We were on a road trip from florida to virginia to buffalo. on our trip from virginia to buffalo on june 26th while driving at 70 miles an hour on the 99 in pennsylvania the car stalled and we were forced to pull off the road barely made it as the car lost all power. had the van towed to a dealer in altoona pa. when the car arrived at the dealership it started right up for him. he then proceeded to reset the engine light and send us on our way. he said have a safe trip. we drove about 60 miles in the car did exactly the same thing at 65 miles an hour again barely getting off the road. my husband was driving at that time and turn the car off open the door and tried to start it it did start. we cautiously proceeded on our way and again the same thing happened at the next 60 mile range of our trip. he did the same thing and it started up. we then drove the next 130 miles with no incidents but the engine light was on when we arrived in buffalo we proceeded to take the vehicle to west herr dodge where it's still remains today. they have no idea what is wrong with this vehicle and i am wondering how the hell i'm ever going to get this back to florida another 1200 miles. driving at those 200 miles from altoona pennsylvania was the worst driving experience i've ever had in my life. we are still waiting on the vehicle and if i get a case number from the dealer when he repairs it or tells me it is repaired i will let you know we did have this vehicle to three different dealerships to in virginia and the one in altoona pa. they all reset the engine light and sent us on our way.
Phev van was charging overnight while plugged into house outlet (110v) using manufacturer supplied charging cable. at around 7 am we heard an explosion and found the van burning in our driveway. vehicle was quickly engulfed in flames. fire truck put it out after arriving (~5-6 minutes, i think). no one was injured, in or near the car when it happened. a nest camera across the street showed that the vehicle was smoking prior to the explosion. *bf*jb *dt *dt*dt information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).*jb *tr
I was driving the vehicle with my family. we had already used up the charge for the electric engine and the vehicle was operating in the hybrid engine. i had the adaptive cruise control set at 72 mph and i accelerated to 75 mph to change lanes to the right. as i accelerated, several alarms and warnings appeared on the driver's dashboard. they included 'service hybrid system', a red wrench with a red lighting bolt through it and the orange engine and battery icons. after the alarms sounded, a message appeared saying 'shift vehicle to park'. when i tried to press the accelerator, nothing happened and it seemed that the engine had stalled. i was able to coast to the shoulder of the highway, break the vehicle and turn on my flashers. after we stopped, i put the vehicle in park, shut the vehicle off, and restarted it. after restarting the vehicle, the orange engine warning light remained on. my family and i were able to travel back home but took back roads rather than the highway.
The minivan began to have a message on the dash board indicating the driver to shift to p and restart the car while the car was in motion. the car proceeded to decelerate without the driver pressing on the brakes. this has happened three times. once, it was while the car was driving on the highway and the deceleration began. the driver had to pull off to the off ramp to exit and the car stalled. the second time the car was stopped while waiting for a stop light to turn green and it won't restart. the third time happened when the car was on the highway about to get off to the off ramp and the stalling began. chrysler kept saying that the problem was resolved when we brought the car to the dealer but it kept happening. also, the main screen keeps going blank for the dvd player and you are not able to utilize that function. we were told the problem was resolved when we took the car to the dealer but it continued after each fix. all of these repairs are on chrysler database.
Metallic buzzing / vibration during moderate acceleration. occurs occasionally around 30 to 35 mph but also at higher speeds. vehicle has been at dealership multiple times where the belly heat shield was replaced, rocks were removed from the heat shield, undercarriage was inspected and parts secured, and most recently the entire transmission was replaced. all of the work has been performed under warranty as the vehicle only just passed 20,000 miles. even after the transmission was replaced the buzzing sound continues as before resulting in another trip to the dealer. there have been no issues with the operation of the vehicle yet but i am concerned that the buzzing / vibration is indicative of a future issue that would render the vehicle inoperable.
2018 chrysler pacifica hybrid 2nd day after purchase with less than 300 miles on the odometer. vehicle stalled less than 100 yards after accelerating after stopping at a traffic signal. lost all acceleration capability, etc warning illuminated, esc warning illuminated. instructed to shift to 'p' to start. luckily this occurred at 11 pm with minimal traffic and i was fortunate that my wife and kids were not with me. i was able to pull over to the shoulder and shift to park. the vehicle was able to restart but i was not able to accelerate past 45 mph. i was able to pull into a parking lot a mile down the road where i let the vehicle remain powered off. after 20 minutes, the van started up normally. this is extremely an extremely disturbing incident to happen on such a new vehicle and nothing like this has happened with any of the previous vehicles i've owned over the years to include hyundai, honda, suzuki, toyota, and dodge. there are numerous complaints with the 2017 model year and fca still has not resolved the issue!
