2017 Chrysler Pacifica Power Train
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
I bought this Pacifica used 2 months ago and was told there were no issues with it by Carvana. During this time frame I have taken it to 2 mechanics to have it looked at for running rough. Was told it was my fuel sensor needing replaced. We tried replacing that and less than a week later my transmission is now saying Gear 2 incorrect ratio. I have put approximately 6000 miles on it in a 2 month period. The vehicle only has 61050 miles on it. The transmission acts like it is slipping when I’m trying to drive it or other times it will jerk really bad which was mentioned to both mechanics when they looked at it.
More often than not, At roughly 17, 25, and 35 MPH, the transmission will disengage to shift, take its time to get into the gear it needs, and clicks into gear very rough. When this happens it is hard enough to slam you back into the seat, which has caused me to swerve pretty bad. I have taken it to a dealership, and they say its a known issue and the only "remedy" is to update the vehicle, but it wont actually fix it, it will keep on happening.
The car struggles to shift from 1st to 2nd due to a software issue with the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The software has been flashed multiple times, but the issue persists. When the vehicle struggles to shift gears, it stops accelerating and jerks into the next gear with great force. This causes the car and passengers to jolt. I have almost been hit multiple times when this happens when crossing lanes of traffic or when another car is behind me and the car suddenly jolts. This happens anywhere from a couple of times a day to a couple of times a week. The issue is more prominent around the speeds of 22 to 30.
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH and approaching a stop, the vehicle lost motive power. The contact stated that the “Shift to Park to Restart” message was displayed on the instrument panel. The contact shifted the vehicle to park and restarted the vehicle; however, the START/STOP warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the infotainment system became inoperable however, the vehicle operated as needed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and both batteries were replaced; however, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The manufacturer was contacted and stated that no failure was found. The manufacturer provided no additional assistance. The failure mileage was 58,000.
Transmission appears to not know what gear to go into, or misses a gear shift altogether. Creating a period of higher rpms with no power to the wheels. This is a safety concern as it has happened when pulling out into travel lanes.
I was coming home from work and I was waiting to make a left turn onto a road named Vincent Rd in Orlando, FL which meant that I had to cross 3 lanes of highway. Once all traffic was clear I started crossing 3 lanes of highway and the van started making a loud grinding sound when pressing on the gas. The vehicle moved forward into the first lane of traffic and would not go anywhere from that point. I was stuck on the highway now with oncoming traffic and idiots would not stop. Of course the cars that were in the lane that I was in had no choice but the other two lanes were not stopping until somebody offered to push me across the other lanes to a parking lot. All I can say is God Bless my mailman as he is the one that actually pushed me across the highway. In my opinion, I feel that this could have been more serious. I had to have the vehicle towed to Greenway Chrysler where it was determined an axled failure on the left front wheel. Bottom line is that this situation could have been really bad but thankfully it was not. I know there have been issues with the 2017 Pacifica's over time and I believe axle failure is one of the major issues.
Purchased from Mt. Ephraim Dodge in Mt Ephraim NJ on Dec 14, 2021. Have try to get them to look at engine/transmission problem at least 7 times always with a can't find the problem, No updates , No help today , Transmission guy out sick, transmission guy Quit.!!! Car bucks and jolts with NO warning engine races , Tach goes up to 3-4 K RPM. This saturday was the worst ever . The ar violently bucked and banged the engine reved up and Stoped moving in traffic. I let it coast to the sde of the road and shut it off. After about 5 mins i restarted the car and the check engine light came on but the engine only raced in Drive not moving forward. I manually swiched the control to (L ) low and was able to get it home at about 5 MPH
This van has had a problem with shifting at low speeds since it was new but has been getting worse. When accelerating and especially under a load or heavy acceleration 4th into 5th??, it will suddenly jerk. I had recently experienced a heavy jerk and it felt like I lost my rear axle. I also experience heavier jerks when going down hilI and coasting. In all instances it occurs when starting from stop. It started around once/twice a week and now it happens 15-20 times a week. I currently have 96k miles on it. I am fearful this may end up being a catastrophic failure so I am no longer ignoring it and have scheduled a service appointment. I've asked at previous service trips about there being a recall but there have been none. I also do not see any indicator lights when this occurs.
