2021 Chrysler Pacifica Acceleration Problems

Mileage when the problem started

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2021 Chrysler Pacifica owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

My 2021 Pacifica Hybrid with 19.2K miles threw a "Service Charging System" and Check Engine Light error while I was driving at 65mph on the highway on Christmas Eve in 8 degree weather. The minivan stopped accelerating and the transmission began flashing between P and D. We were forced to stop the vehicle on the highway shoulder, leaving us (2 parents, 2 kids 7 & 11) stranded on the highway. The vehicle then shut off and we were unable to turn on heating or accessories other than headlights and hazards. We were rescued by state troopers given that no tow trucks were available on Christmas Eve. The local dealer claims that the issue was related to the battery, but that doesn't make sense given the car was driving at highway speeds at the time and the alternator should keep the battery charged. …

On Wed, April 5th, 2023 at approximately 10:15 pm I was returning home from a class in my 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. I was on local roads and had just transitioned from EV mode to gas mode (having used up all of my battery after about 30 miles of driving) when the car flashed the attached warning sign and I had very little power provided by my accelerator. Note that something similar to this has happened 5x before. All of these incidents had been at highway speeds (70+ mph) with one at about 40 mph. All had complete shutdown of power in the accelerator. In the current case I was able to still have a bit of power left and pulled over to the side of the road. Fortunately, it was late and there weren't too many other cars out so I didn't have as many safety concerns as I had in the past when I stalled on the highway. …

There have been several incidents that have to do with the electrical components site, such as the adaptive cruise control not working the lanes assist going off, stating that my hands are on the wheel. When my hands are on the wheel, there have been problems when I go to put it in drive. It'll switch back to park and throw on my parking brake. It has also the auto breaking lights have. Come on, my checken and light has come on. It taking in to the dealership and they found corrosion on some of the wires, replaced them. They also replaced the adaptive adaptive control module. It was supposed to magically fix all my electrical problems. Yet I'm still having electrical problems also my navigation on. A scream down by the cluster cluster. Stays on and doesn't go anywhere. …

While driving at normal road speed, the vehicle suddenly lost propulsion and entered limp mode. A turtle warning icon appeared along with multiple system fault messages. The vehicle began slowing down on it's own and was unable to accelerate. I pulled to the side of the road. The vehicle displayed an error "Stop Safely Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon". After sitting for a period of time, the vehicle restarted and was able to be driven again, but the failure occurred without warning and created a dangerous situation in traffic. Diagnostic trouble codes were present related to the hybrid system and high-voltage battery, including P1D43, P1A21, U029A, and U0412. These codes indicate faults in the hybrid control system and battery communication. …

On Tue, 12/20/2022, I was driving on I-94 westbound between Moorland Road and WI Hwy 164 at about 60-70 mph. The car suddenly stalled and I lost all ability to accelerate the vehicle. The brakes and steering wheel still worked fine. The dash was displaying a message: "Service charging system. Shift to P to start." This has happened to my vehicle multiple times before. I was in the right lane and the shoulder was clear. I was able to pull onto the shoulder and come to a controlled stop. I put the vehicle in PARK and shut off the vehicle. After waiting a bit I restarted the car successfully. This happened 1 more time on the same trip (but on Hwy 16 as I was headed out to Waukesha County Technical College.) This is definitely safety issue as there was no way to restart the car in motion. …

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. …

We were coming down a mountain from Flagstaff to Phoenix at night in heavy, fast traffic when my engine just died. No power, no power steering, no power assisted brakes. Total emergency. I have never been so scared in a vehicle. Nearly rear ended by semi at full speed. Had to try to find a shoulder on a mountain and pull over fast to avoid collision. Then once pulled over the Pacifica does not just start right up again Have to go through a process. THEN it happened AGAIN 20 minutes later. ALMOST another REAR end collision. That night I found out there's a recall for this exact problem WITHOUT A REMEDY!!!!!! I took it right in to the dealer for a software update that ... GET THIS ...doesn't fix the defect but is supposed to give me more warning that my engine is ABOUT TO SHUT OFF!!! PLEASE DO NOT allow them to get by with this bandaid. This is truly a life threatening defect. …

Vehicle was traveling at approximately 50 miles per hour with no indication of an issue or prior warning. Vehicle suddenly lost power, rolled to a stop, engaged parking brake and displayed "Service Charging System" error. Vehicle was non-operable in the middle of traffic with small children inside the vehicle, presenting significant risk of accident and injury. Vehicle was towed to a dealership and remains inoperable, as confirmed by dealer. Dealer diagnosed need for replacement transmission. Vehicle previously had transmission-related recall, which was serviced. No open recalls are in effect, though public searches and owners' groups identify consistent, recurring fact patterns. Chrysler's Star parts department blocked the dealer's part order and neither Chrysler nor dealer have identified the reason. …

The car lost all motive power on 3 separate occasions on Saturday, Feb 4, 2023. The car is currently at the dealership and we've been told the transmission needs to be replaced. Our family's safety was put at risk as well as the drivers around us. We easily could have be rear ended when when we were on the freeway and lost the ability to accelerate. When we lost power each time we had to navigate to the side of the freeway or exit to avoid being hit by another driver. The dealer has not reproduced it (that I know of) but has said we need a new transmission. My fear is that we are going to get a new transmission that will do the same thing. There were no warnings before the failure. Once the failure happened, the engine and battery lights came on as well as another warning about the electrical system.

Second incident of loss of motive power at 37352 miles on the odometer. Vehicle was traveling on freeway and suddenly displayed message, "Stop Safely Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon." Accelerator pedal had no effect and vehicle began coasting. It was dangerous to coast across multiple lanes of freeway to reach an off-ramp with shoulder wide enough to stop the vehicle. We also had to make it over an incline while coasting and it may not have been possible to reach the shoulder or off-ramp. Prior to this incidence, the vehicle had been brought to a Chrysler dealership due to a previous occurrence at 36997 miles on the odometer. It was inspected by the Chrysler dealership and deemed to be operating normally.

Acceleration complaints in other Pacifica years