Vehicle will not start with the lights flashing, disabling the vehicle for a number of hours until the battery is completely drained. after this, the car needs to be jumpstarted. when disabled the car does not jump start. this has happened 5 times in ~5 months i have owned the vehicle.
Entering on-ramp to freeway in san diego, ca at approximately between 25 to 45-mph. car stalled and rolled to stop and was unable to recover. stall created situation which could have caused collision.
Driving from san francisco to las vegas at 70 mph the engine stopped. we were able to get off the expressway under some duress. we called emergency responders but after 30 to 40 minutes the car started again. a part was ordered (energy inverter modem) but has not arrived in almost three months. afraid to use car out of town.
We took our car in for recall u73 on saturday morning. it took about an hour and had no issues that day or the next day. on monday morning, the check engine light came on, and the turtle icon appeared. we were on a city street in motion. we needed to "limp" home - no more than 15mph. we brought it to the dealer (safford, springfield, va) and they supposedly fixed it. they said it was an issue with the u73 update, and they cleared some codes and it shouldn't happen again. tuesday morning, more lights come on in the car, talking about air bags, and this time the car wouldn't move while we were on the road.
While driving at 60mph on freeway, vehicle lost engine power without warning and was no longer responsive to gas pedal. not enough time to maneuver out of traffic. first occurred 2 weeks after new vehicle purchase. out of service for 15 days then returned to owner after software update. same problem occurred again 3 months later, driving on freeway at 60mph. has currently been out of service for 19 days. dealership service department has ordered new power inverter module (hybrid motor). *bf.. *tr
This past monday/tuesday we have the u94 recall service performed, we also had the first recall update done a couple of months ago. u94 was completed, and no issues were noted with the catalytic converter. car was picked up tuesday, but wednesday my wife (who normally drives the vehicle) noted that it smelled a bit like burning rubber when she was driving. i drove the car today to check things out and after about 45 miles of driving when i pressed the accelerator a bit deeper to maintain highway speed during a medium grade climb i didn't notice any increase in power. at the same time i heard a loud popping sound which i initially thought was me running over something in the road (there was truck tire debris). i let off the accelerator momentarily to check the road and ensure i wasn't hitting any rubber debris. i again pressed on the accelerator, but again only electric motor power, and no extra grunt from the ice. i even flipped the hybrid info screen to the one that shows the balance of power from the electric motor and ice. i pressed the accelerator a 3rd time and saw the electric motor indicator go to 100% power, and after a second or so the ice indicator also went to 100%, but still no extra boost of power. at this time i heard another loud pop or two, and started to smell smoke. i realized there was something serious going on with the car. i pulled off to the side of the highway and once the car was no longer in motion with airflow under the hood i could see a significant amount of smoke coming from under the hood. i jumped out and popped the hood and what i saw was the entire exhaust manifold / catalytic converter area was glowing bright orange and smoke was emanating from somewhere deeper in the engine compartment. i called 911, fortunately car did not catch fire. i contacted chrysler corporate customer service, and car was towed to dealer.
Engine caught on fire while driving
Catalytic converter overheated during operation causing a burning smell in cabin. visual inspection of converter showed it was red hot and the color of the sun. check engine light came in and car was not functional. this is related to the botched u73 recall and subsequent rrt.
While driving with my family on the highway at around 70mph, we experienced a loss of power. i coasted to the shoulder, across three lanes of traffic, with cars passing at 60+ mph on both sides. once stopped, we noticed the smell of fire and evacuated the vechicle. car is at dealership awaiting repair, technician stated vechicle still smelled like fire when they pulled it into the shop the morning after the incident. technician also stated this is a known issue related to the catalytic converter.
