I have a 2021 hybrid Pacifica purchased in May 2021. I have been experiencing loss of engine power for months. I brought it to service in January, they said they fixed a recall and changed the oil, said I was good to go. The problem started happening more frequently after that, and on 2/7 my vehicle lost power 7 times while driving roughly 20 miles. These instances occurred at highway speeds with immediate loss of drivability requiring me to coast to the shoulder. I brought it to service on 2/8. On my drive to the dealership the car shut off 5 times. After the tech assessed my vehicle, they replaced the electric coolant heater and said although there is no fix available for the recall yet, the battery is affected by the coolant heater and so it should be 100% good to go now. I made it safely home on 2/9. While I was driving to work the next day (2/10) the car shutoff 3 times on a busy interstate during rush hour before I was able to find a place to safely abandon it.
2021 Chrysler Pacifica fuel system complaints
Page 3 of 4: complaints 41 to 70 of 83, newest first, as owners wrote them.
On December 7, 2022 I brought my Pacifica into the dealership because the day prior, my vehicle just shut off unexpectedly while driving. I was unable to get it to turn back on it just gave me a “service charging system” message on the dash. I had my vehicle towed home and it wasn’t until the following day 12/7/22 that I was able to finally start it back up. I drove straight to my local dealer and dropped it off. After a few weeks they told me they were going to replace the hybrid battery as that was the issue. On 1/20/23 I received a message from the dealer stating they had my vehicle back together and running and we’re going to fix a recall issue. On 1/26/23 I received another message stating my vehicle would no longer start and they didn’t know why. It has been 2 months now that they’ve had my Pacifica and as of Monday 2/6/23 they are unable to diagnose the issue
11/14/2022: WHILE DRIVING at 75mph, a battery icon appeared in the hybrid info system on left of dash. Immediately after the engine icon appeared, a message that said "shift to P to Start" appeared in the the dash info. The letter "D" along with a red icon of a charging cord also appeared to the bottom left of the electric range readout. ALL POWER TO THE VEHICLE CUT OUT WHILE MOVING AT 75mph simultaneous to these images/messages appearing. Following the above, an image of a Pacifica hybrid appeared in the middle of the dash info system. The Pacifica image included a red plugged in charging cord and the message "service charging system". Vehicle was pulled to the shoulder and put in park. Attempted to restart vehicle unsuccessfully for 15 minutes. After vehicle started, it was driven to the closest dealership that had a qualified PHEV tech, Frontier Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Lubbock TX. The error codes wouldn't repeat at the dealer. Dealer informed that, in speaking with Chrysler a part remedy had been determined but would require lead time to obtain part. On 12-08-22, the dealership informed us the repair had been made and vehicle was ready for pickup. The code found and repaired was POE15 and electric heater lock up. At pickup, the vehicle had not been fully charged. When driven out of service, the echarge was 24% and it wasn't depleting during operation. This was abnormal. Drove the vehicle from Lubbock to our residence in Taos, NM. Part of the drive includes a canyon, with two lanes, blind curves and zero shoulder. If the vehicle were to lose power in the canyon due to this issue, there is a HIGH PROBABILITY OF CRASH, INJURY, and/or DEATH. The vehicle repeated the issue on 12/12/22, 12/30/22 & at least two more times that are undocumented. Vehicle was towed from Taos to Larry H Miller CJDR in Albuquerque on 1/11/23. We were notified of recall while at dealership. My family's and my lives are at risk due to this recall issue.
