2020 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid: engine stalls while driving

Filed Dec 30, 2024 · Electrical · 50,000 miles · FL

The contact's mother owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle started losing motive power. The contact stated that his mother observed the message "Stop Safely - Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon" and immediately after the warning light was illuminated the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the vehicle was towed to the residence and was later restarted, and the vehicle was taken to a dealer. The contact stated that the dealer had diagnosed the vehicle but could not duplicate the failure. The dealer recommended that the vehicle be returned to the dealer if the failure was returned. The failure reoccurred and the vehicle was taken back to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The contact researched online and related the failure to the federal safety agency Action Number: RQ24004 (Electrical System). The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

Filed Aug 27, 2023 · Fuel system, Transmission · MI

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.

Filed Jul 12, 2023 · Electrical, Fuel system · 50,000 miles · AL

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 the federal safety agency 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.

Filed Apr 25, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · MO

Car stalled (engine stopped working) while driving on highway.

Filed Mar 7, 2023 · Engine · 24,813 miles · TX

The contact owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The check engine warning light illuminated intermittently. The vehicle was taken to an Auto Parts store for a diagnostic test. The employee retrieved DTC: P0A43-00 (Drive motor ‘A’ position sensor circuit intermittent). The vehicle was taken to the dealer, and update 22-100 was performed; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to Nyle Maxwell Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM of Austin (13401 Highway, Ranch Rd 620 N, Austin, TX 78717) where the vehicle was diagnosed and the contact was informed that the vehicle experienced the failure listed in the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 23V010000 (Electrical System, Hybrid Propulsion System) however, the contact stated that the part to do the recall repair was not available. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 24,813.

Filed Oct 6, 2022 · Electrical · MS

The car alerted me that it would shut off while driving down the highway at 65 mph. It had 65 mile range on gas. Gas pedal was unresponsive and I coasted to a stop. Car would restart but gas pedal would not make the van go.

Filed Sep 19, 2022 · Transmission · MI

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.

Filed Dec 14, 2021 · Brakes, Electrical · VA

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.

Filed Oct 18, 2021 · Transmission · GA

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

Filed Apr 15, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · 11,000 miles · TX

The vehicle is an electric and gas hybrid vehicle. While driving the vehicle at highway speeds, the vehicle goes completely dead. There is no power to accelerate, no power steering, reduced braking. This happened in june of 2020 and the vehicle had to be towed to the dealership. The dealership had the vehicle for approx. 3 weeks to repair and a new electrical inverter was installed. A similar event happened on 04-13-2021, however this time once the vehicle went dead and the vehicle coasted to a stop, after trying to turn the vehicle back on it was again under power. The vehicle was able to be cautiously driven to the dealership and at the time of writing this it is being services for this issue. In both the june 2020 and current situation, there was an error code stating "service charging system". In both circumstances, this has occurred at highway speeds with significant urban traffic. My wife was driving the vehicle this last time with our child in the vehicle. When this happened she was on a one lane express lane where people travel at the highest highway speeds. She was so concerned about getting struck by another vehicle she considered having both of them depart the vehicle and cross multiple lanes of traffic to get to safety. It is extremely dangerous for the people in the vehicle and for cars around the stalled vehicle. Thankfully they did not get struck.