Cruise Control problems of the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica

The cruise control downshifts the transmission while descending hills in order to maintain the desired speed. But prior to downshifting the engine will accelerate 5-10mph depending upon the initial speed and the grade of the hill. While not an issue on a straight road, it is a safety issue on a 70 mph hwy with a 50 mph curve at the bottom of the hill, especially when traction is reduced, often the case on hwy 37 between libby & eureka mt. I have taken the car into the dealer twice concerning this issue since it is �normal� for this car, ie, it does the same thing on every hill while cruise control is engaged. They said it's normal for this car � nothing to be done. The last time I took it in was 9/24/2020 at which time they gave me a copy of a star case report (attached). This report recommends cruise not be used in hilly areas. While they note that speed may increase, not that it will increase, they don't mention the increase is not just due to gravity but actual acceleration. Nor have I seen any mention of this issue in the users� manual. 2017 was the first year of production for the Pacifica, but you will note the star is dated 2012 so other models must also be similarly affected. We recently bought a 2020 ram 1500 and the cruise control works perfectly in it, so I know Chrysler knows how to make a safe & effective speed control unit.

The vehicle was traveling on the highway at approximately 70 m. P. H. With the cruise control activated when the vehicle started to accelerate up to almost 90 m. P. H. Without input (depression of accelerator pedal or increasing speed from cruise control buttons) from the driver. The acceleration ceased when cruise control was deactivated by depressing the brake pedal.

At 10mph decelerating to stop light. Engine shutoff. On restart error message appeared _service shifter. No lights on shifter designating gear in use was able to return to Chrysler service. Replacing shifter. Previously there have been instances when doors opened while car was at 30 mph. That was corrected with new locking computer. Several times the transmission would not shift into drive when car was started. Ignition had to be switched off then on a couple of times before the shifter would work properly. The parking brake would not disengage when car started and brake control button was presseed. Ignition had to be cycled couple of times . Not shifting into drive and failure to disengage brake occurred together frequently but not every time on downhill roads in cruise control at 45 to 55 mph , transmission down shifts so rpm would exceed 3000 and did not immediately upshift when road became flat . Rpm would remain above 3000 for several seconds then return to 1500 rpm. This is a very recent new action. There a disturbing thunk sound and hard jerk when transmission shifts under load at approximately 40 to 50 mph.

While driving approximately 65mph on the highway,all of the lights on the dash came on and the car started to slow down even though I had the cruise control set. I tried to press the accelerator and the car would not speed up. I pulled over and turned the dial to park but the p did not light up. While in park the car was jerking forward and I could not set the parking brake. I turned it off at that point and tried to turn it back on to solve the problem. The problem has not yet been solved.

I took my vehicle in for an oil change and work up on September 19, 2019. I was reporting rough transmission when switching gears but other than that everything was fine. They ran updates on my cruise control and the like and off we went. The following day I was driving in a flat area out of state with my cruise control set at 70. I was pulled over for a speeding ticket where the deputy reported I was going not 70 but 84 mph!! in the course of the 13 hour drive we noticed that the transmission was still rough and the engine was revving for no apparent reason. Upon returning home, on September 24th, I was taking my daughter to a doctors appointment where I was again stopped for speeding. The trooper said I was going 55 in a 45 when I again had my cruise control set. I am now thinking the first ticket was a warning and not a fluke so I parked my van until my husband was able to follow me home to make sure everything was working properly. On the drive home, again a level surface, I had the cruise control set and noticed the van had accelerated to 55 mph! I have caught it on one other occasion at 10-12 mph over where the cruise was set and managed to get a picture of the dash were it can clearly be seen the engine is revving and the cruise control does not match the speedometer.

2017 Chrysler Pacifica. Consumer writes in regards to defective cruise control feature. The consumer stated the forward collision avoidance system was inoperable.

This is my second, possibly third time reporting a significant problem with this van. I have lost power while trying to accelerate multiple times. Today I lost power while accelerating, the vehicle revved and rpm went up to about 6000, no power was going to the engine and I was unable to accelerate, then full power went to engine and the van lunged forward and gained speed. The acc cruise control light also went on. I did not lose power steering and I am not sure if the engine turned off. Due to so many problems occurring while driving, I frequently record my drives- I was able to capture this on video. The video only shows my dash and does not do it justice, but shows the rpm, vehicle speed slowing, and then accelerating. I have a few more videos with similar problems, but this is one of the few that I was able to capture. My children are afraid of riding in this car, we have has issue after issue and simply want to be safe while driving.