While driving down a 4 lane major highway where the posted speed limit is 70 mph, the vehicle suddenly flashed "Service Charging System" with the check engine icon came on and the propulsion on the vehicle ceased funtioning. The D for drive was flashing as well. As a hybrid vehicle, the car should transition to gas without incident, but it doesn't. Instead it cut power to the engine leaving me, the driver, scrambling to find a safe location to get off the road, which is not always feasible or safe, endangering everyone in the vehicle and on the road if others are not paying attention to the sudden loss of power and propulsion of the vehicle in front of them. Thankfully, I was able to safely get off the road as a result of some helpful semi's, but not everyone may be in such a situation. Should this happen to someone else who regularly drives across a bridge, for instance, could possibly cause an accident by being unable to pull off at a designated area. I was able to engage the gas engine by turning it off and back on after stopping, but it did not store the "service charging system" error. This was determined when dropping it off at the Chrysler dealership. There are a few stored error codes including a "low voltage differential signal" which also occurred last year when they said they replaced a part in relation to the heating/cooling battery fault on the high-voltage batteries (less than 6 months old at the time) and similar to the recall on the older models. Making this the second time in the shop for a battery issue. Should a connection between the battery faults and the Body Control Module or PCM (not sure what that one stands for), they were parts also replaced within the first month of the vehicle. The vehicle is currently at the dealership for review. There were no other warnings or messages prior to the failure. Pictures of the error as I saw them after safely stopping are provided. Never have I had a car just stop functioning and this is entremely unsafe.
I have a 2021 Pacifica Hybrid in (Vin: 2C4RC1S70MR51943) that has encountered the dreaded "Service Charging System" message 5 times now in the past year, with the past 3 occurrences all happening in the last 3 weeks. Each time the car will not start, and the gear shifter will flash, the red charging light will illuminate on the dash, and the check engine light is on. On one occurrence, I turned the car off, then on again and was able to drive, however the check engine light was illuminated. I ran an OBD scan and the code was P1A21. On another instance, I was driving and lost all propulsion, the screen indicated "Service Charging System" message. Luckily I was on a local road and not a freeway and I was able to pull into the bike lane, still obstructing 1/2 of the right lane. After 5 minutes of trying to restart the car, I was able to move the car and I drove it to Earnhardt CJDR in Gilbert Arizona. When I got there, the check engine light had disappeared. I dropped off the car and to my disbelief the dealership told me there is nothing they can do if they can not replicate the issue. I am not stuck with a van my wife is afraid to drive due to the imminent threat of the car turning off while driving. I have 2 young children and I do not feel the van is safe in its current condition. Yet, the dealer is unable to resolve/replicate the issue. I have videos displaying the issue along with a screenshot of the OBD error code. It appears the dealership does not care about the safety of my wife and children by not being able to fix this issue. I have done a significant amount of research online and have found this to be a relatively common issue. In my opinion this vehicle is not safe to drive due to the risk of a complete shutdown and I commute on the freeway to and from work and the last thing I need is to have the van disabled on a busy interstate.
I was driving in stop and go traffic about 4 hours into a road trip on I95. At around 60mph, an error popped up on the dash saying “Service Charging System” then it quickly went away and said “Shift to P to Start” at which point I lost all propulsion. I was in the left lane and had to make my way to the side of the road with my family of 6 in the car. This was extremely stressful and dangerous as I had no way to accelerate and was stuck to coast. I flipped on my hazard lights and was able to navigate to a safe place under an overpass. At this point, I completely cut off the car and restarted it. It worked fine again upon restart, but the check engine light remained there after. The incident happened again on a side road at around 40mph on the same day. I coasted to a stoplight and had to power cycle the car 3 times to get driving again. The following day, I went to a local Chrysler dealership and they are still in the progress of diagnosing, however they won’t have a response until after Christmas. So, I’m being directed to rent a vehicle until the van is deemed safe to drive again.
Driving on the freeway, all propulsion suddenly and without warning ceased and the dash declared "service charging system" and the check engine light came on.. My only choice was to coast off to the side of the freeway. My safety was definitely at risk, as I was stuck on the side of the freeway. After several minutes, I was able to turn the car all the way off and turn it back on again. The check engine light was still on. I drove it straight to the dealership, who has it in for service for this error. Prior to this, the van gave no indication that anything was wrong.
