general problems of the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica - part 1

2017 Chrysler Pacifica minivan right passenger door fell off and out at the back when my wife was opening the door manually in NJ 20 degree temp - - almost injuring my wife. The back end corner of the door fell to the ground when both the top support and middle support came completely out of their tracks. The door is still attached front bottom. The door is very heavy and could have cause severe injury if rear corner landed on a foot or a child. It also shattered the glass corner and track behind the door throwing shards of broken sharp pieces over the floor as shown in pics.

We bought this vehicle from a local dealer in March (9months ago) in the time we’ve had it… it’s been in the shop for about 6 of them. 1- about 3 weeks after the purchase it shut off while I was driving on the highway. We then took it to the dealership in jasper, GA bc the error code said the pcm needed to be reset. They couldn’t get it to reset so they embarked on a diagnostic that took 3 months to discover the fuel pump was “too small”. The dealership repair guy assured us this was a solve to the issue, they’re tech put 200 miles on it an had no issues. 2- the day we got it back the check engine light came on and while going around a curve to the right, the wheel locked up on me and almost drove me into a mailbox. We turned around and went right back to the dealership. They had it for another couple weeks and told us we needed a new rack and pinion. We couldn’t afford the $6000 they wanted to fix that. So we then called the guy we bought it from and he had a local repair shop take a look and they replaced some parts on the rack and said it was good to go. 3- got it back and the check engine came on again, they code said pcm needed to be reset. We couldn’t get the dealership to call us back so we went to the local shop o’reileys recommended and they deducted some gauges needed to be replaced. 4- within a couple weeks the van was sputtering and cutting off again, we took it back to the local shop and the only thing they could think to do was change the auxiliary battery. 5- we’ve had it for about 2 weeks… 2 days again I went to start it up and it cut off. I had to wait a few minutes to try again and it started. Then yesterday while driving we stopped a red light and something popped and the dash lit up with errors and a grinding noise started. We went to accelerate to turn and started rolling backwards while in drive. We slammed on the brakes, turned the cautions on and put it in park and still rolled backwards. We had to get a tow back to the local shop.

Our Pacifica loses power randomly and doesn't always start when we push the start/stop button. The passenger side window rolls down and power controls all go haywire causing a loss of power. The dash flashes a quick message to service the bcm and the check engine light comes on. It's intermittent and sometimes happens in the middle of the road while driving. It's gotten worse now that it's cold outside, but I don't know if that's related. I checked our VIN against recall 19v-348 but it isn't listed.

Exhaust (and therefore carbon monoxide) is pumping into my vehicle whenever the cabin air intake is set to pull in out side air (the windshield defogger only works by pulling in outside air). This poses a serious safety concern, as it leaves us with two options: a lose the ability to see out of the windshield by choosing not to run the windshield fan) or b give myself and my children carbon monoxide poisoning. This is a known issue that Chrysler refuses to address because there is no pressure on them to do so, despite the imminent threat to human health and safety.

The internal bearings on the passenger-side sliding door failed. The failure caused the sliding door to come off its tracks, shatter the rear window, and damage surrounding body paint. The vehicle was parked on level ground when the incident occurred. There was no collision or external damage prior to the event. The owner’s manual contains no scheduled maintenance procedure related to the sliding door bearings, hinges, or tracks. This failure appears to be a design or material defect, as multiple other Chrysler Pacifica owners have reported similar sliding door malfunctions. Estimated repair cost is over $3,000. Chrysler customer service was notified. This failure poses a serious safety risk — the door can detach, potentially injuring passengers or bystanders. Please investigate this issue for potential recall or safety campaign.

While driving, the vehicle suddenly shut down completely. All systems lost power: no lights steering wheel locked/stuck hazard lights were non-functional after approximately 2 minutes, the vehicle was able to restart, but an error message appeared: "ecu needs service" I then drove for about 2 minutes and parked. After stopping the engine and waiting for about 5 minutes, I restarted the vehicle. On restart, there were no error messages and the vehicle operated normally.

Backup camera - blue screen or black screen. This has been reported several times and was recalled for the 2021-2023 Pacifica. This is dangerous. The transmission jerks really hard between 2-3 great which has also been reported as a normal occurrence that Chrysler has not addresses.

The steering on my 2017 Chrysler pacific sticks at the 11 and 1 position. It causes me to over steer while driving down the road or on the interstate and then it feels like the vehicle is swerving and I have to hold the steering wheel tight. Usually before this the service electronic stability control will come on and lately the service airbag light has been coming on all at the same time. All the notifications will go off when I turn the vehicle off and come on randomly while driving. It is very scary and dangerous causing tense driving on the steering wheel because you never know when it will happen.