My family and i were riding along at 70 mph and suddenly, the left side energy consumption meter started bouncing up and down. some burnt rubber smell came through the vents and then the car just start slowing down. i was lucky there were no cars around me and was able to make it across 4 lanes to the right hand side shoulder. all of the lights on my dash were lit but the engine department obviously dead. i powered the car down and tried to crank it again but the computer was confused about which gear i was in. now, the dash only showed the engine light and battery light. after trying this several more times, i gave up and called the fca tow truck which was a horror story all on its own. took me longer to get and fca rep online and conversation finalized (30 min) than it took the tow truck to get to my location (15 min). before the tow truck got to my location, i was able to start the car in gas mode after it died 45 minutes ago and hobbled over to a gas station a 200 feet away. the smell was still prevalent at this point. the tow truck towed the van to the service department where i bought the van (covert in austin) which just happened to coincide within the 10 miles towing limit for my case. this happened 10/6/2018. it's been 9 days and my van hasn't been looked at yet. apparently there aren't enough hybrid techs to go around. covert which is a larger fca dealership in the austin area only has 2 techs. in the mean time, covert lent me a loaner since the day i dropped the van off. not sure what the problem is or when it will be fix. but this doesn't look promising.
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 chrysler pacifica hybrid. while driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle emitted a burning odor. the vehicle was towed to lia chrysler jeep dodge ram northampton (263 king street, northampton, ma 01060, (855) 315-8182) to be diagnosed, but the dealer was unable to locate the burning odor. the dealer found that the battery was discharged. the battery was recharged, but not replaced. the odor recurred while driving home and the check engine indicator illuminated. the contact took the vehicle to bayside chrysler jeep dodge (212 northern blvd, bayside, ny 11361, (718) 229-8700) where it was diagnosed that the catalytic converter was clogged and was not performing normally. the catalytic converter was replaced. the manufacturer was contacted. the vehicle was not included in nhtsa campaign number: 18v740000 (hybrid propulsion system, engine and engine cooling). the failure mileage was 1,000.
Brand new, 5 day old hybrid pacifica with 250 miles stalled out while slowing down to complete a 3 point turn on a two lane road. prior to stall brakes were 'mushy' and not as reaponsive, however during the turn breaks failed completely, and power steering went out. forced to slam on breaks while forcing steering wheel to complete turn. initially thought emergency breaking engaged to stop car that was now headed towards a curb and pedestrians but more likely hit the curb causing the car to stop hard. car remained purpendicular to oncoming traffic for approximately 2-4 minutes while i tried to restart engine. 7-8 cars began to back up on each side of car continuing to cause a increasingly dangerous situation. had not experienced any issue until 'mushy breaks' about 1 block prior to 3 point turn and stalling. incredibly dangerous! purchased this car based on safety ratings and hybrid feature with hopes of driving it for a minimum of 5 years. completely terrified to put my family back in the car as they could have been seriously injured or killed due only to car malfunction, as could have those that were in the path of unresponsive car. under the california lemon law i am expected to put my family back into a car that is dangerous only to prove that it once again put my family in a life threatening situation. this is why people take these dangerous cars to car max or sell them privately, without full disclosure, so they don't have to put their loved ones at risk without completely losing $50,000. dangerous car! dangerous law!
Was driving the vehicle at 70mph on the freeway. a "thunk" sound occurred and the car began decelerating rapidly despite pressing down on the gas pedal. check engine light turned on and the car continued to decelerate. cabin filled with a small amount of smoke. came to a complete stop and the car would no longer accelerate at all. turned the car off and then on to get it the final 100 feet to a gas station. parked and the car smelled like smoke/burning in the cabin and the engine compartment. turned off the vehicle until a tow truck arrived. when tow truck arrived, turned vehicle on to turn off electric parking brake; all electronics in the vehicle were acting up and could not turn off parking brake for a good 15 minutes. finally got it off and towed to the closest dealer. *dt *tr
While on traffic 20-30 miles just after the 34miles battery charged ran out and when the car switched to engine mode the car stalled in the middle of the i80 highway. followed on screen instruction to re start the engine and started after a minute or two and ran at a speed below 30miles per hour to a carpark. amber engine lighted up and burning smell. i left and charged it in the carpark and managed to go home normally while using battery charge. went to the dealership and said that its an ongoing issue and that catalytic converter is broken and could take a while as it is on back order. so i am on rental now but don't know when will the car be fixed. *dt *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 chrysler pacifica hybrid. while the contact's wife was driving 70 mph, an abnormal noise was heard and the engine stalled. the contact noticed smoke coming from under the hood. when the vehicle was stopped and the hood was lifted, the contact noticed flames coming from the rear of the engine in front of the firewall. the fire marshall extinguished the fire and the police filed report number: 2018-2716. the cause of the fire was unknown. there were no injuries. the vehicle was towed to an unknown chrysler dealer, but had not been diagnosed. it was unknown if the vehicle was destroyed. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was approximately 2,900. consumer stated vehicle status is in limbo. chrysler stated "we are unable to discuss the case due to an open ongoing investigation." as of this next saturday, 6 october, it will be 3 weeks that the vehicle will be sitting on the dealership lot. updated 10/18/18*jb ...*bf *bf. updated 10/31/18*jb
The car engine was not responding when the car was stationary (in a parking lot) and all the electronics systems were continuously on for 3-4 hours and second row doors and trunk were not opening. the car can not be towed as the car wont go into neutral mode, the manual way to put the ca in neutral mode was using a yellow cable and the cable itself was missing. this is the manufacturers defect as the car is not fully loaded so its not functional. this happened twice within a week and caused lot of trouble to get help. both the time i had to spend 4-5 hours to resolve the problem. the car will jump start after all the electronics system is off (after 3-4 hours) and then it would be drivable. i do not feel safe to drive this car anymore specially because i drive this car around the town with my kids. the car can shut off even while driving so its a dangerous car to drive around anywhere.
