NHTSA Complaint #11593602 — 2018 CHRYSLER PACIFICA

The check engine light came on in early May, and I immediately took it to our local mechanic. On [XXX], he told me we had a cracked cylinder head (attached quote). You can imagine my surprise! It’s a fairly new car. I just went on Google, and I found immediately a thread on the Pacifica forum where hundreds of families have had this problem. I just commented without expecting to get help, and I got a DM from Chrysler Cares (correspondence attached). They asked me to take it to a Chrysler dealer to confirm the diagnosis. The dealer reached out to me on May 28th with the bad news below. I said I would pick the car that afternoon. He informed me that if I drove the vehicle it would “catch on fire.” Quote below: Technician has completed diagnosis of vehicle. Found engine is burning coolant, coolant leaking into engine from headgaskets. Need to replace both left and right side headgaskets, cost for repair is $4334 plus tax. With this service also recommended to replace spark plugs additional $437, service throttle body $299, Service fuel injectors/rails $299, flush coolant in radiator and reservoir $299. Sincerely, Tony Pantagis Service Advisor Office 973-744-2000 ext 137 Fax 973-744-248 Email: [email protected] I immediately reached out to Chrysler Cares online. I also called the 800#again. It took MANY days to get anyone to get back to me, but finally I got a Case number. I explained my whole story on the telephone, and Chante said she would reach out to the dealer. After many days of back and forth phone tag, she called me on Friday, June 7 to say this would be referred to a Chrysler supervisor for one final review. I picked up my broken car from the dealer today and it is still not fixed. I still have no answer why a car with 60K miles would have a failed engine with no warning. Chrysler needs to recall these vehicles! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)