Despite repairing multiple things on the vehicle, the automatic engine start/stop continues to malfunction.

Unknown. Steering wheel sticks most days. Happens especially when turning and driving around a curb. Have felt this multiple times a day.

After driving, I can to a stop to park the van. The van would not shift to park and instead would go to neutral. I then could not turn the van off. It would only stay in accessory mode. Upon looking at this issue online, many Chrysler Pacifica owners have the same issue. Some people are able to fix the issue easily, while others needed to replace the transmission valve body. This is an incredibly expensive repair. There were no warning lights ahead of this problem happening, it happened out of the blue. No codes are shown when reading for codes in the van. The message that pops up when the van would not shift to park was “service trans press brake when stopped key off engine to engage park”. But the van will not turn off completely. To get the van to shut off, the battery needs to be disconnected. Safety is put at risk as I am not able to park the van or turn it off completely which would result in a dead battery.

- digital display not working when in reverse; yes it is available upon request - unable to see behind the vehicle properly impacting safety of everyone in vehicle. - dealership confirmed there is a recall for this issue but our VIN is not included yet. - no inspection yet. - no; 6/6/2025.

On Thursday may 30th was the first incident of the vehicle shutting down we were able to start it back up almost immediately within seconds on the 2nd occasion I was on a street with cars behind me going down to make a turn the stop start did not engage but we were still a ways away from the stoplight and suddenly the engine stopped no signs other than just stopping I could not start it back up I look down there was no indication of any issue other than a stalling so put it in part turned it off turn it back on no start try it again didn't work could not turn it over to neutral to get off the road police came while I had somebody disconnect battery and reconnect it to try to get it started again there was no less battery power on the engine it took 15 minutes or more to get it started once able to get started we brought it back home it was Sunday the 1st of June 2025 so there were no mechanics available still unknown as to what caused the malfunction no indicator lights other than during the issue with a lightning bolt and during the outage the check engine light was on no lights currently on. The danger was to myself and two children in the vehicle and too many other vehicles behind me that could have crashed into me or cause incident being in the road working on the vehicle having to go around us waiting for green lights or a miss trying to get around us and avoid other traffic.

Pacifica has been at hillsborough Chrysler Dodge Jeep ram for recall repair since April 28, 2025. We have called an emailed chrylser/stellantis and the dealership repeatedly and have only been told they are working on it. This is long past a "reasonable" time for this repair.

Hard shifts when accelerating. Constantly having issues where if I press on gas the vehicle hesitates and rpm jumps and jerks my children and I very bad. The vehicle constantly stalls out to were we can be killed one day! I would like this reported due to the scary situation I have been having on the road with accelerating the vehicle and the car starts smelling like it's going to catch fire one day! I keep smelling oil burning and no one acts like they know about the thousands of recalls about the transmission failure that is not covered for my VIN. This is a waste of money to be investigating my vehicle issue. This vehicle was poorly made to kill someone. No check engine lights have ever been displayed since I bought this vehicle.

February 5 2024 my check engine light came on and started blinking as I was driving. I then noticed that my car was sputtering. I stopped my car immediately and had it towed to a dealership at that exact point I had just over 64,136 miles on my 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The following is the work that they performed on my vehicle. Concern verified. Vehicle has an active misfire, check engine light is flashing. Scanned vehicle for codes and found misfire on cylinder 3. Removed coil and swapped to cylinder 1. Spark plug removed and swapped to cylinder 5. Retested. Misfire moved to cylinder 1. Replaced ignition coil and road tested vehicle. After vehicle was warm the misfire on cylinder 3 returned. Swapped fuel injector to cylinder 2. Misfire stayed on cylinder 3. Removed coil and spark plug from cylinder 3 and borescoped cylinder. Found coolant leaking into the cylinder. Recommend replacing cylinder head gasket and checking the cylinder head for warpage. Removed cylinder head and found cylinder head to be warped and needing to be replaced along with the gaskets. Replaced left and right valve cover gaskets, cylinder head, cylinder head gaskets, timing cover gaskets, exhaust manifold gasket, spark plugs, upper and lower intake gaskets. Completed oil change. Fast forward to December 14, 2024 vehicle mileage 74,955 my wife was leaving to go to the farmers market. She called me to inform me that the check engine light came on blinking and the car started sputtering again. The exact same issue happened again. I told her to stop the car immediately and we had it towed to the same car dealership today December 20, 2024 was the first call that I received from the dealership they informed me that cylinder six has failed the compression test and they recommend having the engine replaced. Currently waiting to speak to more people to see what can be done.

