2021 CHRYSLER PACIFICA Power Train Problems

Currently, there is a recall of this vehicle that results in a loss of automotive power. This only occurs when driving in the highway going 70mph. This first occurred to us about a month ago. The recall was announced a little earlier to when we were experiencing the issue, but there was no fix available until about a couple weeks after we had this issue. The software fix was completed last Friday. The following day, during a 20 mile drive, the car again loss automotive power twice. The only difference after the recall is that the message on the screen changes as the car starts to shut down. As this only occurs during highway speeds, we were required to change multiple lanes across speeding traffic while the vehicle was slowing down, in order to get to the emergency lane. And this was occurring while the car was slowing down on...

The engine stopped abruptly on an interstate. We were required to slow from 75 mph and pull off on the side of the road immediately. The transmission changed to what felt like first gear before we were adequately slowed down, grinding and making a lot of noise. This happened on 3 separate occasions before the dealership could figure out the problem. If we had been in a situation where we couldn’t have pulled off the road immediately, it would have been much more dangerous. The engine stops and will not let you accelerate. The dealership is now replacing the transmission and I am hopeful that will work. I believe it is related to the most recent recall, but the “fix” is not a safe fix and a true fix needs to be figured out immediately to prevent injuries or loss of lives on the road. The first time it happened,...

Vehicle suddenly looses all power and a message pops up on the dash to pull over. This happens intermittently and is terrifying when you are on the road and suddenly only have brakes and steering. Chrysler knows of the issue but doesn't have a fix for it. Someone is going to end up getting killed and they should be forced to stop selling all pacifica hybrid's (new and used) until there is a real solution for this problem.

The contact owns a 2021 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle shifted into neutral unintendedly and lost motive power. Several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact was unable to shift into gear as the gear shifter had seized. The contact veered to the side of the road. The contact stated that the vehicle restarted and responded as needed after several attempts. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred while on vacation in Tennessee, and the vehicle was driven to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The vehicle remained in Tennessee while the contact returned to the residence driving a rental. The contact became aware that the vehicle was previously repurchased by the manufacturer due to the failure; however, the dealer sold him the vehicle as they believed they had fixed...

I have tried to get a remedy for the major recall and Chrysler is being unresponsive. I can’t let my young family use the car until this is fixed and Chrysler won’t help so what do I do?

I have a 2021 Pacifica Hybrid in (Vin: 2C4RC1S70MR51943) that has encountered the dreaded "Service Charging System" message 5 times now in the past year, with the past 3 occurrences all happening in the last 3 weeks. Each time the car will not start, and the gear shifter will flash, the red charging light will illuminate on the dash, and the check engine light is on. On one occurrence, I turned the car off, then on again and was able to drive, however the check engine light was illuminated. I ran an OBD scan and the code was P1A21. On another instance, I was driving and lost all propulsion, the screen indicated "Service Charging System" message. Luckily I was on a local road and not a freeway and I was able to pull into the bike lane, still obstructing 1/2 of the right lane. After 5 minutes of trying to...

Traveling on the highway, the vehicle engine turned off. The vehicle would not accelerate and only coast. Driver display says "Shift into P to start" and "Service charging system". After coasting to the side of the highway, I was able to restart the vehicle after shifting into Park but a check engine light came on after the restart(No check engine light was present before this incident). Our safety and others were at risk due to vehicle unable to move. Had there been no emergency lane, our vehicle would have been stopped on the highway. This engine stalling incident had occurred another 6 times within 2 days. Vehicle was brought into the dealership with check engine code P0A43. Dealer said they were unable to reproduce the engine stall and have released the vehicle back. Vehicle is available for inspection upon request. No warning lamps, messages, or any other symptoms prior to...

The engine of our 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid suddenly lost power while driving on the freeway. The display indicated "Put car in park" or something similar--but we were driving 65 miles/hour in heavy traffic! I had to pull over, turn the car off completely for one minute, and restart. After restarting the "check engine" light was on. Later in the drive after we stopped again, the "Check engine" light turned off, so all evidence of the error is gone from the car. However, we received en email from Chrysler's automatic system saying the car had reported an error for "powertrain" and we should schedule our service. It was dangerous to lose power while driving at freeway speeds. I am also confused about why the car's error codes went away. The car is available for inspection. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? My family of...

My 2021 Pacifica Hybrid with 19.2K miles threw a "Service Charging System" and Check Engine Light error while I was driving at 65mph on the highway on Christmas Eve in 8 degree weather. The minivan stopped accelerating and the transmission began flashing between P and D. We were forced to stop the vehicle on the highway shoulder, leaving us (2 parents, 2 kids 7 & 11) stranded on the highway. The vehicle then shut off and we were unable to turn on heating or accessories other than headlights and hazards. We were rescued by state troopers given that no tow trucks were available on Christmas Eve. The local dealer claims that the issue was related to the battery, but that doesn't make sense given the car was driving at highway speeds at the time and the alternator should keep the battery charged. I have seen a lot of owners with...

