All warning lights flash while driving, car dies then restarts, very dangerous in traffic. Chrysler can't find the issue, took it mechanics they can't find the issue. Seems like there are 100's of issues with many different years of the pt cruiser however chrysler is ignoring and there is nothing to fix. Some days this happens a lot then it will go 3 or 4 days without.
2009 Chrysler PT Cruiser electrical complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 60, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I've had my pt cruiser for atleast 3 years now. Today as I was driving all the lights started going on and off on the dash board and was acting as if it were going to stall out. However , every time I hit the gas the MPH gauge would go up. However my gauges on my dash board had stopped working until I'd hit the gas petal again. It did this for at least a few minutes I was on a busy road when it happened and was not able to pull off the road. I've been hearing a lot of rumors going on about pt cruisers losing power and locking up on people and bad things happening I think chrysler needs to get on the ball and fix these issues with their vehicles since we are only the ones that buy them under faith of safety. I had this happen one other time when I first got it but I didn't think nothing of it. The issue seems to be happening more and more often. It's not even at 100,000 miles yet and I am having this many issues. This pt cruiser needs to be recalled! Me or my children best not get hurt it this thing due to chrysler's neglect on this issue. I've seen many people complain about this issue and nothing being done. Who has to die before it's resolved?!? I would've had pictures but the lights turned off and it went back to normal before I was able to take a snap shot or video of it. Because if I lose power again and it malfunctions and me or my kids get hurt when chrysler has been notified and they don't do anything there will be a law suit. If I had known this issue would occur I would have never bought it, infact I'm still paying on it for another 2 yrs.
This occurs all the time wether I am driving on residental road or on a highway going 70 MPH. My car feels like it is losing power which it is. All the lights on my dash are lit up like a christmas tree and I have to pull over to the side of the road very carefully as I lose steering as well. Sometimes I can just restart the car and everything is fine, sometimes it is a few minutes and a few times it has taken a few hours. I have taken the car in to get the codes read but they tell me it is either the gas cap is loose or another issue with the fuel. I took it to my mechanic and they put it on their computer and got different readings. I was told it was a fuel vacuum problem which was corrected. I still have the issues. Now sometimes the engine jerks and pulls but I don't loose power. Mechanic is unable to find problem. Did not take to dealership after reading all the horror stories about paying dealers tons of money and still not having a working car. Also if I have more then one key on my keyring then the ignition switch doesn't work. If I limit my keyring to just my car key and house key then my car starts everytime and no cutting out while at complete stop like it has in the past. We bought the car used in july 2011 and it now has aprox. 66,000 miles.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chrysler pt cruiser. When the contact entered the vehicle, the driver's seat switch bezel fractured and resulted in exposed wiring. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. Prior to the failure, the vehicle experienced the same failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was confirmed that the component fractured and needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 50,000.
I purchased this 2009 pt cruiser in 2012 with about 45000 miles. Since the odometer has reached about 80000 this problem has been recurring. While driving at any speed or even when parked and during all types of weather, all warning lights flash on and off. Then all gauges go up and down dramatically. Sometimes this is all that happens. However if it happens too many times in a short period of time, the car's engine just stops. It comes back but it is jerking the transmission violently. I have pulled off of the road and turned the car off, waited a couple of minutes, and then turned it back on. So far I have been lucky that it hasn't stopped at high speed and have been able to get out of traffic fairly easily. However this is very dangerous. This is our only vehicle, so we have to use it, but we are unwilling to leave town with it doing this.
After starting and running normally for about 20 minutes, the vehicle will begin to exhibit electrical issues. The gauges will drop to zero and then slowly return, the warning lights will flash, and the warning chime will sound repeatedly. It seems like when this happens the engine goes through a start cycle. Most of the time, this problem is otherwise asymptomatic, but occasionally it results in sudden power loss to the engine. It does not seem to matter if the vehicle is moving or not; it happens if the vehicle is stopped, moving slowly, moving quickly, etc. The engine has lost power more than once at a critical moment (turning left, clearing an intersection) and multiple times in moving traffic.
Driving at various speeds, all warning lights flash on and off, then all guages go up and down dramatically, the loss of power, car comes to stop but engine doesn't die. Turn off engine, then on then same thing 2-3 more x on way home. Dangerous. Due to faulty tipm made by chrysler? This has happened 20 different days in last month, also battery dead once, engine cooling fan failed twice, rear taillights blew from electrical surges 3x, twice power window wouldn't go. Taken into shop two diff. Occasions but can't repeat problem so they can't fix it. Help! Car was on highway several times and on 30-40 MPH streets other times.
I'm driving the car and all the dash lights instrument cluster lights come on & off blinking . All the hands like fuel hand and RPM start blinking up and down. It drops in speed. So I press on the gas. It comes back up but it guns the engine and starts jerking. Every time warning light comes on all the hands start blinking again and it drops in speed but this time it cuts off! In the middle of the highway! I coast to the side and crank the car again. The dash lights and all the hand gauges blinging but this time it didn't cut off. I purchased this vehicle on 2009! If I had known that pt's were faulty, I would never have bought it. This incident has happened numerous times since. Sometimes at higher speeds sometimes at lower speeds. Sometime just sitting parked it cuts off! From the research I've done since,there have been a lot of the same complaints about the pt. It's not safe! It's not safe when you're going 70 in heavy traffic and the car cuts off!