This van has had a bad problem with shifting at low speeds since it was new but getting worse and worse by the day. Dealers do not know what is wrong with it. When accelerating it will miss gears and suddenly catch and jolt the vehicle forward. When that happens there is a really loud bang from the transmission. It feels like someone rear ended me going 30 mph. Sometimes the check engine light comes on and then goes off. Other times it doesn't. This has almost caused numerous accidents as it is completely unexpected as to when and where it happens. It started around once/twice a week and now it happens 15-20 times a week and the vehicle only has 70k miles on it. There is no way to check the transmission fluid as it is a sealed system. Online I have read literally hundreds of owners experiencing the same issue with this van and ALL are asking when will there ever be a recall. After enough people die???
Vehicle has intermittent shifting issues. During shifting it may stall/hesitate in shifting to the next gear. During shifting it may slam/hardshift into the next gear. The hesitation in shifting causes a lengthy pause in acceleration and could cause an accident when crossing lanes of moving traffic. The hard shift could cause the vehicle's driver to be startled and react in a way leading to an accident or it can cause car to lunge forward faster than expected causing an accident. The issue is intermittent. There are no warning lamps.
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle lunged forward, nearly causing a collision with the Pull Over message displayed and the Auto Start/Stop warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The dealer determined that the transmission was faulty and replaced the electrical and main batteries; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 82,000. The contact stated that there was no guarantee that the dealership was going to fix all of the issues. The vehicle has since been sold and traded in.
Transmission jerks or shudders when pressing accelerator. Has almost caused several accidents.
Since April 2018 the engine start / stop warning light has been illuminated about 80% of the time despite multiple repair attempts by the dealerships. The vehicle has been brought to the Chrylser dealerships multiple times for an ongoing, intermittent issue in which when attempting to accelerate, the vehicle has rough, delayed shifts and appears to temporarily stall and then jolts forward while your foot is steady on the gas pedal. This issue is getting worse to the point that I'm afraid to drive it. Furthermore, at interstate speeds the transmission will not shift gears sometimes. This causes the van to slow down rapidly especially on hills. This has almost caused accidents when I need to accelerate quickly when entering the highway or merging. It's very slow to accelerate and you have to press the pedal hard, then finally catches up and does a rough jolt. This can happen at any speed, but is especially bad when accelerating or driving on an incline. The check engine light is constantly illuminated. The dealerships appear to reset the transmission to turn off the warning light, but within a few miles of driving home from the dealership, the lights come back on. This has happened the last 2 times we have brought the vehicle in for repair. In addition, intermittently the vehicle will idle very roughly, making a louder than normal noise and shaking. When this happens the check engine light will begin flashing and making a dinging sound.
Getting sharp Jerks when shifting gear there is problem in transmission, i have seen lot's of people are having same issue when i google & in youtube videos, customers are facing issues & company is taking fat profits & not providing any fix. Just have to keep reseting it that can last depending on your car usage.
At low speeds when shifting into 2nd gear the car slips, rpm's raise and then it suddenly and aggressively jerks into 2nd gear. If the start and stop feature is enabled and you are in a situation where the feature is engaging and disengaging like traffic then after a few of the jerks into 2nd gear it seems the PCM will get discombobulated and display a P0732 error.
When accelerating slowly from a dead stop, the transmission will sometimes hesitate/ pause to shift and then shift with a hard bang. Most often this happens while accelerating in the 10-20 mph range but will sometimes happen while in the 20-30 mph range. It only happens if accelerating very slow. Quicker acceralation-no problems.