While traveling on the highway (>70mph), my Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid (~44k miles) suddenly lost power and the "service charging system" error appeared along with the instructions to "shift to park". The check engine light began to flash as well. Fortunately, I was able to cross three lanes of traffic in a van with an unresponsive accelerator to get to the shoulder. Once safely on the shoulder, I still could not shift to park and I could not turn the car off either. After sitting for 25 minutes or so, I was able to shift to park and turn the car off and then on again. I immediately took the car to the dealership (using surface roads). They kept the van for 10 days and diagnosed a software issue. I got the van back and for about 3 days it was fine. Then we were driving the same freeway (at speeds of 70mph or more) and the exact breakdown happened again. Chrysler has had the van for 4 weeks now and just informed me that the issues is metal shavings in the transmission; they will be replacing the transmission. This is related to the ODI investigation # PE 22-008
I was driving my kids to school this morning on the interstate, traveling at roughly 70 MPH when my Pacifica just died on me. I wasn't able to get the vehicle moving again and I coasted to a stop on the shoulder. The vehicle reported a "Service Charging System" fault and would not restart afterwards. I am waiting (2 weeks) for an opening at the dealership and will have the vehicle towed. I was lucky the interstate had a wide shoulder and traffic was light otherwise it could have been incredibly dangerous.
I was driving the van on interstate 85 in NC on my way to Charlotte from Raleigh. I was traveling at 70 mph when the van suddenly lost power. I could not accelerate and had to immediately pull over to the shoulder coasting on momentum only. I barely missed being hit by a semi truck as I attempted to get out of the way of traffic. The van remained stalled on the shoulder as I attempted to restart the van. It took 5 tries to get the van off the shoulder and onto an exit where I was able to park the van at a Waffle House parking lot to await a tow truck. Each attempt to restart the van would give me about 30 seconds of power before the van would stall out again. I was traveling with my wife and 4 small children and this was a very harrowing experience and could’ve have ended in disaster with that semi barreling down on us. The error code on the dash was “service charging system” Chrysler needs to fix the is issue before someone dies in a horrible accident.
We drove at normal interstate speed when the “accelerator stopped responding.” The digital dash cluster then showed a message stating “Service Charging System” and “Shift to ‘P’ to Start.” The vehicle was turned off and turned back on after waiting roughly one minute.
While traveling in the #1 lane at 65mph on the freeway, the engine suddenly lost power and I had to coast to the far right lane amid traffic to enter the emergency stopping area. This has happened 4 times in the last few weeks. The dashboard display says there is a charging system problem. I am able to restart the car after stopping completely and opening the driver's door. This creates a very unsafe situation. I took it to the dealership today and they performed the Z76 recall campaign software update, however, upon driving 10 miles on the freeway, it happened again.
Our 2021 Pacifica Hybrid with less than 21k miles on it lost all propulsion/motive power; this happened while I was driving on a freeway just seconds before going onto an overpass at freeway speeds to change freeways. Driving uphill on an overpass at freeway speeds with our kids in the car was very dangerous (especially during weekday traffic in Orange County) but, fortunately, we coasted to a stop safely. The vehicle's other systems seemed to still be working. For example, the vehicle's dashboard was working. As soon as the vehicle's power ceased, an error light on the dash appeared reading "Service Charging System Error," and instructed the driver to pull over and put the car in park. The check engine light has been on since the incident. The car was dropped off at the dealership on October 14th. They said that the electrical guy will be available on October 17th to look at the vehicle.
On 3 separate occasions while driving the dashboard has flashed the error message "Shift to P, Service Charging System". As soon as this occurs, the car begins to lose power and is no longer driveable. Once the car is shifted to "Park" it is temporarily stuck in that position with the car "On" but no power to the engine. For somewhere between 30-90s the car can't be turned off or shifted out of "Park". At some point after a short period - sometimes opening the door seems to help - the car will turn off and can then be re-started. The check engine light is on, but the car can be driven. Within a couple of hours the check engine light goes off and the car seems to behave normally. This has happened to us 3 times over ~2 months now. The car has actually stopped in the middle of the road forcing us to turn on hazard lights while trying to restart. It is extremely dangerous and seemingly common problem. Our local Chrysler service center was only able to book an appointment a month out due to limited technicians qualified to work on the hybrid vehicles. We described the problem in detail but they are not aware of the problem or solutions. We are trying to contact Chrysler Corporate directly to find out what their solution is.
while driving the car down the high way at normal highway speeds (70mph) the car lost all propulsion. Shortly before the malfunction the electric motor started growling. A message on the screen appeared "service charging system" and " put car in Park". I was in the far left lane when this happened and traffic was low as it was early in the day (7 am ) I managed to move the car from the left lane through all the other lanes and stop on the side of the highway. I was not able to drive the car and called for tow. While waiting for the tow the car became responsive after about 15 min. I recalled the tow and drove to dealer. The dealer scanned for codes and found a code for "Motor A position error". This is the second time this has happened to this car - previous time the dealer "upgraded" firmware and said it should be fine. Hardware issues cannot be solved by software. I posted a video on youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDk6z6-snaA And on the Pacifica forum : https://www.pacificaforums.com/threads/2021-pacifica-hybrid-failure-while-driving-on-highway.52648/ Seems this has happened to others as well.
