2021 Chrysler Pacifica

Component: The Low gear does not function properly. When the car is in Low on a steep grade it allows the engine to rev up to 6,000 RPM before shifting into second gear. On a hill, the RPMs rev up quickly and the car’s momentum is not properly arrested. In practice, this car does not have a true Low gear. L1 acts more like an L4. Safety risk: We use this car in the mountains of Virginia. We have an AWD model, which performs great in the snow. However, with no hill descent feature and a malfunctioning Low gear it is dangerous to drive the car in the mountains. Driving down a snowy mountain with no low gear is a major risk. Service center: Yes, the problem has been confirmed by my local dealer, both in my car and in a brand new 2021 Pacifica. Inspected by others: No. It was confirmed by the service manager of my local dealer only. I emailed Chrysler but have not received a response. Warning lights: No. The vehicle is performing as it was designed, there are no malfunction lights. According to the dealer service manager it is a transmission problem. He thinks it is a problem with the computer system as well as the ratios for the transmission system. After confirming the problem in my car we tested a brand new 2021 Pacifica (9 miles driven). Our first time down a hill it worked perfectly, the RPMs held below 3,000 and the low gear slowed our descent. By our third attempt, the RPMs were revving to 6,000, and the low gear “grip” was gone. The service manager conjectured that there is something in the computer system telling the Low gear to act like that. Which doesn’t make any sense because revving the RPMs up to 6,000 is not healthy for the engine. I have a video of the problem but it doesn’t allow me to upload it below. Thank you!

The car stopped 2 times on it's own, told me to shift to park immediately but was in essence shutting itself off. Once approaching a stop light going ~10 mph and the second time I was going 50 mph down the road. The first time 3 warnings flashed across my screen, Service Charging System Service Required, Front Parksense Unavailable Service Required, Active Parksense Unavailable Service Required, I shut the car completely off waited a couple minutes and turned it back on. The check engine light stayed on. During the 2nd event it was only Service Charging System, after i shut the car off and restarted the Uconnect started updating and I couldn't drive and the check engine light came on.

We have now had two incidences where the vehicle is being driven both on the highway and in the city. The vehicle malfunctions without any indication or warning. While driving the vehicle beeps and the check engine light comes on, you lose all control or ability to accelerate. You still have steering. The screen on the dash in front of the driver flashes and continues to flash and says there is an issue, while saying to move the drive to park. The drive options (park, drive, reverse, etc) flashes on and off but will not move anyways. You are essentially forced to cruise to a stop hopefully in a safe place or emergently braking. The only way to get the vehicle to reset is once completely stopped. To push the ignition off button. Which does not fully turn it off. You then have to open the driver door hopefully safely. And allow the vehicle to completely shut off. Then get back in and it will usually start at this point with the check engine light still on. We have video and pictures of this happening to us both times and am have seen others experience this extremely dangerous situation. I am going to report to the dealer and the customer service for Chrysler as well. Then the news.

This Chrysler Pacifica is only a few weeks old with around 1700 miles on it- I had only made our first car payment a few days prior. I tried to put my car in park in a long line of vehicles, and heard a clicking noise, followed by an immediate dinging with an error message. The vehicle told me "service trans." It would not allow me to park my vehicle. Shortly after this happened, the service engine light came on. There was absolutely no indication of anything being wrong with my BRAND NEW vehicle prior to this incident. I was able to drive the car home without error in the drive function, but shortly after arriving home, the car also starting dropping out of drive. Through all of this, I was not able to place my vehicle in park. I had no option but to drive my children in a vehicle that was consistently dropping out of drive and completely not able to park outside of using the parking brake. To me, this is the worst possible safety concern. This vehicle is BRAND NEW by all standards. We drove the vehicle straight to our dealership for servicing. The vehicle died on the lot before they were able to pull it into the service bay, as the car would not turn off until it was placed in park; which could not be achieved. The dealership claimed it was an alternator issue and has ordered a replacement part, which we are waiting on as I write this report. We were told that our dealership has seen similar issues in Chrysler Pacificas recently. It is absolutely a massive safety concern to me that this could affect the transmission in such a profound way, especially so soon after driving my vehicle off the lot.

While driving on the interstate at ~60MPH the vehicle suddenly shut off and flashed a "Service Charging System" Error. The gas pedal was unresponsive and we were forced to swerve through traffic as the vehicle was rapidly decelerating to make our way to the side of the interstate. This is a minivan, and as a minivan, we were using it for it's intended purpose of transporting our 4 small children to school and daycare. Because this event happened on the interstate, not only did we risk a high speed crash, but we had to move the kids from one vehicle to another as cars whizzed by at 60-70mph. We tried multiple attempts at restarting the vehicle and it would not restart. The vehicle is currently at the dealership and is being looked at under warranty.