While on cruise control going down some hills the vehicle accelerates to downshift and then slowly comes back down and then jerks into set cruise speed. Have had it where I could not turn the cruise off when the button was pressed. It can be scary, it should not accelerate to slow down. Took it to the dealer but they said there was no fix unless enough people complained about it to Chrysler. Just bought the vehicle and it has been doing it from day one.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. While driving between 25-50 mph with the cruise control activated and traveling up an incline, the revolutions per minute increased extremely high. Additionally, the gears failed to shift and suddenly downshifted. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer (brighton Chrysler Dodge Jeep ram, 9827 e grand river Ave. , brighton, mi 48116, (810) 229-4100) where the vehicle was awaiting to be diagnosed and repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided case number: 34432734. The failure mileage was 18,000.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 18v332000 (electrical system, vehicle speed control). The vehicle was repaired by griffin Chrysler Dodge Jeep ram (961 e u. S. Hwy 74, hamlet, nc 28345, 910-582-1200). However, when the cruise control was set at 58 mph, the vehicle accelerated to 70 mph without warning. The contact depressed the brake pedal to disengage the cruise control. The vehicle was taken back to the same dealer and the technician was able to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the cruise control operated properly on an incline. The failure was not remedied. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.

Issue 1: adaptive cruise control many times unintentionally accelerates even if it is very clear the front vehicle is slowing down calmly or even stopping; until it is too close the car itself activates emergency auto braking but for a second acceleration being still on before it deactivates (usually acc does this calmly and safely). In some cases I had to do emergency braking since it misses the detection of car infront of you; it will be also very hard to do at a time if car just starts to do very high acceleration. Second issue is that a stationary vehicle is detected or not detected with 50/50 success. Third issue is autobraking , as seen in issue 1, even in normal driving there is no guarantee it will brake; I had several incidents to have emergency brake myself. Fourth issue: when car stops at a certain angle downhill wheels partially turned right. Then immediately if tries to join a main road to the right, but slightly uphill, the car stalls for a 3-5 sec, before it accelerates. This makes it unsafe if there is heavy traffic and joining the road. The dates are multiple so I will put the last incident date here.

We have had this van for a year and it's only got 6800 miles on it. During the last few months I have noted while using the cruise control that it will accelerate from the set point without being reset and it does it as if I had set it much higher. It shifts down and accelerates moderately hard. I note the current recall that the cc cannot be canceled and I can cancel this unwarranted acceleration without a problem. I will also take the van in for the current recall, just in case. This acceleration problem just came up in the last couple of months and has happened a total of about 4 times now.

On long trips (generally greater than1 hour) the acc/fcw (adaptive cruise control/front collision warning system) system fails intermittantly (with or without the cruise actually being active) and the dash displays "acc/fcw unavailable service required". Once having failed, the system cannot be reset while continuing to drive, but turning the engine off and restarting will reset it. Losing these system presents a safety hazard as the fcw is not only a warning system but can actually stop the car in an emergency setting. Losing the acc (adaptive cruise control) actually means losing all cruise control, which is not only annoying but can easily lead to exceeding speed limits and/or constantly checking the speedometer setting resulting in reduced driver situational awareness. The biggest problem is that the failure throws no codes that code readers at autozone or Chrysler can see and Chrysler service says there is no fix without a code. Inability to diagnose and fix this important enhanced safety system is a safety failure at Chrysler. Note that the failure has occurred in a variety of situations--day/night/sun/rain/cloud/snow/dirty/clean/fast/slow.

While driving in the mountains with cruise control on. Driving down hill the vehicle accelerates to downshift. As if flooring the gas to make the car downshift. I must turn off cruise control and take control of the accelerator. The problem also occurs while cruise control is off but not as often. Come drive it with me and it will happen to you. Otherwise I love this car but these situations are scary. This is highway driving on I 70 or 285.

The cruise control is not maintaining a fixed speed on downhills and that causes the vehicle to highly accelerate to a deficit speed of around 20 mph more than the fixed speed selected. This could lead to deadly accidents and need to be fixed as soon as possible by a tag of safety alert. This is happening to me since I purchased the car and I went to dealership to tell them about it, but they didn't like to listen and/or to escalate the issue to manufacturer. Nhtsa is my last resort to report this.