2017 Chrysler Pacifica: complete transmission failure

Filed Oct 16, 2026 · Transmission · IN

When driving vehicle it would severely buck and not accelerate. Have almost had cars rear end me as a result. There are no warning lights regarding this. Car is at an auto repair shop and they are saying it has no transmission fault codes but it needs a new transmission. I have barely been able to drive this car since about a month after I purchased in november 2025. When purchasing the car it ran completely fine and had no issues until december of 2025 which was a coolant leak. I discontinued driving the vehicle until may of 2026 when I was able to pay a mechanic to replace water pump and radiator. with in a week of replacing the water pump and radiator the vehicle began severely jerking and bucking particularly when accelerating from a full stop. then while driving down the road it intermittently starts bucking. I attempted to contact a local dealer however they do not have any sufficient financing programs to cover the cost of repairs and diagnosis charge. I spend 8000 on a vehicle that has barely ran and showed no symptoms or warning lights of a catastrophic failure.

Filed Mar 26, 2026 · Electrical, Transmission · MI

For several months I have been having problems off and on with my vehicle not shifting into drive, neutral, or reverse. It runs fine but becomes undrivable. Until this last time, I was always able to keep trying, let it sit overnight, etc... and it would eventually shift into gear. Currently it does not, I had to have it towed to a shop to be repaired. This is a problem, the vehicle has left me stranded on several occasions. My daughter was recently home from collage and I could not let her use my car for fear she would get stranded somewhere. It was towed to a local shop, who was able to confirm that the transmission has an internal short. This is a very common occurrence with this vehicle. The transmission can not be repaired and it needs a new one. Each time the transmission would fail a dash light would come on with a P in a circle with an explanation mark next to it and an engine light. This happened several times, in the past I was able to clear the light and drive the car, but this time it would not clear. The transmission is shoot and needs to be replaced. I purchased the car new in February of 2017, and have always properly maintained the vehicle. It has approximately 79,800 miles on it. I have researched this issue and it is very common, this is a known problem with the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. I have attached a Warranty Bulletin that seems like it should cover my vehicle, but I called the Chrysler Customer Hotline and they are telling me my vehicle is not covered. I have taken care of this vehicle, I drive it very gentle, there is no way this transmission should have gone bad. I am going to get this repaired at the shop, they have ordered me a new transmission. The Chrysler case ID # is [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Aug 25, 2025 · Transmission · VA

Transmission will have a very severe jerk when starting out, usually at low speeds, causing the driver to temporarily lose control and distract them from driving. This appears to be a very common issue on the recent model Pacifica that uses the ZF transmission. There is a serious disagreement about the servicing interval of the oil in the transmissions. Chrysler states that it is a "Lifetime" oil and does not require changing. The transmission manufacturer ZF, states on their website that it must be changed at 100,000 Km. Some Chrysler dealers say it needs periodic changing, while others say it never needs changing. The impact of this is that a significant number of transmissions are failing. When these are in warranty, they are replaced by the dealer, but those out of warranty result in a major expense to the owners, even though the owners are following the auto manufacturer's recommendations. Owners need clarification of this, and if the servicing recommendations for the ZF transmissions are in error and result in a transmission failure, the auto manufacturer should bear some responsibility. A quick scan of the Chrysler Pacifica online groups will show numerous cases such as this,

Filed Aug 9, 2025 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · TX

When driving van will jerk or bang like slipping in gear, feels like possible being hit from behind, we have tried the adaptive learning reset several times, we had just purchased this less than 2 months ago with about 4800 miles in it. Feels dangerous to drive, especially with kids. We are scared to even try the cruise control. We heard and read online many whey same issues, with warranty and having there vans in dealership on several events, having reset in software upgrades, transmission replacement with only the problem to return. Please fix this, this one of my vehicles that unfortunately I have to drive because it's my only vehicle. This problem happens at lest everytime I'm driving daily, it started maybe a few weeks ago from the time this has been written.

