2020 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid Owner Complaints

The contact owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-in-Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH the vehicle lost motive power. The contact stated that the "Turtle Symbol” was displayed with the message "Vehicle Will Shut off Soon - Pull Over" displayed. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer; however, the failure was not duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred, and the vehicle was taken back to the same dealer. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure again. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure occurred while driving at various speeds and was a recurring failure. The manufacturer was contact and referred the contact to a dealer for a diagnostic test. The failure mileage was 57,016.

NHTSA ID

11662828

Incident

Mar 13, 2024

Mileage

57,016 mi

We were driving down the freeway at 70 mph and the vehicle displayed "Vehicle will shut off soon, pull over safely" and IMMEDIATELY lost power and the gas pedal would do nothing.

NHTSA ID

11650449

Incident

Mar 16, 2025

We have a broken 2nd row captain's chair on the passenger side. The seat broke with my child's car seat in it so we didn't notice until we took the carseat out and noticed the seat back was swinging freely forward and back and would not latch. In doing some research we found dozens of other people with similar age Pacificas with identical problems. You can see some details here; [XXX] Some in this forum have mentioned this specific seat part is needed for the repair: Mopar part number 68324912AC - Latch Release Cable It is extremely scary to me this seat latch could just break as the seatback would put the passenger in extreme danger in an accident. I hope you can investigate! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11642639

Incident

Feb 9, 2025

I received a service hybrid electric vehicle system warning. Also vehicle speed may be limited warning. When I shut the vehicle off, it was loud and remained running. My safety and the safety of others were put at risk because the warning happened while I was driving and I couldn’t get speed to park in a safe location. I had my car towed to a local Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealer and they updated software related to my car that was the source of the problem. They also told me the battery completely drained. The recall was due to a faulty PCM that the recall was for. You can see in the invoice the problem I communicated to the manufacturer before they diagnosed my vehicle. You can see clearly the vehicle was still active even after shutting off, likely causing the battery to drain completely. And due to the faulty PCM, it failed to tell the systems to shut down. Chrysler is giving me $100 for the tow. But they say the battery is out if basic warranty so will not reimburse me the $650 or so for the battery. My argument is that it doesn’t matter if the battery is out if basic warranty as the draining of it was a direct result of the recall and failed PCM. There is case law that supports the fact that If a recall-related defect (such as a faulty PCM) directly causes a secondary failure (e.g., battery damage), the manufacturer still bears responsibility, as the defect rendered the vehicle unfit for normal use.

NHTSA ID

11638995

Incident

Jan 11, 2025

The contact's mother owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle started losing motive power. The contact stated that his mother observed the message "Stop Safely - Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon" and immediately after the warning light was illuminated the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the vehicle was towed to the residence and was later restarted, and the vehicle was taken to a dealer. The contact stated that the dealer had diagnosed the vehicle but could not duplicate the failure. The dealer recommended that the vehicle be returned to the dealer if the failure was returned. The failure reoccurred and the vehicle was taken back to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The contact researched online and related the failure to NHTSA Action Number: RQ24004 (Electrical System). The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

NHTSA ID

11633190

Incident

Dec 9, 2024

Mileage

50,000 mi

A coolant leak in the engine led to contamination, misfiring spark plugs. Check engine light came on while driving, and very soon thereafter (~3 minutes) car began sputtering while accelerating and shaking while idle. Acceleration seemed particularly unreliable and dangerous, leading driver to immediately exit the highway and continue straight to dealership on back roads. Dealer found that coolant had leaked into the engine, causing the need to replace right side cylinder head, gasket and spark plug.

NHTSA ID

11615566

Incident

Aug 22, 2024

Pacifica hybrid turned on but would not shift out of park or turn off. The radio was playing, air was blowing (though not cold), power doors were not functioning. The car was towed to a Chrysler service center while still running. They turned the car off and when they looked at it several days later there were no errors codes and the car was turning on/off and able to shift out of park and drive. They returned the car to me without any explanation for why this happened. The car was purchased 13 months ago and this is the second time this has happened. The car did the same thing in January 2024. The car ran for hours without being able to shift out of park or turn off. The car died by the time it was towed to the Chrysler service center. The service center recommended replacing the auxiliary battery at that time, which we did (Jan 2024). They said there were no mechanical error codes showing.

