NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
Power Train complaints
55 reportsClear category filterMileage unknown · Sep 22, 2024
EngineForward Collision AvoidancePower Train
I was driving on the interstate with adaptive cruise control active. The gasoline engine was running. The vehicle suddenly made a "ding" sound, and the main driver screen displayed an error message "Stop Safely. The Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon". The engine shut down and vehicle completely lost motive power. I had to rapidly…
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I was driving on the interstate with adaptive cruise control active. The gasoline engine was running. The vehicle suddenly made a "ding" sound, and the main driver screen displayed an error message "Stop Safely. The Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon". The engine shut down and vehicle completely lost motive power. I had to rapidly change across three lanes of traffic to reach the shoulder while losing speed, where I eventually parked with the hazard lights on. As we sat parked on the shoulder, the driver screen screen also showed a red battery-shaped indicator in the upper left, and an orange speedometer with an exclamation point in the upper right.
NHTSA ODI #11615877
Mileage unknown · Sep 5, 2024
EnginePower Train
While driving on major highway, A/C stopped blowing cold air. Out side temperature above 80 degrees. Engine light came on, and later quick warning to this effect" caution, car will shut off soon" And less than 15 seconds or so engine turned off and we LUCKILY coasted across lanes to the breakdown lane. That could have been di…
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While driving on major highway, A/C stopped blowing cold air. Out side temperature above 80 degrees. Engine light came on, and later quick warning to this effect" caution, car will shut off soon" And less than 15 seconds or so engine turned off and we LUCKILY coasted across lanes to the breakdown lane. That could have been disastrous! Car would not restart. After about an hour we were able to restart the car and driver again for maybe 30 minutes before AC shut off again. This time we made it to an unscheduled hotel. Next morning car was fine, ran fine to our destination.4 days later driving home. Temp above 80. Driving for more than 3 hours..same sequence; AC shuts off, Caution warning, engine shutdown.
NHTSA ODI #11612831
Mileage unknown · Aug 31, 2024
Electrical SystemEnginePower Train
While driving, vehicle chimes and displays "Stop Safely Vehicle will Shut Off Soon." While brakes and steering remain available, throttle control is instantly gone and vehicle needs to be coasted to a safe stop. Upon powering off and waiting ~10 minutes, the vehicle will restart (with check engine light and "service charing sy…
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While driving, vehicle chimes and displays "Stop Safely Vehicle will Shut Off Soon." While brakes and steering remain available, throttle control is instantly gone and vehicle needs to be coasted to a safe stop. Upon powering off and waiting ~10 minutes, the vehicle will restart (with check engine light and "service charing system" displayed) and drive normally. This situation happened four times while attempting to make it back home safely (once on an interstate traveling ~70 mph, twice on a highway traveling ~55 mph, and once in town at ~30 mph). Thankfully all situations had adequate shoulder and understanding traffic, but with instant loss of power, the vehicle is incredibly dangerous.
NHTSA ODI #11611920
Mileage unknown · Aug 22, 2024
Electrical SystemEnginePower Train
Outside temperature was over 80 degrees, we were driving long distance on a highway. First the air conditioning failed. Then the "Remaining miles on battery" started to go up ( even though it had been a long time since we charged). When it got to about 12, we got a dashboard message that said "Engine shutting down, get to a safe…
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Outside temperature was over 80 degrees, we were driving long distance on a highway. First the air conditioning failed. Then the "Remaining miles on battery" started to go up ( even though it had been a long time since we charged). When it got to about 12, we got a dashboard message that said "Engine shutting down, get to a safe place". We pulled over just in time as the engine did shut off, the shutdown happened in about 15 seconds. The car did not restart for at least 30 minutes. Message said something about "Check charging system". This happened repeatedly, leaving us in dangerous conditions on the side of the very busy highway. "Check Engine" light was on. At least once we had a message that said something about "Check Powertrain". One dealer checked the code on his computer, but could not help any further as they were too busy. He would not give us the paper with the code. We took the car to a dealer when we got home. The "Check Engine" light had turned off, but the dealer cannot find any problems with the car. It is a huge safety problem when your car shuts down with very little notice. We are afraid to drive the car now.