My car shut down on highway and the dealership said it was the terminals on the battery being dirty it happened agin so I had the battery changed then it did it again and the dealership changed one spark plug , one coil pack then it happened again changed all spark plugs and coil packs my car did it again and now I’m being told I’m probably going to need a new engine I notified Chrysler telling them this has happened several times and they said there was nothing they could do.

In December 2018 a recall on the shifter was issued for Pacificas 2017 and 2018. The emergency brake would engage when ignition was turned on and van would not go forward or reverse. We purchased our 2017 Pacifica van on November 24, 2020. We started having this issue again last year in September 2024. The van’s emergency brake engaged when husband stopped at a red light and couldn’t start the van until after four light changes. Drivers behind us were not happy. He finally got the car to the Chrysler dealership. They had it for 6 weeks without much communication with us and what the problem was. They put a diagnostic device on it and it drove fine from December 2024 until yesterday, March 9, 2025, when the same brake issue came up again and we couldn’t get van started. We left it in the parking lot and our son came and gave us a ride home. Around 10pm last night our son and my husband went back to see if they could get it started to at least get it home. Many tries were unsuccessful until the last try when our son had the driver side door open and turned on the ignition. On the screen it said “shifter needs service”. My husband had been unable to reach a service personnel to read the device on the van. In the meantime, I called another Chrysler dealer, told them what was going on with van, and asked about the recalls. The lady there was very nice and asked for the VIN on van. She looked it up and said the recall for shifter went out in December 2018, and the issue on our van was fixed in 2020. Is there a way to find the month and day as well as the year in the history? we purchased the van on November 24, in 2020. Is it possible the issue has returned? the recall said it had something to do with dashboard design and something was replaced with the dashboard that was a real safety issue. We were planning to leave tomorrow for an over 900 mile trip to see family and we are concerned about traveling safely. No one has yet to return our calls from the dealership.

Auto start/stop need service and then vehicle will mention stop safely vehicle will turn off. I then will lose power to my vehicle.

We continue to get errors with the start/stop technology. Three times since 2018 the indicator light came on while driving stating start/stop errors. On one occasion we lost power on a freeway and had to quickly pull off the highway when the vehicle went into limp mode. That repair was covered by warranty. In other cases we have replaced batteries but they soon die and produce the same warnings before a normal life span of a battery. We have repair recipients to document.

Our 2017 Pacifica has been in for diagnostic review/repair several times. While traveling between speeds of 50-70 miles per hour after a period of anywhere between 35-90 minutes when making easy right corners the steering sticks in place between 11 & 1 positions. Has been noticed on shorter distances in hotter weather than and on longer trips farther into the drive. We recently had the electronic power steering computer replaced which did not fix the problem. Currently the dealership is advising that the rack and pinion need replacing but the warranty company will not pay as they are not able to replicate the error in the presence of the warranty company inspector. Since replacing the electronic power steering was unsuccessful in correcting the problem, the warranty company is requiring the dealership to provide proof of part failure before they pay. My son turned 16 on July 25th, 2024 and got his drivers license. At this time we do not have $4,000 to replace the rack and pinion and the warranty company won't cover it due to dealership errors. It is my understanding there are hundreds of reported cases of this same exact issue without any recalls. We refuse to allow our teenage son to drive a literal death trap with known and reported steering issues to the government and manufacturer but that may not be an option for everyone. May god or whomever forgive the souls of those who wait for the death of a child or other before taking action.

Was driving smelled plastic burning parked it at my house now dash says service charging system. It wont turn on or go into drive. I am afraid its going to catch fire.

I was pulling into a parking lot and had my foot on the gas. The gas pedal suddenly stopped allowing me to accelerate. The dashboard read "place car in park" I lost power of the vehicle. I was able to pull safely into a parking space and then I put the van in park and turned it off. I started it up and it started without issue. This was a very scary situation as I almost hit a shopping cart where I was forced to pull in as I had no power and was coasting in a parking lot full of cars.