On Tue, 12/20/2022, I was driving on I-94 westbound between Moorland Road and WI Hwy 164 at about 60-70 mph. The car suddenly stalled and I lost all ability to accelerate the vehicle. The brakes and steering wheel still worked fine. The dash was displaying a message: "Service charging system. Shift to P to start." This has happened to my vehicle multiple times before. I was in the right lane and the shoulder was clear. I was able to pull onto the shoulder and come to a controlled stop. I put the vehicle in PARK and shut off the vehicle. After waiting a bit I restarted the car successfully. This happened 1 more time on the same trip (but on Hwy 16 as I was headed out to Waukesha County Technical College.) This is definitely safety issue as there was no way to restart the car in motion. Plus, pulling...

Driving on the freeway, all propulsion suddenly and without warning ceased and the dash declared "service charging system" and the check engine light came on.. My only choice was to coast off to the side of the freeway. My safety was definitely at risk, as I was stuck on the side of the freeway. After several minutes, I was able to turn the car all the way off and turn it back on again. The check engine light was still on. I drove it straight to the dealership, who has it in for service for this error. Prior to this, the van gave no indication that anything was wrong.

Second occurrence of 2021 Pacifica Hybrid stalling while driving. Same error messages with check engine light, Service Charging System, battery light. The recommended software update was done a month ago at a dealership after the first incident. The van worked fine until today when I had to unexpectedly maneuver to the roadside again as it stalled out at 35 mph. I waited several minutes and the van started again but the yellow engine light stayed on. I took it to the dealer where I bought it and it's there now. Yes, my safety was at risk again.

On Sunday, 12/4/2022, I went on a few errands not intending to drive very far on the highway since most of my stops were local. I entered the I-94 west bound from Moorland Rd in Brookfield WI and drove about 1 mile reaching about 65 mph during the busy traffic hours. The car suddenly stalled and I lost all ability to accelerate the vehicle. The brakes and steering wheel still worked fine. The dash was displaying a message: "Service charging system. Shift to P to start." Thankfully, I was in the right lane and the shoulder was clear. I was able to pull onto the shoulder and come to a controlled stop. I put the vehicle in Stop but when I pressed the off button, it would not switch to off and remained in the "run" mode. I tried several times for a few minutes without any success. I waited...

On Wed, 11/23/2022, I was driving on I-94 Eastbound headed from Wisconsin to Illinois at about 70 mph. The car suddenly stalled and I lost all ability to accelerate the vehicle. The brakes and steering wheel still worked fine. The dash was displaying a message: "Service charging system. Shift to P to start." Thankfully, I was in the right lane and the shoulder was clear. I was able to pull onto the shoulder and come to a controlled stop. I put the vehicle in PARK and shut off the vehicle. I tried to restart it but was unable to. I then unbuckled my seat belt and opened & closed the driver side door (without getting out). After about a minute I was able to restart the car and continue on my way to Chicago. This happened 2 more times that trip. It also happened 1 time on the way back...

Van stalled while driving at 45 mph, had to pull over to side of road and get a tow to dealer. No indication of a problem before the stall. Warning lamp showed engine light, charging system warning, shift to park to start but unable to restart van on side of road. High safety risk as this occurred while driving at night. Police eventually parked behind me for safety on the roadside. Van is currently at dealership after being towed there.

I was driving the van on interstate 85 in NC on my way to Charlotte from Raleigh. I was traveling at 70 mph when the van suddenly lost power. I could not accelerate and had to immediately pull over to the shoulder coasting on momentum only. I barely missed being hit by a semi truck as I attempted to get out of the way of traffic. The van remained stalled on the shoulder as I attempted to restart the van. It took 5 tries to get the van off the shoulder and onto an exit where I was able to park the van at a Waffle House parking lot to await a tow truck. Each attempt to restart the van would give me about 30 seconds of power before the van would stall out again. I was traveling with my wife and 4 small children and this was a very...

Same issue as the existing complaint PE22008 on 10/24/2022, South-bound I-95 in Maryland, driving around 65-70 MPH. The van completely stopped excelling. Luckily I had enough speed/inertia to cross the 2-3 lanes to pull-off onto the shoulder. I put the car in PARK and then turned the car in off and then on again, was able to continue driving afterwards. Dashboard screen read "Service charging system" which seems odd because if it is an issue with Hybrid system, the gas engine should kick-in. This happened again 3 hours later. In both situations, I had my wife and children in the van.

While traveling in the #1 lane at 65mph on the freeway, the engine suddenly lost power and I had to coast to the far right lane amid traffic to enter the emergency stopping area. This has happened 4 times in the last few weeks. The dashboard display says there is a charging system problem. I am able to restart the car after stopping completely and opening the driver's door. This creates a very unsafe situation. I took it to the dealership today and they performed the Z76 recall campaign software update, however, upon driving 10 miles on the freeway, it happened again.