Filed Jun 23, 2025 · Electrical · IA

After driving, I can to a stop to park the van. The van would not shift to park and instead would go to neutral. I then could not turn the van off. It would only stay in accessory mode. Upon looking at this issue online, many Chrysler Pacifica owners have the same issue. Some people are able to fix the issue easily, while others needed to replace the transmission valve body. This is an incredibly expensive repair. There were no warning lights ahead of this problem happening, it happened out of the blue. No codes are shown when reading for codes in the van. The message that pops up when the van would not shift to park was “service trans press brake when stopped key off engine to engage park”. But the van will not turn off completely. To get the van to shut off, the battery needs to be disconnected. Safety is put at risk as I am not able to park the van or turn it off completely which would result in a dead battery.

Filed Mar 28, 2025 · FL

Hard shifts when accelerating. Constantly having issues where if I press on gas the vehicle hesitates and RPM jumps and jerks my children and I very bad.The vehicle Constantly stalls out to were we can be killed one day! I would like this reported due to the scary situation i have been having on the road with accelerating the vehicle and the car starts smelling like it's going to catch fire one day! I keep smelling oil burning and no one acts like they know about the thousands of recalls about the transmission failure that is not covered for my vin. This is a waste of money to be investigating my vehicle issue. This vehicle was poorly made to kill someone. No check engine lights have ever been displayed since I bought this vehicle

Filed Jun 1, 2024 · Engine · CA

After driving approx 400 miles at freeway speeds the engine shuts off. With semis honking as vehicle slowed while trying to pull over. No warning lights before or after stopping. Dash screen displayed "put car in park and press start". This happened twice in 2023. Took to dealer while car was under extended warranty. Was told 'could not duplicate' issue. They also informed me that this was something they never heard of before. We only do two highway trips per year. Took another trip couple of weeks age and vehicle shut off and we had to pull over 7 times going and returning. Dealer says I need a new transmission but can't guarantee that will fix the problem. I'm terrified to put this car on the freeway again. I thought we were going to be killed and possibly injure others on several of the occasions while trying to stop safely. I feel that Chrysler knows about this problem (from what I've recently read on the internet) and at least should know how to correct it. Also, it seems there was a class action suit that has been settled that we were unaware of. This vehicle has less than 60K miles and as we only drive 5-7000 miles per year didn't plan on having to junk it and buy another at this time. I've tried calling Chrysler Corp 800‑992‑1997. I was given a case # but they just seem to lie and never follow up with the dealer like they said. Now when I call and talk to someone, they put me on hold and kick me into the 'how did we do survey'. Realizing that sometimes you just don't always a ample time to safely get to the side of the road I'm at a loss as to how to proceed. The date listed below is the first time of incidence.

Filed Oct 9, 2023 · Electrical, Transmission · MI

While driving vehicle, car shifted to neutral then park then neutral, while in drive moving down road. Numerous warning came on including "service shifter", check engine, front end collision sensor, abs brake sensor, along with a message to put car in park before shifting . The day before a warning of service shifter came on and the car was unable for a few minutes to shift out of park. Then the codes suddenly went off. Took it to auto zone to check codes and it said no codes were found or stored. First time was September 25, 2023. The next time when it shifted itself out of drive while driving was September 28. Drove home from getting checked for codes with nothing showing up. Drove 5 minutes on October 2, and a bunch of random codes flashed. Took to shop and they found no codes. All warnings went off. Said nothing anyone could find wrong. Said nothing showing up and was fine to drive. October 5 was driving home, 526 miles later with no warnings , and suddenly stopped driving while in motion on road. Same codes flashed. Shifter stopped working. Car wouldnt start or shift. Completely broke down. Had to be towed to dealership. They say transmission needs to be replaced and it is only 500 miles out of warranty. The same 500 miles we had to drive to get it to throw codes. Had previously taken in when I thought transmission was problem when it was dropping gears. They said software update. Continued dropping gears after they "fixed it" and when I called they said it had to relearn how I drove. Almost had 2 major accidents now when it stopped completely on its own while driving.