NHTSA ODI #11610322
Mileage unknown · Aug 6, 2024
EngineFuel/propulsion SystemPower Train
We were driving on the highway when we got a warning to pull over safely as the vehicle will shut down soon. The accelerator became unresponsive, and the vehicle began losing power. This has happened a number of times and we took it into the dealer who replaced the transmission. However, on various social media sites, it has b…
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We were driving on the highway when we got a warning to pull over safely as the vehicle will shut down soon. The accelerator became unresponsive, and the vehicle began losing power. This has happened a number of times and we took it into the dealer who replaced the transmission. However, on various social media sites, it has been reported that this has been happening to many many people. This is an extremely dangerous situation for so many people unaware of the potential. As I understand it, they replace the transmission with a like transmission. The problem is not actually being solved. They are simply offering a short term fix with the potential for it to happen again. It is reported by others that their second transmission has done the same thing. Below is one example of a social media post where others have claimed the same issue. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA ODI #11606696
Mileage unknown · Jul 11, 2024
Power Train
In April 2024 our vehicle turned off while driving with our children in the car. A warning light came on stating the car would lose power, it did within 30 seconds. Our transmission was replaced. In June 2024, the same thing happened on the interstate putting us in an extremely unsafe and scary situation. Our power inverter modu…
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In April 2024 our vehicle turned off while driving with our children in the car. A warning light came on stating the car would lose power, it did within 30 seconds. Our transmission was replaced. In June 2024, the same thing happened on the interstate putting us in an extremely unsafe and scary situation. Our power inverter module now needs to be replaced and the repair has been ongoing for over a month.
NHTSA ODI #11601318
Mileage unknown · Jul 11, 2024
Electrical SystemFuel/propulsion SystemPower Train
Van lost motive power and screen showed the attached warning message. Waiting on dealership to replace the transmission, but it's backordered with no estimated availability.
NHTSA ODI #11601308
Mileage unknown · Jun 30, 2024
Fuel/propulsion SystemPower Train
Driving at Interstate speed, dash message stated to pull over, engine shutting down. Coasted to stop on shoulder. Waited 5 minutes, turned on ignition, check engine light was on. Restarted vehicle, drove ~20 miles and same occurrence. Was able to return home to dealership. The OBD reader said the PCM (Powertrain control Module) …
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Driving at Interstate speed, dash message stated to pull over, engine shutting down. Coasted to stop on shoulder. Waited 5 minutes, turned on ignition, check engine light was on. Restarted vehicle, drove ~20 miles and same occurrence. Was able to return home to dealership. The OBD reader said the PCM (Powertrain control Module) had failed. Service Dept. sent info to Chrysler Corp. Service, which stated the transmission was at fault. Car mileage was ~16,500 miles. Under warranty, the transmission is being replaced.
NHTSA ODI #11597804
Mileage unknown · May 12, 2024
Power Train
Vehicle stopped twice while driving on the highway. Very scary. The car forced me to stop. I got an email from the vehicle at the time of the incident saying it was a powertrain failure. And the dealer says its a transmission issue The vehicle displayed this on the dashboard when it was stopping. Safely - Vehicle will shut off…
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Vehicle stopped twice while driving on the highway. Very scary. The car forced me to stop. I got an email from the vehicle at the time of the incident saying it was a powertrain failure. And the dealer says its a transmission issue The vehicle displayed this on the dashboard when it was stopping. Safely - Vehicle will shut off soon
NHTSA ODI #11588300
Mileage unknown · May 10, 2024
Power Train
On 5/6/24 I was driving on the highway when suddenly a warning came on the dashboard that said stop safely. The vehicle will shut off soon. I was able to quickly get off the highway and I barely made it into a gas station. I had to cross several lanes of oncoming traffic to do this, and by that time, the vehicle was literally sh…
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On 5/6/24 I was driving on the highway when suddenly a warning came on the dashboard that said stop safely. The vehicle will shut off soon. I was able to quickly get off the highway and I barely made it into a gas station. I had to cross several lanes of oncoming traffic to do this, and by that time, the vehicle was literally shutting down and I, barely made it into the gas station. My safety was put at risk because I was going 55 miles an hour on a highway that had no shoulder to pull off to and I had no idea how long I had until the vehicle was going to shut down. I was so terrified of being stuck on this highway that I took a risk by exiting the highway worrying the whole time that I would get stuck at any moment. Because it was a Monday and a very busy day for tow trucks I had to wait 3 1/2 hours for a tow truck to come. I was in a part of town. I would never normally stop in because it is not safe. As a said earlier, the warning light came on the dash suddenly
NHTSA ODI #11587990
NHTSA investigations
2RQ24004 · Loss Of Motive Power Due To An Internal Wiring Connector Short.