Driving on US-23 and "Service Charging System" warning displayed on dashboard. Car lost power and I had to coast to the side of the freeway. Turned car off but could not turn back on. Transmission would not go out of Park. Tried about 10 times and after about 15 minutes the car turned on and could drive. Check engine light remained on for remainder of the drive home. Planned on visiting dealer in the morning but car turned on and no check engine light. This is the 3rd time the "service charging system" warning has happened, but the first time the car died on the road. Every time the check engine light disappeared the next day. Had codes scanned and permanant code P1A21.
While driving on the highway, the vehicle abruptly lost propulsion, flashed error lights, and indicated an issue with the EV battery and charger, and would not charge when plugged in. Error codes flashed related to the Power train control module, Hybrid control processor, and Aux hybrid control processor. The CJDR Fairfax dealer would only provide software updates and would not perform other repairs per Chrysler's recommendations.
While driving, the car would loose power then check engine light comes on and "service charging system" would pop up. The gas peddle is rendered useless as it doesn't do anything and would have to coast to safety. Dealer would just reset the computer and vehicle is realease. unfortunately, it had happen many times. Safety is a concern, more so on the highway.
Driving on the interstate, the vehicle simply shut down and gave the following error message: "Service Charging System." I was able to pull to the shoulder and get the vehicle started again. There had been no prior warning messages or symptoms of the problem. I took the vehicle in for service, and the dealership ran a diagnostic check and found no issues. A couple weeks later, the same thing happened. I was again able to get to the shoulder without incident. Took the vehicle to a different dealership where they identified the issue as a bad Power Inverter Module. The vehicle is still at the dealership (it has been a full week). While I was able to navigate the situation without injury. This could have been a very dangerous situation in the instance where a shoulder was not available or traffic was significantly heavier. It appears this is a fairly common problem for some of the new Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids, which brings to question why there has not been a recall issues.
My wife and I were driving on HWY 101 at 11pm at night while camping, were headed to the ER as I had just cut my hand with a hachet. While driving, all of a sudden an error light on the dash appeared reading "Service Charging System," the accelerator no longer delivered power, and the car began quickly slowing down. Luckily, I was able to move to the shoulder and stop the van. The Pacifica remained on with all systems working (radio, lights, etc), but the car accelerator would not deliver power. The car would not fully turn off after pressing the ingintion button. Opening and closing the driver side door allowed for the van to be turned off and then back on, it started again and was driveable. We were able to drive the car to the ER and back to the campsite. The problem has not yet re-occurred. It has not been seen by the dealer center yet, but has an appointment scheduled. Driving at night in the mountains with a vehicle that loses all power while traveling at highway speeds is extremely dangerous and disturbing.
While driving in the freeway this morning the check engine light and service charging system came on. Shortly thereafter the car lost all power and I was able to coast to a stop on the shoulder of the freeway. Fortunately I was in the carpool lane and near the shoulder and would not have been able to get over otherwise putting myself and others in a very dangerous situation on the freeway. Once stopped, the steering wheel locked as well as the wheels and the car lost all function. Although there are no formal recalls, there are forums dedicated to this problem: https://www.pacificaforums.com/threads/service-charging-system-error.41145/ The dealer is currently advising but the threads in those forums suggests FCA does not have a fix in place. The car becomes dangerous to drive as this happens out of nowhere with limited to no warning.