Filed Aug 20, 2023 · Transmission · VA

Transmission has been problematic for the past two years. We have had it checked twice but nothing can be found during the inspection. It shifts very roughly by jolting you forward when you are accelerating from a slow speed or at times when you are coasting as well with no foot on gas or break. You feel jolted as if you were rear ended by another vehicle. I was driving with my family, to include 3 young kids, on interstate I95 on 8/19/23 when the vehicle suddenly jolted 3 times and then the check engine light came on. I was not able to pull over right away, and when I tried to press the gas the engine revved high but the vehicle barely moved. After putting my hazard lights on I was eventually able to pull over and turn the engine off. After a few minutes I restarted the car, the check engine light was on. I got off the next exit and had a mechanic take a look and the P0732 code “Gear 2 Incorrect Ratio.” showed. The interstate is highly traveled and we were in very real danger. I was scared for my family's life, as well as those around us because we had NO CONTROL over how the vehicle was behaving and could not accelerate to a proper highway speed. The vehicle has now been towed to a local transmission shop. Other Pacifica's have been recalled with this error code, there is even a TSB # 21-008-21 from Mopar regarding this exact issue dated 3/12/21. Their lack of action put my family's lives at risk as we could have been hit by a tractor trailer on the 70 mph highway due to this transmission failure. I would like Chrysler to fix this!

Filed Aug 16, 2022 · Seat belts, Steering · TN

My 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Touring Minivan has a steering issue. Within the last several months, when driving at a variety of speeds, the steering wheel “sticks” in turns. It has occurred on regular side roads, secondary roads, and on the highway. It generally happens when turning the car slightly. Examples include: (1.) during a slight turn in the road in a yield situation, (2.) during a slight turn when there is a bend in the road, (3.) when making a slight turn while on the on-ramp on the highway, (4.) occasionally when switching lanes on the highway. During these situations, the steering wheel sticks and does not return to center, instead, it has to be forced out of the momentary stuck position causing unnatural/unpredictable realignment of the car (swerve, jerking the steering wheel, causing panic) . There are no associated lights or warnings. This problem first lead us to stop driving the car out of fear of getting into an accident (safety for ourselves and others). Then, upon research for similar problems on the internet, we see that there has been a recall for 2017-2019 Chrysler Pacificas for steering issues, but our VIN is not included. I’ve had mechanics to look at it, one kept it several weeks trying to find the issue, done research online, the only answers are there’s a problem but no one has a solution. All guess work. The Occupant Classification Module also has created problems with transmission failure. To be able to drive the van, you have to disconnect the passenger seat sensor. Driving down the road with the OCM connected it will suddenly lose power, transmission won’t shift, which can cause a wreck not being able to get out of the way or completing a maneuver. Anytime there’s a steering problem, random transmission problem, or loss of power in traffic, there’s a safety problem.

Filed Jul 7, 2022 · Transmission · WI

While my wife was driving on the highway she heard a loud pop in the van. the cv axles pulled away from the boots. and the transmission failed. Two issues that happened at the same time. the van has a digital dial to select gears and she could not reengaged the park and stop the vehicle and also could not shut the van off. the van is a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica limited with 48,000 miles on it. the dealer claimed it was due to the driving as they have found dirt around the cv joint however the dealer sold us a protective liner for the under body and i purchased it because we live on a dirt road. we believe these are 3 product liability concerns that need to be addressed.

Filed May 21, 2020 · Transmission · 61,325 miles · IA

Since purchasing 10/1/2016 there have been at least 5 - 6 times where the vehicle cut out but did not die. This appears to me to be a defect in the transmission yet the dealer could not locate and fix this issue. There are many documented cases where the transmission was an issue with this model as well as a recall that has been completed on this vehicle. The vehicle has 61379 miles and is now being required to replace the transmission and we are just out of warranty. I feel we are lucky that there has not been an accident caused by the known transmission for this model year. On 05/15/2020 the vehicle had a p0732 error code after the transmission cut out 2 times. This is the exact same issue that has been going on since we purchased as described above. Chrysler dealer now wants to put in the same transmission '21002105 automatic trans assy, r&r ew 2017 from 06/12/16. I have a huge concern that we will end up with the same transmission that is simply unsafe in my opinion, as well as having to put in another transmission down the line. Interestingly enough this code was not still showing when I took the vehicle for an inspection to the dealer on 5/16/2020.