happens about once a week. The dealer attempted a repair once but issue persists. We’re taking it back in. But based on online forums, this is a dangerous and widespread problem with the Pacifica Hybrid. Please investigate! I have kids. Thanks!

While driving down the highway at about 65MPH on battery, the car suddenly lost power when the battery reached <1% instead of immediately switching to gasoline powered mode. The car continued to slow down until it was stopped and gave an error saying to service the charging system. I was then able to turn the car off and restart it, from that point it continues in gasoline mode. This was a dangerous situation to loose power unexpectedly on a busy highway. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer.

Coming to a stop in traffic at an intersection, at around 10 mph, decelerating at around 0.1g, I did not get additional decel from the vehicle even with pushing the brake pedal to the floor. While coming to a stop I glanced in my rearview mirror and the vehicle in front of me abruptly came to a stop. During the reaction time delay from looking forward, recognizing the vehicle slowed and stepping on the brake harder, I received a FCW alert. I was already on brake pedal and after my reaction time elapsed I pushed hard on the brake pedal which sunk to the floor and gave no additional deceleration from the vehicle. This continued until the CIB/AEB built pressure and stopped the vehicle, which was about 0.25-0.5s later. I didn't hit the vehicle in front of me but the very disturbing part was that the vehicle was not responding or decelerating with driver request.

The Electric Coolant Heater can become in a locked state thus causing the demist function to stop working when driving in EV mode. This can potentially present visibility issues when driving in cool weather and there is no heat in the vehicle until the ICE is engaged. The error code that occurs is POE15. This is a known problem and there is a supply chain issue

On two instances when traveling on the expressway, the car lost acceleration entirely and the dashboard provided an error message "service charging system". The car slowly decelerated and had to be pulled over to the side of the road, across several lanes of traffic, creating an extremely dangerous situation. Once the car was turned off and turned back on, it appeared to work normally. This happened once on March 1 and once on March 6.

The braking system does not respond in time - there is a delay which almost caused an accident once and did end up causing an accident in Dec of 2021. My daughter was in the car, and my husband was driving. His back was injured, and thank goodness my daughter was not hurt. I tried to contact Chrysler three times (2 times via filling their customer service form and once over the phone), and they said there is nothing they could do and finally gave this form to complete if I was concerned hence writing today. The delay in the brake system is a significant issue, and our local dealership and repair stated there is nothing they could do. Contact Customer Service of Chrysler and Chrysler service representative said there is no recall, so he cannot do anything about this critical safety matter. After a lengthy conversation, he referred me to you. We bought this van for our family, including young children (purchased days before the birth of my son) and elderly parents, and it cost us over $57,000. I am very disappointed in Chrysler for not taking this braking delay issue seriously. We even tried to sell our vehicle, but the price is $13000 less than what we paid in just about a year, which we cannot afford anymore. Besides this vital safety issue, we are very much satisfied with our vehicle and are concerned that others might be in a similar situation to us while Chrysler is not even listening to this vital safety concern; hence I am writing.

I was travelling on I-95. My 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid completely shut down while driving at 65-70 mph. A Service Charging System message flashed on the dash. The van decelerated and another message "put in park to start" flashed. All of this was while I was driving on the interstate. I was able to brake to a stop on the shoulder and turn on the hazards. I was NOT able to turn off the car. The gears would not move. I could not put it in Park. After 20 minutes I was able to put it into park and turn it off. I restarted the van, but the same message flashed and I could not move. The van was towed to a Chrysler dealership. They had the car Monday and part of Tuesday. They could not duplicate the issue and could not find any error messages. They said they checked the battery several times and it was fine. There was nothing else they could do and sent me home with the van. Fortunately, I was in the right hand lane when this happened. I don't know what would happen if this occurs while in the middle lane and would need to maneuver to the shoulder. I have found that this is not a unique situation and the exact thing has happened to many other Pacifica owners. Unfortunately, I do not believe this is the last time this will happen. I am TERRIFIED to drive this van. I would guess a battery, electrical or computer issue, only because of the many messages on the dash and the inability to turn off the vehicle. I will gladly offer my van for inspection if requested.

While driving on electric only power at highway speeds, the van stalled. The dash showed "put vehicle in park to restart" and I had to pull over with no ability to accelerate, come to a complete stop, and place the vehicle in park in order to start the van again. This happened several times, the dealership was unable to recreate the stalling issue, but found two codes stored from the check engine light coming on just prior to the stalling: P0A43 - Drive Motor A Position Sensor Circuit Intermittent P0A3F - Drive Motor A Position Sensor Circuit Both Chrysler and the dealership initially refused to attempt any repairs, and wanted me to take possession of a vehicle that is randomly stalling at highway speeds, which is extremely dangerous. When I refused and pushed them to actually address the codes, they decided to replace the transmission, which houses Drive Motor A. This same issue and process has been repeated with Pacifica Hybrid models ranging from 2017-2021, and is widely reported on the website Pacificaforums.com