While driving our 2021 Chrysler Pacifica PHEV in EV on the highway, at speed of 65 mph, the vehicle lost power and the accelerator pedal became unresponsive. This has occurred on three occassions, each on different days. The dashboard signaled these issues: Shift to P to Start, Service Charging System, and the check engine light indicator. This is a very serious safety issue. The Engine and Power failed while driving at highway speed, this has occurred 3 times in the past few weeks. After losing power, the vehicle can only coast using it's own momentum. The steering and braking functions remained operable, so the driver was able to steer the car to change lanes (while losing speed) to get to the shoulder. This UNSAFE for my family because vehicle is at risk of being rear ended while on the highway. This is unsafe for anyone in the vehicle directly behind my vehicle. After the 2nd incident of losing power while on highway, I made an appointment with local Chrysler Dealer's service department. They inspected the vehicle and, as I understand it, they found a message or fault indicator that was somewhat concerning in relation to the electrical system. The service provided a solution by adjusting or tuning something. They did not replace any parts. Three days after the service was done, the problem occurred again; again, my vehicle lost power while going ~65mph on the highway. I called local chrysler service and left message with them today, requesting another service appointment. When they call me back I will request Chrysler to report this as a safety issue.

Here is our list they are "working on"... 1. had the no start issue 3 times...the first 2 times I could ONLY get it to start using the U-Connect app that we got free for the first year or whatever. The 3rd time I eventually got it to start after 3 tries. I did actually record the 2nd attempt so I have video proof of the exact issue. 2. we also have the issue of the entire system not shutting down after turning the car off AND completely exiting the vehicle...and even locking it. I can sit outside the van and listen to the music continue playing until it eventually shuts itself off after about a minute. Yes I know there are settings for it to remain playing after turning off the car but it is supposed to turn off when you open the door. 3. we have unreliable mirror folding issues...sometimes they fold when you park and unfold as they should...and sometimes they just don't at all...which really sucks in the garage and 3 kids running around the van. 4. a couple times while driving it, the main 10" screen just went black and all music stopped and then it rebooted itself and showed the Chrysler symbol and then all came back online. Side note, my workplace has a 2021 regular gas Pacifica and this happened at about our 1 hour mark into a 3 hour trip also...probably a software issue. 5. we don't get even close to 30 miles range on the battery...more like 20 if we are lucky...not sure on this one. 6. the rear lift gate button only works some of the time. basically if we don't close it within about a minute of opening it, then we have to manually pull it down (we never did get to try using the button up front or the remote, but the actual button at the rear liftgate area just doesn't work reliably). 7. this one is a little strange...but the XM stations don't update the actual song name when sitting in that multi-page view. It will just show the first song that played. The only way to update the song name is to actually hit the media icon to make it go full screen.

WHEN ATTEMPTING TO START THE VAN IT WILL PERIODICALLY NOT ENGAGE. THE GEAR SELECTOR WILL BLINK WHEN YOU SELECT A GEAR, BUT IT WILL NOT RESPOND TO THROTTLE. THE VEHICLE WILL ROLL HOWEVER. THIS BECOMES A GREATER PROBLEM AS YOU NEED TO REMOVE YOUR FOOT FROM THE BRAKE TO CYCLE THE VAN BACK TO OFF. ALL OF THESE ISSUES ARE COMPOUNDED BY FACT IT IS A PHEV AND THERE IS NO ENGINE NOISE TO HELP YOU NOTICE IT HAS NOT STARTED. CHRYSLER HAS SAID THEY ARE AWARE OF THE ISSUE, BUT THEY HAVE GIVEN NO INFORMATION OTHER THAN A FIX IS SUPPOSED TO COME SOMETIME IN Q2 OF 2021.

WHEN THE CAR WAS STOPPED AT A STOP SIGN GETTING READY TO MAKE A RIGHT TURN, THE ENGINE TURNED OFF. THOUGH THE CAR WAS ON DRIVE, I WAS UNABLE TO ACCELERATE OR MOVE THE CAR. I HAD TO SHIFT TO PARK, RESTART THE CAR AND WAS THEN ABLE TO DRIVE. THIS HAPPENED ELEVEN DAYS LATER AGAIN, IN EVEN SCARIER CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ENGINE TURNED OFF WHEN I WAS SLOWING DOWN IN PREPARATION TO MERGE INTO A HIGHWAY. THE CAR TURNED OFF AND STOPPED AND I COULD NOT ACCELERATE OR DRIVE, HOLDING UP THE CARS BEHIND ME. AGAIN I HAD TO SHIFT THE CAR TO PARK AND RESTART THE CAR BEFORE I COULD SHIFT BACK TO DRIVE AND START DRIVING. I HAD MY FOUR KIDS IN THE CAR WITH ME AND THIS WAS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND TERRIFYING FOR EVERYONE. A CAR THAT SUDDENLY TURNS OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF DRIVING WITHOUT WARNING IS NOT SAFE TO BE ON THE ROAD.