Opened Feb 27, 2024 · No close date supplied
Status: open (inferred from source dates) · Electrical System:wiring
On July 22, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened investigation PE22-008 regarding complaints alleging a loss of motive power condition potentially due to a transmission malfunction in Model Years 2019-2021 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). On January 17, 2023, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) issued safety recall (NHTSA Recall 23V-010) involving 2017-2023 Model Years (MY) Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) produced between August 12, 2016, through January 9, 2023. The recall states that the loss of motive power condition in these vehicles is caused by an internal transmission wiring connector that may short circuit, resulting in an unexpected engine shutdown. An unexpected engine shutdown can cause a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash. In discussions with FCA on Recall 23V-010, ODI confirmed the recall was related to investigation PE22-008. The remedy for 23V-010 is to update the Power Inverter module (PIM) and/or Instrument Panel Cluster (IPC) software to provide drivers a message stating “Stop Safely - Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon” followed by a chime and MIL, PRNDL blinking (on cluster and shifter knob), low SOC (State of Charge) warning and reduced power mode. The recall remedy does not replace the defective hardware that was described in Recall 23V-010, and the wiring connector short still exists on these vehicles. To date, ODI has received 132 reports for the population of vehicles subject to recall 23V-010. These reports allege a loss of motive power condition that reduces the vehicles speed, followed by dashboard warning lamps displaying messages associated with recall 23V-010. The presence of these warning lamps and messages indicates the vehicle likely had the recall remedy applied. Follow up discussions with FCA confirm their remedy does not prevent a loss of motive power, but instead limits torque to the engine and after an unspecified number of miles or period of time, the engine will shut down. When this occurs, FCA relies on the owner to transport the vehicle to a dealership after they experience a loss of motive power condition, at which time the defective hardware is replaced. Furthermore, the dashboard messages introduced in the recall remedy may cause the driver to pull over in an unsafe location. Pulling over in an unsafe location may expose the occupants to undue harm. The Office of Defects Investigation is opening this Recall Query (RQ) to assess the adequacy, frequency, and safety consequence of the remedy for recall 23V-010. To review the ODI reports cited in the opening resume ODI report identification number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
PE22008 · Transmission Fault Leading To Loss Of Motive Power
Opened Jul 22, 2022 · Closed Mar 27, 2024
Status: closed (inferred from source dates) · Power Train
On July 22, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE22008 to investigate allegation of loss of motive power, potentially due to transmission malfunction, in certain Chrysler Pacifica vehicles. In a January 17, 2023 letter to NHTSA, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) submitted recall notice 23V-010 involving a transmission motor wiring defect in 67,118 model year (MY) 2017-2023 Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) manufactured from August 12, 2016 through January 9, 2023. FCA determined that an internal transmission connector short could result in an unexpected engine shutdown under certain conditions. Follow up correspondence with FCA confirmed this defect results in an electric motor position trouble code that was the basis for opening PE22008, therefore NHTSA is closing this investigation. The 23V-010 recall remedy is a software update to address the hardware failure associated with PE22008. When a hardware failure is detected, the vehicle limits motive power while instructing the driver to pull over to a safe location. NHTSA is concerned that drivers will pull over to an unsafe location when the warning message associated with the recall remedy displays on the dashboard. Due to the nature of the recall remedy and related reports, NHTSA has opened Recall Query RQ24004 to assess the recall remedy. The reports and failure report summary values included with this closing action are related to allegations of Recall 23V-010 remedy inadequacy. The Agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. To review the ODI reports cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.