Chrysler Pacifica adaptive cruise problems

Filed Oct 19, 2026 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · TN

While driving a 2025 Chrysler Pacifica rental vehicle at highway speeds on the interstate, the vehicle experienced a catastrophic electronic throttle/cruise control failure resulting in sudden, violent, and sustained unintended acceleration. The cruise control system completely locked up and would not disengage. When the accelerator stuck, I heavily depressed the service brakes, but the braking system was completely unable to overcome the wide-open throttle of the engine. The vehicle refused to decelerate. To prevent a catastrophic high-speed collision, I was forced to shift the transmission into Neutral while traveling at highway speeds to disconnect the engine from the drivetrain. The incident lasted continuously for over 30 minutes on the interstate as I managed the runaway vehicle. Post-Incident Behavior and Diagnostics: Upon bringing the vehicle to a stop on the shoulder of the highway, the transmission locked and the engine continued to race wildly, pinned at a constant 3,200 RPMs while in stationary Neutral. Tapping or shifting the transmission was impossible. The vehicle refused to shut down normally, forcing me to repeatedly cycle the electronic ignition button under extreme duress before the engine completely turned off. Upon restarting the vehicle, the electronic glitch reset itself and did not immediately replicate. There were 3 passengers inside the vehicle and 2 trailing eyewitnesses in a separate vehicle who observed the illuminated brake lights during the uncontrolled acceleration. This vehicle is a severe public safety hazard and represents a failure of the brake-override safety logic. I have preserved hard video evidence of the dashboard diagnostics and the 3,200 RPM engine racing while stopped.

Filed Oct 9, 2026 · Driver assistance · GA

Vehicle unexpectedly disengage, adaptive, cruise control, and accelerated without driver input to the accelerator pedal. After applying break, vehicle continued to accelerate without driver input to the gas pedal. Vehicle accelerated from approximately 65 mph to over 80 mph.Brake had to be applied to bring vehicle to a full stop, even though engine continued to rev. After releasing break pedal, vehical lunged forward and accelerated to 18 mph unexpectedly. After stopping the vehicle again the only way to control the vehicle was to turn off the automatic start button. After restarting the vehicle, the problem seems to have gone away on its own.

Filed Aug 28, 2026 · Driver assistance · WV

Nothing exciting happened. It was a really bad rain/storm and I was driving as normal and I guess the front crash detection glitched out. I tried all the simple fixes tried to get it code tested and nothing pops up. So my front breaking doesn’t work meaning I can’t even use cruise control either. Also this maybe the a two for one. But the car was recalled for the backup camera and I went to get the recall done TWICE and it still didn’t fix the issue and Chrysler refuses to fix the issue.

Filed Aug 20, 2026 · Transmission · OH

The car rapidly came to a stop as I was starting to press the brake lightly. The check engine light came on, the car made a grinding noise, and the screen said it was turning off cruise control when it had not been engaged.

Filed Aug 13, 2026 · Acceleration · FL

I have had this happen twice in the last few months, most recently in the last three weeks. I was driving on a 45 mph highway with the cruise control set at 49 or 50 miles per hour. On the most recent time, I was coming to a red traffic light and applied the break to slow down. However, the van kept going forward even though I was pressing the break pedal totally down. The van slowed somewhat, but the van kept going. I put the van in neutral and was able to stop, but the engine kept going, presumably at the speed set on the cruise control. I stopped the engine By putting the vehicle in Lo, which I believe shut off the engine. By that time I was partly in the intersection. Luckily I had no cars in front of me or behind me, and no one was crossing in front of me. Otherwise I would have had a collision. I called and made an appointment at my dealership, [XXX] on XXX. They test drove the van but couldn't duplicate the concern. According to the Invoice, they "Captured VSR No DTCS related to concern. Checked for sofware updates, None related to concern. Checked for SBS or star cases related to concern. None found." The summary concluded:" System is operating as designed at this time. Updated TCM, BCM and PLGM." I don't know what all of that means, but I think that they did a thorough inspection of my van and couldn't find out what was causing the Cruise Control to not shut off. I did some research online and I found that there were 2 recalls in 2018 for the 2017 and 2018 Chrysler Pacifica that appear to have attempted to correct this exact issue, but it showed that my vehicle, with my VIN, was covered by FCA Safety Recall U64, the federal safety agency 18V‑332 and the recall status showed that my vehicle was "Repaired." Has anyone else had this problem, because this creates a very scary, dangerous event. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Jul 14, 2026 · Electrical, Transmission · 54,000 miles · IN

The contact owns a 2022 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The failure had occurred with two minor children seated in the rear of the vehicle. The contact stated that the turtle icon was displayed, and the adaptive cruise control was deactivated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The vehicle was scheduled for diagnostic testing. Additionally, there was an unknown recall with a similar failure to be repaired at the scheduled appointment. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 54,000.

Filed May 28, 2026 · Driver assistance · MN

Adaptive cruise control stops working for no apparent reason flashes forward collision system not working. will start up again for no reason from 5 to 15 min. had this problem for some time starting with our 2021 2023 2025 Chrysler pacifies some times you have to stop and restart to get cruise to work . dealer cant fix

Filed Mar 29, 2026 · Electrical, Engine · MI

This is an intermittent issue that has been happening for a while now and the car was sent to the dealership twice but the issue still persists. The engine would shuts down or partially loses torque all of a sudden and the steering becomes very stiff. At the same time you would see all kinds of alarms, error messages, and check lights on the dashboard. I would then have to pull over to the side of the road, turn off the car, then try to start it back up. Usually after several attempts (one time that took nearly 30 minutes), the car works properly again with no error messages but sometimes I'd still have some persistent check lights on the dashboard. Error messages and check lights that I see include the following: -Service Electronic Stability Control -Autopark Engaged -Shifter Autocorrect Active -Park Brake Temporarily Unavailable -AWD System Temporarily Unavailable -Automatic Emergency Braking off check light -Forward Collision Warning off check light -Check Engine light The dealership has been unable to properly diagnose and fix this issue so far. On the first visit, they replaced the main battery, auxiliary battery, some wire harnesses that I was told had some corrosion, and the adaptive cruise control module. On the second visit, they replaced the CAN Bus star connector. The same issue still persists after replacing all above components.

Filed Mar 27, 2026 · Transmission · CA

Incident: While driving at highway speeds (65–75 mph), the vehicle issues imminent-shutdown warnings, the reduced-power (‘turtle’) light and check engine light illuminate, and the vehicle loses motive power. The driver must pull over to the freeway shoulder immediately and restart the vehicle. The condition is intermittent, occurs after cold starts, and sometimes with cruise control engaged. Safety Risk: Sudden loss of motive power at 65–75 mph without warning creates extreme crash risk. This is the exact risk stated in the recall notice. The software-only remedy appears insufficient. FCA’s own Warranty Extension Campaign XE1 — covering transmission replacement at unlimited years/unlimited mileage — suggests FCA is aware the software fix may not be adequate. Requested Action: Please investigate whether the recall remedy is adequate or whether physical transmission replacement is required. This vehicle has been documented experiencing the recalled defect seven times after the recall repair was completed.

Filed Mar 17, 2026 · Driver assistance, Engine · GA

This car has had so many issues in the 2 years that i have had it. Blown head gaskets, hard shifting, cruise control getting stuck in a high gear and not shifting. When fixing the head gasket it was apparent that it wasnt the first time being fixed. For such a nice vehicle it has way too many problems for the amount i purchased it for. There needs to be some sort of compensation for this. Upon looking into these issues there are thousands among thousands of people with the same head gasket issues and transmission issues as well.