NHTSA ID

11613366

Incident

Aug 28, 2024

After driving a few minutes gas engine died and received "Stop safely vehicle will shut off soon" on cluster as well as a turtle icon.

NHTSA ID

11613154

Incident

Sep 6, 2024

I was driving in a remote region of Washington in high heat (101 F) outside of Pasco, when my car alerted me that it was going to turn off and I needed to pull the car over and stop before it shut off. I had to rapidly decelerate and dodge other vehicles to make it to the shoulder of the highway. When I pulled over and shut it off, it reported that the charging system was broken and needed to be repaired. Once off, the car would not start back up. I called for a tow through my State Farm insurance but had trouble getting a vehicle to my location. After an hour of being stranded on the highway in high heat with small children, the car finally turned back on, with the check engine light on. I took it to the Chrysler service station in Walla Walla. They said that the car showed no errors and that it was safe to drive. The check engine light turned back off. I researched this and it’s related to recall 03A, which I am now having performed. The problem is that the fix they are doing for 03A does not fix the underlying problem — it just changed the text of the error message and adds potentially a few more seconds before the car turns off and I lose control of the vehicle. I don’t understand why this “fix” was accepted if the car is still unsafe to drive. I would expect Chrysler to have to replace the faulty components in the transmission. I often have to drive in remote, unpopulated areas in bad weather, icy conditions, etc. Even with the “fix”, the car will not be safe to drive in such conditions. What if my car turns off when I’m on a mountain pass on an icy road? If I survive the crash, I’ll still be stuck on the side of the road in freezing conditions. I am extremely disappointed that the NHTSA approved this “recall fix” that leaves these vehicles unsafe to drive. Because of the problems with this car, I can’t get very much for it in trade-in, and honestly it would be unethical to sell it to an unsuspecting family. Now I’m stuck with an expensive, unsafe vehicle.

NHTSA ID

11607722

Incident

Aug 3, 2024

Both 2nd row quad seats have failed. The lever for leaning the seat forward pulls a cable that has a large spring in a plastic housing that fails. It failed on both seats within the same day in a hot weather environment. After failure, the seats both slide and tilt without the ability to lock into position. This is a HUGE safety concern as it provides no restraint to the occupant. There are hundreds of accounts of this same issue on forums and reddit posts and highly documented the part that is failed. I have taken to a dealer for repair but fear it will happen again if the part has not been redesigned by Stellantis. There is no warning to this failure so it can happen at any time. Thankfully we were at home when it failed and not stranded somewhere else. With the hundreds of instances I have read accounted online, it is SHOCKING that this is not a recall yet.

NHTSA ID

11605467

Incident

Jul 26, 2024

We were traveling 70 mph down a steep incline and suddenly the vehicle, a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, displayed the warning "Pull Over - Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon" and immediately the vehicle lost all motive power. I was able to pull over to the side of the road safely. This is the second time this has occurred. The first time a Chrysler dealership did not fix the problem. The code pulled was P0A43 related to the 03A recall.

NHTSA ID

11603650

Incident

Jul 21, 2024

We were driving and the vehicle displayed "Pull Over, Vehicle will Shut off Soon" along with a check engine light. Fortunately we were almost home and the vehicle made it to our house before shutting off. We took it to the dealer and the dealer claimed they were not able to reproduce the issue or see any problems with the vehicle, despite it losing motive power.

NHTSA ID

11602417

Incident

Jul 14, 2024

While driving, the vehicle spontaneously goes into limp mode and warns the driver to pull over immediately because it is about to shut down. This has happened at least 10 times in my ownership of this vehicle since 10/04/2023 and the first time on 10/09/2024 and most recently occurred 07/06/2024. The first time it occurred on a narrow mountain road at night but I was safely able to drive slowly for about a mile before finding a parking lot to pull over. Several times were significantly more dangerous and occurred while traveling 70mph on a busy interstate and forcing us to navigate across several lanes of traffic into the emergency lane in a vehicle that is no longer able to keep up with traffic due to significant power loss when limp mode. Once pulled over, the vehicle must be turned off for several seconds before restarting and driven again. Occupants are at significant risk of being involved in a collision during the entire process from unexpected power loss, navigating traffic with said power loss, parking and restarting the vehicle on the side of a busy road, and attempting to safely merge back into traffic which is often traveling 70+mph. This entire issue is due to a faulty wiring harness in the transmission of 2017-2023 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid that can short circuit and requires immediate shutdown of the vehicle when it occurs. Thus far the only remedy from Chrysler is a software update which installs a driver warning to pull over and restart the vehicle before it shuts down instead of immediately shutting off. This is marginally better than complete power loss but still poses significant increased safety risk for passengers and surrounding vehicles and a remedy that stops the failure from occurring in the first place needs to be implemented immediately. This has been known to effect 70,000 vehicles from 2017-2023 year models and the fact that a remedy to the actual problem has not yet been made is appalling and dangerous.