While driving on hybrid system (battery at 0%) and braking toward a stop sign , the car went into neutral and would not power the wheels. A message appeared to service hybrid charging system. all gauges wen to zero (start position) . The car was pulled over and it would not go back to to any gear. I was only 2 miles from my house and was able to get tools to disconnect the 12V battery in hopes for system recovery. After disconnecting the 12V battery the system recovered and I was able to get back home to setup a service appointment. The entertainment system did not recover correctly and required a software reboot with all settings reset. The previous week the battery charge indicator was behaving strangely as it would start with 36 miles of range and after 2 miles of very slow driving it wold drop to 26 miles. After a few more miles it would drop to 21 miles and stay at that for a long time.
The vehicle loses power while driving. I have to pull over shut it off and turn it back on. Most of the time it happens when I'm driving 75 mph. The service charging indicator pops up while also telling me to shift the car to park. Dealership diagnosed it to being a transmission issue. Drive motor A is failing in the transmission and is causing it to over heat. Which causes it to shut down. A quick restart and the van is going again.
Occurred at 1000,1500,and 16000 miles. Car would turn on but steering column is locked and it does not get in to gear. D and R just put car in neutral. Dealer is replacing hybrid battery. Car eventually got in to gear after several hard resets.
Driving on highway and experienced total loss of power. Coasted to side of road. Unable to "restart". Error displayed "Service Charging System" Dealership ran software updates to remedy issue. One week later same issue. Driving on highway and total loss of power., same error message. Towed to another dealership. Diagnosed as dead 12v battery, but I doubt this diagnosis. Battery was not dead at time of breakdown, it died after 4.5 hours waiting for a tow with hazards on.
Driving on the interstate at 70-75 mph and lost all forward drive. Car said service charging system and would not recover. Got towed to dealer and troubleshot and replaced the transmission
Service Charging Error flashed on instrument panel Power cut and car had no power Unable to restart for 5-10 minutes Power comes back on with check engine light Power cut on the freeway. SUPER dangerous.
I was driving on the interstate in the middle of morning rush hour traffic at approx. 65 mph and approximately 1/4 mile before a tunnel my van completely shut off and I was not able to accelerate or maintain speed. I was in the far left lane when this happened and immediately crossed the 3 lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder on the right side. I then tried to turn off and restart the van 3 or 4 times after periods ranging from 5-20 minutes apart and the van would only allow me to go a foot and shut off again. After waiting for over an hour in the 30 degree weather with no heat, I was finally towed back to the dealership. Due to many fortunate circumstances (i.e. none of my 3 children [ages 4, 2, and 9 months] were in the van, I was not yet in the tunnel, no cars were immediately behind me, and I was able to get across all 3 lanes before I lost speed) nobody was injured. However if any of these variables were different, the situation could have been devastating. My van has now been in the shop for over 3 months waiting for a part (engine coolant heater pump) and I still do not have a working vehicle. The issue with the engine coolant heater pump is a known issue to Chrylser, resulting in vans shutting down in the middle of driving, yet Chrysler has not issued a recall or notified owners of these dangers. After waiting on the part for 2 months, I called Chrysler Customer Support and was assigned a case manager, however they have to this point, one month later, still not helped at all and within the last 10 days not returned any of my voicemails or emails. My car is available for inspection and this issue was inspected/documented at the service department of my dealership. The problem has been confirmed by the dealership as well as the tow truck driver. About 10 days prior to the incident, my check engine light went on. I immediately scheduled the next available service appointment at my dealership, but the problem occurred 2 days before my appointment.
Driving on the freeway at speed (approximately 65 MPH), the vehicle suddenly lost power and displayed "Service Charging System" message on dashboard. Accelerator pedal was non-responsive. We had remaining battery charge and fuel in the vehicle (it is a PHEV). Pulled over to side of freeway as vehicle was decelerating and came to a stop in the safest place our momentum could carry us to. We were eventually able to get the vehicle restarted by putting the vehicle in Park and pressing the start button 3 times in a row without touching the brake. This issue has happened four (4) times in the last several months, and has occurred on the freeway each time, and each time with remaining battery charge and fuel in the vehicle. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer for this specific problem.
The vehicle accelerator fails while driving, with a message on dashboard '''service charging system''. If your car have enough momentum, you can pull to safe spot or shoulder, but tbis is a dangerous issue. I had this issue multiple times and many other owners has reported similar issue.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2021 Chrysler Pacifica?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history