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chrysler pt cruiser. While driving at various speeds, the speedometer and fuel gauge fluctuated and the engine stalled. The failures recurred numerous times. The dealer diagnosed that the camshaft, alternator, battery post, and battery needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was approximately 98,000.
I'm driving the car and all the lights come on in the middle. All the hands like fuel hand and RPM start bobbing up and down. It drops in speed. So I press on the gas. It comes back up in speed but it guns the engine and starts jerking. Every warning light comes on again all the hands start bobbing again and it drops in speed but this time it cuts off! In the middle of the highway! I coast to the side and crank the car again. It starts doing the warning lights and the hand gauges bobbing but this time it didn't cut off. This was the first incident on 12/23/2014. I purchased this vehicle on 11/22/2014! If I had known that pt's were faulty, I would never have bought it. This incident has happened numerous times since. Sometimes at higher speeds sometimes at lower speeds. Sometime just sitting parked it cuts off! From the research I've done since,their have been alot of the same complaints about the pt. It's not safe! You know it's not safe when you're going 70 on the interstate in heavy traffic and the car cutts off! This is not good.
Engine dies at speed, and will restart in a second or two (manual transmission). Gauges go haywire. Can sometimes reset condition for a while (minutes to an hour) by turning key off-on, or restarting while at speed - sometime not. Has gotten much worse, car now has 185,000 miles. Replaced engine PCM - no effect. Replaced engine tipm - no effect. Kind of scary when this happens pulling out into traffic. Software design defect?
Purchased vehicle a couple of years ago with about 32,000 miles, everything has been great until a couple of weeks ago. At about 41,000 vehicle has started stalling when moving, horn will not quit, starting issues and dash lights flash on and off. This is a very dangerous issue and I have read most of the prior 60 complaints dating back to 2010 and nothing has been done by chrysler . I have heard on the national news that there is finally a recall with this vehicle but my VIN # is not included for some reason.
This is the 2nd pt cruiser that I have owned. The first one was great! But...this one!! Ongoing problems since we have owned the car!!!! Seat belt wouldn't unlock couldn't get out of car. I was locked in. Someone had to open door from outside. Lights always flickering. Loss power. Acts up while driving. Finally got so bad that the car would just stall out. Took to dealership and was told they couldn't find anything wrong. They said...and I quote "remember we didn't do anything." why would they say that? The latest... Lights flickering, radio going on and off stopped at a store. When I came couldn't unlock the car with my remote. Had to use key to get in, alarm went off, had to jump in and start car to turn alarm off. Pulled out into traffic and the car quit. Completely stalled out. Turned everything off, put in park and it started up but I parked it at a friends that lived one block away. Was afraid to drive it. 3 hours later went to pick car up and nothing worked. No lights no juice no click no nothing got it jumped started. Went straight to advanced auto because it was late. Alternator ok battery ok I just want to get rid of it but don't want someone else stuck with this lemon what do I do?????
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chrysler pt cruiser. While driving various speeds, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The dealer was unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The approximate failure mileage was 41,000. Updated 12/03/14*lj updated 8/31/2017
Travelling at about 60 MPH on the freeway, suddenly I noticed all the warning lights on the instrument panel coming on at once, for about 2 or 3 seconds, then going off again. I also noticed the fuel gauge and tachometer needles dancing around at the same time, before stabilizing. This happened several times within approximately 40 minutes of driving. I was afraid that the engine could stall but luckily the motor kept running without any indication of stalling. I have read several other posts and descriptions of people with identical problems and some of them described the engine stalling. Many of these state that dealerships are unable to find the problem and that chrysler has not publicly acknowledged it. I find this difficult to believe as this has the potential of a major lawsuit waiting to happen as soon as someone gets hurt as a result. There are just too many of these descriptions to believe that this issue has not been identified.
Gauges go crazy, sometimes it dies but will start up again. Wont trip codes to find the problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chrysler pt cruiser. The contact stated that while driving various speeds the instrument panel malfunctioned. The failure occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who could not duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 57,639.
While driving the car will just stop, the gauges will flicker on and off and the gas gauge will drop to empty. After it shuts off, it will start back up as if nothing happened. You might be okay for a few days or months before it happens again. We have had the car back in with the dealer at least 5 times and they can't seem to duplicate the issue. Even after keeping the car for over a month or more. We then caught the gauges going crazy and recorded it for the dealer. They couldn't find a code for the issue. We had the battery replaced and it didn't fix the issue. Now they think it might be the ignition switch. We are having that replaced now. This same issue is affecting many 2009 pt cruiser owners and chrsyler has not stepped up to address the problem. It is extremely dangerous to be driving a car that just comes to a complete stop whether you are on the highway or a residential street. My hope is that there is not a loss of life or limb before something is done.