NHTSA ID

11600205

Incident

Jul 8, 2024

Got the stop safely Vehicle will shut off soon warning. My wife was upset and not sure what to do. Was able to start again but now we don't trust the van

NHTSA ID

11596232

Incident

Jun 24, 2024

Invertor coolant pump failure, giving a Check Engine Light P0E7C (coolant bypass valve B control circuit having low voltage). Part from Chrysler seems to be on national back order. replacement part offered by dealership keeps failing.

NHTSA ID

11586097

Incident

Mar 4, 2024

Dealer said the transmission needs to be replaced. 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Limited (Certified) purchased in August with 28,500 miles. Bought the 7 year/100,000 mile extended warranty. Happened on Interstate 495. Chrysler Care was a joke. Wanted info filled out ONLINE. Ask for the zip code and couldn't go past that point. Finally called and waited on hold for 40+ minutes. Hell of a time trying to tell where I was on the interstate. I was almost directly under an overpass, told them the name of the overpass street and they kept wanting to put me on THAT street. Sent coordinates from Google Earth and they put me on the other side of the interstate going in the other direction. 😡 To make a 3-hour story short tow truck finally came and we got it to my dealer. Codes did say something about the transmission but the manager couldn't tell exactly. Now waiting for the service tech to call on Monday. Oh, BTW, no loaner available (even though it's covered in the warranty). The dealer called and paid for a Lyft to take us home.

NHTSA ID

11573278

Incident

Feb 15, 2024

The spring in the cable that operates the recline and fold function of the passenger captain’s chair failed. The seat is perpetually stuck in “loose” causing the seat back to recline and fold forward freely. Because this function is also part of the fold and move forward function, the seat also becomes unsecured and glides forward and backward on the track freely. This spring failure happened while my child’s car seat was installed and we drove around for an unknown period of time with the unsafe seat. The car seat kept the seat back stable so it remained locked but as soon as the car seat was removed it was able to unlock on its own and move on the track, etc. this has happened to other Pacifica vans according to the internet.

NHTSA ID

11564352

Incident

Nov 2, 2023

Check engine light came on first in 12/2021 because of a failed coolant heater. Dealer repaired under warranty in 8/2022. Loud/rough idle started 2/23 dealer could not determine what was causing the sound. Started noticing empty coolant bottle once a month. 11/23 check engine light came back on indicating coolant heater failed again. Still noticing vehicle losing coolant. Vehicle begins rough idle again and misfiring code in #3 cylinder. Dealer requires diagnostics to determine reason for coolant heater failure since they replaced in 8/22. soonest appointment avail for diagnostic is [XXX] Misfire continues. On [XXX] goes in “limp mode” take it immediately to the dealer, service advisor clears codes sends me on my way. Take vehicle to scheduled diagnostic on [XXX] and they determine the cause of the rough idle is the valve cover seal leaked oil into spark plug tubes and coils were soaked in oil. Warranty has expired and the dealer cost is $2700. I take to my local mechanic on [XXX] and he replaced all recommendations for $1800. He recommends that coolant is being lost due to head casket issues, cracked block. I have read dozens of the same experiences with these vehicles on Pacifica forums and believe that there is a huge safety issue as they are advertised for families and can carry 6+ passengers and the cost for repairs is in the $6000-$15000 range and are occurring when the vehicle warranty has expired. [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Lithia Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Bend, Oregon INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11560773

Incident

Dec 7, 2023

My vehicle developed a squeaking noise and led to a lower control arm malfunction I have searched the web and found that it's a common problem with a specific van My daughter owns one and developed the same problem this could result in loss of steering

