Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid warning lights comes on

Filed Feb 12, 2025 · Acceleration, Electrical · MD

Vehicle had been operating less than 5 minutes. When I was on an on-ramp for a left entrance to a highway, several warning lights illuminated in addition to messaging on my dash. The car entered "turtle mode" which extremely limited the speed of the vehicle. I immediately pressed the button for my hazard lights to come on, but they did not operate correctly. They flashed so rarely that they did not warn vehicles behind me that I was having an incident. During this incident, the vehicle speedometer was inoperable, displaying "-- --" instead of a speed. I was lucky to be able to pull to the shoulder, but with the narrow shoulder and my child in the car I felt safer limping off the highway using primarily the shoulder. I was terrified and had some cars nearly hit me/honk as I was going approximately 10 miles per hour on a 55mph roadway. I have seen similar reports on online forums for chrysler pacifica minivans, so I am not the only one to encounter the issue. The vehicle has also at times refused to go into gear while in Park, which is a related problem but I don't deem it a safety issue. The problem is intermittent and the service center is able to see 'codes' when they examine the vehicle but as the issue is intermittent they have returned the car to me twice with no repairs performed since it didn't occur while they had it. The warning lights and turtle mode occurred simultaneously or within a few seconds. I have a video during the incident. I can see the fuel gauge needle rising and falling wildly, turtle mode, a picture of a wrench, check engine, parking brake, brake, collision avoidance, ABS, and others. Each time the vehicle has gone in for service they have seen and cleared codes but they did not come back immediately, so no repairs were attempted. It is in the shop again currently and I have escalated to the manufacturer to hopefully get greater assistance.

Filed Nov 11, 2024 · Transmission · CA

After three separate incidents of stalling on the freeway, with multiple lights and chimes coming up on the dashboard, I got the car to the dealership. It needs a new transmission. The car has 25k miles on it.

Filed Jul 28, 2024 · Electrical, Engine · CA

Two children and I were put in a very dangerous situation when our Avis rental car (2024 Chrysler Pacifica) stopped suddenly, with hardly any notice, while in motion. As the driver, mid Uturn off a busy offramp near [XXX] in CA, I had a moment's notice before I lost all power to the vehicle. The engine light, battery light both went on and I lost all ability to move the car despite having 1/2 tank of gas. The car ended up in a precarious angle across a lane of traffic and put us at very serious risk of being hit from behind by other cars moving at high speed. The responding CHP officer stated in no uncertain terms was that vehicle to be driven on the freeway more that day. The tow truck operator remarked that I was the second driver of a Chrysler Pacifica that he picked up that week to report the exact same problem with the car stopping while in motion and leaving the driver with little time/space to maneuver the car to a safe position. It is commonly reported that these vehicles "reset" often soon after, with all warning lights back to normal, and so the next unsuspecting rental car customer would have no idea that they are at serious risk of rear end collision at high speeds if they are driving on the freeway in one of these vehicles. Please recall the 2024 Chrysler Pacifica to avoid serious injuries or fatalities. Repair techs should believe customers when they report this dangerous spontaneous shut down, regardless of how the car later presents at a maintenance visit. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed May 4, 2024 · Transmission · OR

We were driving our van uphill and about to go through a stoplight when the van suddenly lost all power and multiple warning lights came on. We turned the car off and on several times over maybe 5-10 minutes, 3 stoplight cycles until we were able to get power back and proceed through the light, causing a lot of traffic backup and unsafe situation because drivers were going into oncoming traffic lanes to get around us. The car would not move at all until we got power back. It then was ok until a couple days later it lost power again. that time, it was on a flat road and able to creep the 3 blocks home at about 5mph. Presumably the first time, it couldn't move at all because we were on an uphill? We had it towed to Chrysler and the transmission was replaced. we have had multiple other issues with this car but our request for a buyback was denied. I am concerned about the safety and reliability of this car.

Filed Feb 7, 2024 · Electrical, Engine · TX

Tried to start car. When start button was pressed the dash lit up like a Christmas tree. Multiple error messages. FCW unavailable, power steering unavailable, fuel door open, park brake unavailable, park sense unavailable, Service hybrid electric system, power steering unavailable. The gear indication, both on dash and by shifter was flashing. The car would not turn off. I had to open hood and disconnect 12v battery for the car to power off. Waited 10 seconds and connected 12v and it power on, but the check engine light is still active

Filed Feb 23, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · FL

While driving at a low speed in a neighborhood, received the message "Service Charging System" then within seconds car completely died. No engine power or electrical systems working, all lights and screens were black. Was able to pull over and park safely.

Filed Oct 2, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · AL

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.

Filed Sep 23, 2022 · Electrical, Engine · CA

While driving an a well paved road, I received a check hybrid system alert on my dashboard. Then several lights bean to flash including the blind spot alerts on the side view mirrors and several other alert system. Adaptive cruise control and lane change failure alerts also went off. I was only two miles from home and managed to get back. The engine did not cut out. The next morning, it started up but just a few miles into testing it out, the same alerts and light appeared, but this time the engine died along with the power steering. I coasted to roadside, turned off the car, and waited for 5 to 10 minutes. I started it up and drove it home. The engine remained on but the lights and warning continued to flash. The emergency lights also cut out periodically. I managed to drive the car to a Chrysler dealership I've visited in the past. The diagnostic alert on the Mopar app said there was a problem with the Electronic Throttle control (ETC) and the service person that looked over the diagnostic saw several system failure and alerts when he viewed the diagnostic record. At this point, the dealership has had my car for the week and the problems persist and now it won't go into gear. They still cannot determine the source of the problem. I contacted the Chrysler support line to ask them to escalate the problem. There is an open recall on this vehicle, but the parts are still not available to fix it. It only has 101,000 miles on it. I've found several complaints from Pacifica Hybrid owners related to the same ETC alert.

Filed Oct 21, 2018 · Engine, Fuel system · 1,400 miles · TX

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.

Filed Aug 22, 2018 · Engine, Fuel system · 11,000 miles · CA

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)