NHTSA Complaint #11713800 — 2017 CHRYSLER PACIFICA

We purchased the vehicle in 2020 with appx 33,000 miles. In fall 2023- winter 2024 it began having electrical glitches when the weather was cold. The car will start, but will not shift into gear. It throws alarms such as service Parking Brake, Shifter, Engine, Traction Control and that you must put it in Park. Although it obviously is in park or it wouldn't have started. The dealership kept it for a month Nov-Dec 2023 and could not get it to recreate the problem, but replaced the battery since it "failed". We went on vacation for Christmas and had issues with it not shifting after it sat all night in the cold. However, the problem is intermittent. But the cold seems to be the consistent factor. Once the weather warms up, it does fine. Although 1 time in sumer 2024 with very high temps 100+ it threw the same alarms and would not shift into gear upon starting the car. We continued to have issues in Fall 2024/Winter 2025. It did great throughout spring and summer, began issues again in Fall 2025 into this Winter 2026. It has left us stranded, unable to get the car to shift sometimes for 10-15 minutes while we "warm up the car" but sometimes it takes 30-60 minutes. We've began putting a space heater nearby it for a couple of hours each morning before we need to drive it, but that doesn't always work either. While extremely frustrating, it hasn't been considered dangerous until a week ago. We came out of church and it was chilly, so I expected it would not shift into gear. It surprised me when it started AND shifted. However, as soon as I got on the main road up to 40mph, the engine completely lost power and threw all the same alarms. The stretch of county road had no shoulders and deep ditches, so barely made it coasting to a neighborhood to pull over. Searching on the Internet, we narrowed it down to the CAN BUS star connector, replaced it, and it drove better than ever! Until it was cold that night! Likely needs soldered, can't reach it behind glovebox.