The car totally shut off when driving 20 mph. full tank of gas. brand new car with 5,000 miles on it. called chrysler -- they left us abandoned mid-road, they said it would take the 90 minutes. we purchased the top, perpetual warranty. called aaa who got the car onto a flatbed. but no way to get it off because wheels are locked. chrysler non-responsive. car non-responsive.
While driving on city street vehicle lost all propulsion with warning lights on. pushed car to safe area and noticed burning smell which was getting worse. evacuated vehicle and noticed burning smell intensifying. towed to dealership, where software update was performed as well as both catalytic converters replaced with associated exhaust piping due to severe heat damage. i was informed that the recent over the air update caused the fuel mix to be rich and the exhaust temperature to exceed safe limits. entire vehicle could have burned which would have ignited the lithium batteries causing an explosion.
Incident #1 (7/17/2018) - while breaking towards a traffic light that turned from red to green, i attempted to accelerate but heard a loud popping noise, felt the van lurch, and immediately lost all power to the vehicle. numerous warning lights appeared on the dashboard including engine light & power/hybrid plug-in failure. i was able to steer to the side of the road and break to a stop, and restart 1-2 minutes later. brought to chrysler dealer on 7/20 and was told on 7/21 upon pickup that the issue had been rectified via software update. incident #2 (7/23/2018) - while moving slowly in traffic, i attempted to accelerate as the vehicles ahead of me moved and again lost all power with the same set of errors/warnings mentioned in incident #1. once again, after 1-2 minutes i was able to restart the vehicle. i brought to a different local chrysler dealer that same day. picked up the vehicle on 7/24 and was told that after thorough multi-point mechanical inspection with the fca engineers, the company believed the previous dealer had incorrectly applied the software update. dealer test drove the vehicle for 20 miles and could not recreate the issue. incident #3 (8/21/2018) - while again moving in traffic, my wife (with our 1 year old in the back) again suddenly lost all power as mentioned in incident #1 and #2 above, except she also had the steering completely lock up on her. she was able to break to a stop mid-traffic and restarted the vehicle 1-2 minutes later. soon thereafter i called fca corporate directly and have requested a full repurchase of the vehicle and plan to pursue lemon law remediation if that doesn't lead to resolution. all three incidents are life threatening in nature and have not been diagnosable by multiple chrysler dealerships working in conjunction with fca engineers. (image provided from incident #2) *tt
My brand new 2018 chrysler pacifica hybrid which i got on july 4th 2018 shuts off last week on a highway while i was driving from raleigh to charlotte about 70 miles/hr. with lot of difficulty we were able to pull over. i stopped the car and restarted the car, the car behaved normal but with malfunction indicator in my dash. dealer is saying there was buggy software installed on july 3rd 2018 as a part of some u73 recall. our family is very scared to sit in the car again. they are saying 2 parts damaged in car due to the buggy software patch applied, pcm codes p0420, p0430 - catalytic converter efficiency failure (both). chrysler customer care says no issue with software, dealer is saying it's software bug caused the issue. i am confused now whom to believe. they said i will get my car in a month (may be). very unsatisfying and feel very unsafe in this car now. kindly do the needful. *tt *tr
Two weeks into ownership and with only 750 miles driven, the engine started smoking and caught fire while i was driving my family to lunch. i was heading eastbound on highway 18 in washington state, toward i-90. *bf *bf *dsy updated 10/31/18*jb
We were driving car at 25 mph on busy city road in gas mode (not electric mode) when the power steering and accelerator stopped working. the check engine and battery indicator lights lit up, and a message saying "car must be in park to continue driving" showed up on the dashboard. the brakes worked, and we coasted to a stop and were stuck in the middle of an intersection on a busy artery. when we put the car in park, it would not then go back into drive or reverse; the "d" and "r" gear lights were flashing. the car would not turn off, it would stay in run mode when we tried to turn it off. battery operated functions, like power sliding doors, stopped working. earlier in the day, the car had a rough idle while in gas mode.