This vehicle’s uconnect “infotainment” system began to malfunction after only 20,000 miles or so. At first it was only intermittent resets but they progressed over the last two years or so until now it is constantly auto-selecting every feature in the system while driving. I have experienced random selection of the heating/cooling system, auto parking brake, random nav selections, radio/audio changes, display units, language, seat heater, and more. Basically every selection available through the touchscreen it does randomly while driving. It is hugely distracting and even uncomfortable. I have had it in twice seeking a fix but the dealer seems unable to address it.

Unknown while driving, the electrical system seemed to malfunction causing the lights to flash on/off, the rear windshield wiper to activate, the horn was blaring (quick repeated beeps, with occasional blaring), the dash indicated that the parking brake could not be used, indicated that the airbag system was not working, indicated that the driver’s side seatbelt was not connected, amongst other warnings that I cannot recall. The abs brakes were not working, nor was the power steering. The car indicated that it needed to be put into park, and allowed for the turning of the dial; however, the dash indicated that the vehicle was moving too quickly to shift into park. We were able to make a turn onto a street with an uphill incline from the road we were driving on; and the brakes stopped the car - using a lot of force as the abs braking system was still malfunctioning. The vehicle was put into park and the parking brake indicated that it was active; but of course could not be trusted as the indicators on the dash had been so haywire just moments before. While the vehicle was “off” the horn was still blaring (both short beeps and intermittently long blares), the rear wiper was still active (while in the off position), and the interior lights were flickering. This continued until the red connector was disconnected from the battery. The black connector seemed to make no change, connected or not. When the red connector was reconnected, the electrical issues seemed to be replicated with the horn and rear wiper. The vehicle was towed and we have no current answers. This was extremely dangerous as we lost all power and control of the car. We were driving, on what is oftentimes, a very busy street.

While driving on the expressway the sunroof imploded. Nothing hit it.

I am reporting a serious and ongoing safety defect with my 2017 Chrysler Pacifica (VIN: [xxx] , current mileage 51,875). The vehicle stalls and shuts off unexpectedly while driving, including in intersections, creating a life-threatening hazard. I have reported this issue multiple times to carmax and prestige Chrysler Dodge Jeep ram in las vegas, nv, but it remains unresolved. Key points: • first reported to carmax on 2/6/2024 (invoice #[xxx]). • battery health test passed on 3/1/2024 (invoice [xxx]). • dealership later misdiagnosed the problem as a dead battery and charged me $837. 95 for a replacement on 10/11/2024 (invoice #[xxx]), which did not fix the stalling issue. • I returned within 7 days with the same safety complaint. • multiple service attempts have failed to permanently resolve the issue. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Driver side sliding door fell off onto my wife causing window to break and was hanging by just a cable on bottom track.

As I am driving down the street in the middle of traffic the van will cut off and all wheels will lock , I buy a new battery and wires and it continues to happen, not able to drive the expressway scared of causing an accident. The dash will start blinking and the electric will start flashing radio shuts down and the whole car is down for a few minutes like it need to reset.

Noticed a wet spot on my driveway under my car that was not going away, the first mechanic that looked at it could not find the problem and initially thought it might have been condensation. A few weeks late the spot was becoming much larger and check engine light came on and the code indicated that there was an issue with the oil pressure. Upon taking it to be looked at by another mechanic it was found to be an issue with the oil filter housing resulting in a substantial oil leak. An oil leak can be dangerous both due to the slippery nature and the fire risk it presents, in addition it can cause further issues with the engine.

When going to accelerate, the car will not shift into gear. It g jerks and it takes a few seconds to physically move foward. There are times when turning onto a road or highway it will not accelerate as it should.

Van keeps shutting off while stopped at stop light and stop signs.

Unknown. My back up camera is intermittently not working.

When driving, car completely shuts down. Usually happens when we are slowing down or stopping, but has also happened when accelerating. No lights come on and never happens when we take it to a mechanic. Happened 10x today alone but 5x over last seven days. We thought it was an issue with the auxiliary battery, but continues to happen. 130k on 2017 Pacifica.

The "start stop" function has stopped functioning completely. I had both batteries replaced a year ago and this solved the issue, temporarily. Months later, I went to park and the vehicle shuttered as I put the van in park and shut off, then turned back on. Immediately, the "start stop" light came on. I've been driving just fine for 5 months with the light on, but this could become a hazard for myself and others. I have check my VIN for any recalls for the start stop function but nothing has come up. I've seen many other recalls for this issue on 2017-2019 Chrysler Pacifica's, but my VIN is not listed as there having a recall. I took the van to autozone and o'reilly's to have the codes checked, nothing is coming up.