After driving for about 5 minutes and going about 35 MPH the lights on the instrument panel went on and all the gauges went to zero. I didn't totally lost power but slowed down and the gauges popped back and the instrument lights came back on. It has continued to run ok for the last 3 days. Took it to the dealer and was told nothing could be done unless they could duplicate the problem. This exact same thing occurred on september 8, 2013 at a mileage of about 39,100. The car has run ok since up to this latest incident on june 1, 2014.
While driving all dash lights going crazy, car engine shut down, driving approx. 55 miles per hour. This has happened approximately 3 times. Took to chrysler dealership. Unable to replicate the problem. I was directly in front of 18 wheeler when engine just shut down.
The car was in motion when passenger airbag off light on dash illuminated, and then all gauges on dash dropped to zero and reset several times in succession. This has occurred several times, often including a loss of acceleration or engine stalls (though engine has never shut completely off, often it is only revived with a press of the accelerator). As with other complaints on this site, the vehicle was taken a dealership on several occasions for diagnosis, but the issue was never replicated. It has occurred several times in the past years, the most common symptom being the passenger airbag light coming on (practically weekly), indicating my passenger has no airbag and could be jeopardy in the event of an accident. No one has ever found this issue, which as repeated even after battery, electrical system, and battery contacts have been replaced. The vehicle has undergone numerous repairs related to the electrical system but this hasn't stopped, and I don't have the money to replace this car. Please look into this, the lives of my family are at risk if the passenger airbag doesn't work!!
Last year (2013) I was driving around 35mph, all panel lights flash on and off intermittently for several days. Then one day it started again all panel lights came on again and all gauges dropped down, fuel tank gauge dropped to empty, etc and engine died. Placed car in park and thankful the car started up again. Took car to chapman dealership and no error codes appeared and they couldn't find the problem. Now it is april 2014 and the same problem is starting again all panel lights are blinking on and off and I am afraid the car will shut down while driving at a higher speed. I believe this is an safety issue.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chrysler pt cruiser. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, all of the lights on the instrument panel flickered followed by the vehicle completely stalling. The vehicle was diagnosed by two different dealers, who both stated that they could not duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 25,500. The current mileage was 66,000.
Driving down the road, all gauges go crazy, all dash warning lights come on and off, vehicle loses power and stalls, very dangerous while driving. Dealer unable to locate the problem despite numerous repairs and having the car for weeks at a time. I cannot express how unsafe this is.seems to be a problem reported by others but the dealer acts as if they have never heard of the issue before.
Driving in a snow storm when all dash lights came on - and gauges dropped. Repeatedly went off and on. Car eventually stalled. This happened repeatedly in spite of having many things replaced (battery alternator and ignition) when the weather warmed the problem seemed to be resolved but during the first snow this winter, it happened again. Now this occurs frequently. Seldom occurs before 20 minutes of driving. Randomly occurs making detection nearly impossible. No definitive answers from computer testing. Judging from other complaints, this appears to be a common problem.
Driving at 55mph and all the gauges (gas, speed, tach) went to zero and fluttered up and down, the vehicle stalled. Was fortunate enough to be able to pull over safely and restart the vehicle without incidence. The vehicle has repeated this on several occasions. I was able to record on my phone the instrument panel while it was acting up. Think I have isolated the problem to the key and ignition. I have found if I wiggle the key when this happens it stops. This could be very dangerous since you lose power to the vehicle while driving, it happens without warning. Several internet searches reveal alot of people with the same complaint. I think chrysler should so be responsible for repair of this problem, they evidently produced a product with a defect that could potentially cause loss of life or bodily damage.
I just purchased this vehicle and had it for less then 3 weeks. I drove it a total of 5 times. When I was driving to work on a major highway, the car started to act up. The speedometer went from 55 to zero then back up to 80, I lost the ability to steer and accelerate, all of the lights came on the dash board, the car fuel gauges went up and down, and finally the car stalled. I was on a major highway which was a very scary. No codes were recorded for a mechanic to find out the problem. The problem is not fixed, and seems to be a problem with several pt cruisers from what I have researched. I am working with the dealer attempting for a refund, as I feel my safety and the safety of others are at risk.
I was driving on a major highway, doing about 55mph. All of my gauges started to light up, the speedometer went from 55 to zero then up to 65, the lights flashed on and off, the car then started to slow down to about 40, would not accelerate, then eventually just shut off. I was driving on a major highway, but able to pull off to the right side lane. The wheels tightened so I could not steer, I shut the car off and left it for about 20 mins. It started again but struggles to go over 40 before it starts acting up again. I can not find the problem, no codes are recorded. I am convinced that this is a serious safety issue with pt cruisers as I have read similar problems.
All the lights on the dash light up, dials start dropping, engine goes quiet and car starts coasting. Sometimes engine shuts off completely then turns on after a second or two; other times have to put the car in park, turn the ignition off and back on again- starts up normally. Has died at very low (sub 5mph) and very high (about 60mph) speeds; have blocked roads and intersections.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chrysler pt cruiser. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 MPH, the speedometer fluctuated abnormally and the vehicle stalled. Once restarted, the vehicle was able to resume normally. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to various dealers for inspection, however they were unable to duplicate the problem. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 22,441.
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