The vehicle had no power at a stoplight. it was like the vehicle had completely shut down, but the power display was still on. i was unable to go forward and the car. i turned off the engine completely and after about 30 secs or so, restarted the car and then i was able to regain power. no warning lights or indicators came on. then a burnt smell started coming from the car.
I took my van in for recall and was fixed on 7/16/18 for cruise control problem. everyday since the fan comes on while parked in the garage and charging (level 2) at a very high noise level. roller coaster type noise. you can hear it all over the house. car sounds like it is going to explode. never happened before the recall fix for cruise control. videos of same type of problem are on the facebook group for this car. search for "chrysler pacifica plug-in hybrid". i also videotaped the car making the noise but won't be able to upload such a large file.
While driving at approximately 55mph, on an overpass ramp connecting two different freeways, driving uphill around a broad turn, the car suddenly became non-responsive to pumping the gas pedal or applying the breaks. steering was still possible. i turned on the hazard lights and continued to steer the car around the bend as it decelerated (it was 25mph or less before i got it restarted). concurrently, i shifted into reverse (i intended to turn the knob to neutral but overshot due to nerves), then back into neutral, and back into drive. at that point, the gas pedal became responsive again, and the car drove normally subsequently. at the time of the incident, the car was in electric mode (although given that the car was going up an incline on the freeway, it is possible that the gas engine kicked in briefly and i didn't notice), with approximately 50% battery remaining. additionally, the car was under recall (u73/nhtsa 18v-332) for a cruise control problem and had not yet had the software update required to address the recall problem. however, cruise control was not engaged during this incident, and the dealership told me subsequently that the problem i reported was not part of the cruise control recall. the car was purchased new six months previously, and its first maintenance appointment was scheduled the day following this incident. no accident resulted from the incident, and the police were not involved. driving conditions were optimal, with light traffic on a sunny, dry day.
Chrysler issued a u73 update as a recall in june 2018 or so and then quietly updated the same u73 software as part of their rrt 18-087 because the software update in june has been burning out catalytic converters and some cars are catching on fire. i feel that because this isn't a recall that more cars are going to catch on fire until it is. please look at the facebook group "chrysler pacifica hybrid-fire risk: read group announcement" for multiple people reporting about the issue. fyi i had this update done on my personal car because i frequent the forums and facebook group. i personally did not have an issue but i've seen reports of many people who have.
With just 200 miles and having owned the vehicle 3 weeks, vehicle lost power on freeway and my wife coasted off to the side with car fully stalling and ignition locking up within 1/4 mile. vehicle was towed to dealership but worked fine next day. 100 miles later and about 3 weeks on different freeway the same thing happened again and vehicle was towed back to dealership. the car seems to stall in hybrid or gas mode. service staff changed battery and tried various things but service department had the car stall out again on test drive on freeway and van was towed back. chrysler sent their own service specialist and after main computer was changed and controls set, car was driven a couple of miles on city streets by the expert before stalling out. after three months, and less than 500 miles, we are asking for a refund and the car has yet to be fixed. *tt
I purchased the 2018 chrysler pacifica hybrid in december 2018. in february 2018 at about 3500 miles, the vehicle's engine light turned on and the engine sounded loud. i took the vehicle to the dealership and was informed that a pin was missing from the exhaust camshaft phaser. the pin was not installed with the manufacture of the vehicle according to the technician. the exhaust camshaft was replaced along with a camshaft phaser, oil control solenoid, and cylinder head cover gasket. subsequently, the transmission failed and was replaced at about 6500 miles in june 2018. the vehicle is now in the repair shop awaiting diagnosis of another issue. i am not an expert in engines. i am concerned that my vehicle may not be the only vehicle manufactured without the camshaft pin. again, i am not an expert, but i am concerned that the missing pin may result in inopportune engine failure that could result in endangerment of occupants of any faultily manufactured vehicles.