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power while making turns. The failure nearly caused a collision. The vehicle was able to restart and was taken to the dealer; however, no error codes were retrieved. The dealer reset the transmission. The contact stated that it was a recurring failure for five years; however, the dealers were unable to repair the vehicle due to no error codes being retrieved. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 108,000.
While my wife was driving on the highway she heard a loud pop in the van. the cv axles pulled away from the boots. and the transmission failed. Two issues that happened at the same time. the van has a digital dial to select gears and she could not reengaged the park and stop the vehicle and also could not shut the van off. the van is a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica limited with 48,000 miles on it. the dealer claimed it was due to the driving as they have found dirt around the cv joint however the dealer sold us a protective liner for the under body and i purchased it because we live on a dirt road. we believe these are 3 product liability concerns that need to be addressed.
At low speed, the vehicle will suddenly loose power to the wheels, the engine will then race (causing one to back of the accelerator) and then there is a sudden jerk forward as the powertrain appears to re-engage and normal driving returns. The jerk almost feels like the vehicle has been hit as the driver and passengers' bodies are flung forward. Over the last three years, this problem has occurred at least monthly. When reported to the dealer no diagnostic fault information was found. We are aware of a law suit involving this model vehicle and its crankcase sensor. To our knowledge, our crankcase sensor has not been replaced. Our concern is that the sudden loss of power (and the driver's automatic backing off of the acceleration) could case a vehicle behind us to run into us as the vehicle slows without braking. The power loss often occurs as the vehicle is being accelerated on an entrance ramp or through a corner, but has also occurred during straight line acceleration. The last occurrence was 10/05/2022. The contact has stated that the failure has caused multiple occurrences and almost a rear-ending accident.
My wife pulled out into traffic and the van wouldn't move when accelerater petal was pushed. After pushing it to the floor 3 time it finally began to move.
14 mph, the engine revved and the vehicle jerked. The contact stated that he slammed on the brake pedal to prevent a collision. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on two separate occasions. The dealer informed the contact that they could not duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The contact stated that upon investigating, he determined that the failure was related to the transmission
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power however, the engine was still running. There were several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to pull over on the side of the road and waited for the vehicle to cool down. The contact was able to shut down and restart the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer and the manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was unknown.
The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving below 20 MPH, the engine revved and the vehicle jerked. The contact stated that he slammed on the brake pedal to prevent a collision. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer on two separate occasions. The dealer informed the contact that they could not duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The contact stated that upon investigating, he determined that the failure was related to the transmission. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 34,000.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2017 CHRYSLER PACIFICA. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 20 MPH, THE VEHICLE INADVERTENTLY DOWNSHIFTED AND THE VEHICLE SLOWED DRASTICALLY ALMOST COMING TO A STOP. THE CONTACT STATED NO WARNING LIGHTS WERE ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO LOCAL DEALER CHRYSLER DODGE JEEP (2158 BALTIMORE PIKE, OXFORD, PA, 19363) TO BE DIAGNOSED HOWEVER, THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE WAS NOT DETERMINED. THE FAILURE PERSISTED OCCASIONALLY. THE MANUFACTURE WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE HOWEVER, NO ASSISTANCE WAS OFFERED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 277,550.
When pulling into traffic from a stop the transmission seems to try and go into third gear then drops back into second gear. This happens randomly but the result is that the car stops for a few seconds after pulling into traffic. I have complained about this problem to the dealer from the time of purchase. They have done extensive work on the transmission. As the car has aged the problem has become progressively worse. The dealer is now telling me that Chrysler knows the transmission has a problem but it is not endangering the public. The problem is random but we have to be very careful when pulling into traffic because we never know when the car will hesitate and/or stop after pulling into traffic. The problem has occurred randomly since purchase. The date entered below is the date of the last occurance.
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The 2017 Chrysler Pacifica has 202 Power Train complaints on file. 1 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.