NHTSA ID

11545778

Incident

Aug 2, 2023

Driving at approx 45 MPH the car suddenly lost propulsion and experienced a complete electrical failure. The power steering was lost, braking was stiff, gas pedal was unresponsive. I struggled to get the vehicle out of the lane of traffic. The police arrived and helped route traffic until the tow truck arrived. The vehicle is still covered under factory warranty and is currently at the dealer with no estimated return date. As a matter of fact, the Chrysler dealer that has my car hasn't returned my phone calls or voice mails in a week now to inform me how long I might be without my vehicle. A day before the incident a message appeared: ?service Hybrid electrical system It happened fast but prior to the failure the display flashed red and sounded an alarm Shift to P to start for a few seconds, then the gear shifter was flashing....then I lost all power.

NHTSA ID

11545745

Incident

Sep 10, 2023

Twice now the A/C has quit, and a short time later the Hybrid battery severely overheats and the van shuts down. This happens at highway speeds, and the vehicle loses power and shuts down. This is dangerous to have a sudden shutdown at 75 MPH. When driving in hot weather for a couple hours, the electric A/C compressor quits. On this van, the Hybrid battery is cooled by the passenger HVAC system. When the A/C quits first you feel the air from the ducts getting warm. Then you get a message on the dash for "Battery Conditioning" and a Check Engine light. If you keep driving, it stalls and will not restart until the battery cools off. It takes about 3-4 hours to get the van to move again at reduced power. If you let it cool overnight, the van drives normally until the next incident. There are trouble codes set for battery overheating, P0A7E, P1AA6, P1A9A, P1A21, P1AA2, P1A9E. There have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to diagnose the van by Chrysler dealers. Dealers can't/won't replicate this due to having to drive for approximately 2 hours in high ambient temps. The vehicle is fine in moderate or cold temps due to not needing the A/C to cool the battery, it is cooled and heated by secondary systems in those conditions. This issue is very dangerous because lithium batteries do not like extreme high temperatures, this issue could cause a thermal runaway event of the battery. Many of the codes that were set are for the battery temperature exceeding 131F (55C), which is severely hot for Li-Ion. This is much hotter than safe high temp recommendation for Li-Ion. Recall 03A for not giving warning before stalling was performed, however this issue is not the same symptom, nor the same cause as that recall. That recall involves a transmission short, not battery overheating. My van has had multiple reflashes and is up to date on all software. My vehicle was a "lemon law" buyback for the same stall issue, and was purported to have been fixed before I purchased the van.

NHTSA ID

11540971

Incident

Aug 3, 2023

The second row seats recline locking mechanism failed. It does not lock leaving the seat to collapse and extend. It is unsafe because it does not lock making it unsable for anyone that sits in it and could cause injury. The component has not been inspected by the manufacturer or anyone. I am taking to dealership. Last time I did they did not inspect but told me they have seen problem before and requires seat replacement at $3600 per seat. I left without inspection when one seat failed. Now my other second row seat is also failing. My car is no longer able to transport my children as I do not have enough available safe seats with the second seat failing. There were no warning lamps. I noticed this when my daughter said her seat was moving while I was driving.

NHTSA ID

11539330

Incident

Aug 16, 2023

The car has lost power while driving multiple times. It was in the shop for many months more than once regarding the issue. An error came on the screen saying “vehicle speed may be reduced” then it stopped. The most recent time. After the recall fix. I got a second warning telling me to pull over because the car was going to stop. I barely made it off the highway into a parking lot. The time before that I was off the side of the road on a frontage road because the car could not make it to a parking lot.

NHTSA ID

11535888

Incident

Jun 2, 2023

The contact owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated and slowed down with a message to “Pull Over Safely – Engine Will Shut down” displayed. The contact pulled over and the vehicle shut off. The contact was able to restart the vehicle, but the failure persisted. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and the contact was informed that software update needed to be performed. The vehicle was repaired but the failure reoccurred. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 58,000.

NHTSA ID

11533103

Incident

Jul 9, 2023

Mileage

58,000 mi

The contact owns a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The contact stated that after waiting for approximately 15 minutes, the vehicle failed to restart and was towed to the residence. The contact stated that prior to the failure the vehicle was repaired June 16, 2023, under NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V010000 (Electrical System, Hybrid Propulsion System). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

NHTSA ID

11531898

Incident

Jul 6, 2023

Mileage

50,000 mi