Our 2021 Pacifica Hybrid with less than 21k miles on it lost all propulsion/motive power; this happened while I was driving on a freeway just seconds before going onto an overpass at freeway speeds to change freeways. Driving uphill on an overpass at freeway speeds with our kids in the car was very dangerous (especially during weekday traffic in Orange County) but, fortunately, we coasted to a stop safely. The vehicle's other systems seemed to still be working. For example, the vehicle's dashboard was working. As soon as the vehicle's power ceased, an error light on the dash appeared reading "Service Charging System Error," and instructed the driver to pull over and put the car in park. The check engine light has been on since the incident. The car was dropped off at the dealership on October 14th. They said that the electrical guy will be available on October 17th...

Driving on US-23 and "Service Charging System" warning displayed on dashboard. Car lost power and I had to coast to the side of the freeway. Turned car off but could not turn back on. Transmission would not go out of Park. Tried about 10 times and after about 15 minutes the car turned on and could drive. Check engine light remained on for remainder of the drive home. Planned on visiting dealer in the morning but car turned on and no check engine light. This is the 3rd time the "service charging system" warning has happened, but the first time the car died on the road. Every time the check engine light disappeared the next day. Had codes scanned and permanant code P1A21.

On Saturday 9.3.22, while driving at approximately 40mph, my Chrysler Pacifica lost all power and slowed to a stop (I turned on my hazards immediately and pulled over to the shoulder). Based on the light traffic around me I was able to safety move accross two lanes even without the aid of power steering. Within 60 seconds of me coming to a stop, the Check engine light came on the cluster and an error message saying “charging system fault”. After calling for Chrysler roadside assistance, I attempted to restart the vehicle dozens of times unsuccessfully. At approx 60min after the vehicle lost power, it restarted. On Tuesday, 9.5.22 I took the vehicle to the dealer to diagnose & repair. As of today (9.12.22) they have been unable to recreate the event. Even though the error threw a CIL code, the dealer stated the error is now gone and no codes...

While driving, the car would loose power then check engine light comes on and "service charging system" would pop up. The gas peddle is rendered useless as it doesn't do anything and would have to coast to safety. Dealer would just reset the computer and vehicle is realease. unfortunately, it had happen many times. Safety is a concern, more so on the highway.

Was driving the vehicle when it completely died. The “service hybrid electric vehicle system” warning came on the dash and could not get it to go into drive again. Completely dead in the water and could not move. I can’t imagine if I was going down the freeway and this happened. Very lucky to have it on a quiet road. This is a known issue and there are many cases of this happening to others if you check YouTube out or google it. It’s very scary and someone is gonna end up hurt or killed.

I was driving down the road and the car just turned off. It will not start anymore.

The Pacifica has 4 times in the past 9 months has lost power while driving at a high speed on the Interstate. I am still able to steer and guide the car to the shoulder, then wait 2 minutes and the car starts back up and I am able to drive again. I then have the check engine light on, and the code I get is P0A3F. It has been to Chrysler Service 3 times, and they can't repeat the issue, and claim they don't have the man power or expertise to figure it out. Once the car loses power, the messages I get say to "return car to park", "Service Charge System", and the Chrysler Uconnect App says I have a "service fault". This has happened on 11/13/21, 5/8/22, 5/27/22, and this last time... 8/28/22.

Driving on the interstate, the vehicle simply shut down and gave the following error message: "Service Charging System." I was able to pull to the shoulder and get the vehicle started again. There had been no prior warning messages or symptoms of the problem. I took the vehicle in for service, and the dealership ran a diagnostic check and found no issues. A couple weeks later, the same thing happened. I was again able to get to the shoulder without incident. Took the vehicle to a different dealership where they identified the issue as a bad Power Inverter Module. The vehicle is still at the dealership (it has been a full week). While I was able to navigate the situation without injury. This could have been a very dangerous situation in the instance where a shoulder was not available or traffic was significantly heavier. It appears this is a fairly...

My wife and I were driving on HWY 101 at 11pm at night while camping, were headed to the ER as I had just cut my hand with a hachet. While driving, all of a sudden an error light on the dash appeared reading "Service Charging System," the accelerator no longer delivered power, and the car began quickly slowing down. Luckily, I was able to move to the shoulder and stop the van. The Pacifica remained on with all systems working (radio, lights, etc), but the car accelerator would not deliver power. The car would not fully turn off after pressing the ingintion button. Opening and closing the driver side door allowed for the van to be turned off and then back on, it started again and was driveable. We were able to drive the car to the ER and back to the campsite. The problem has not yet re-occurred....

While driving at 70mph on the interstate, the vehicle completely lost power. The check engine light turned on, the message "Service Charging System" came up, and the gear knob blinked. We had to pull over on the side of the interstate. When we pushed the "off/on/acc" button, it would appear that it turned off, but it would go back into on status, but still wouldn't allow you to shift into drive. (You could turn the knob, but it wouldn't do anything). Finally, we had to remove the keys from the car to turn it off. Once we were able to do that, it did turn back on and allowed us to go back into gear as normal. We were able to drive a few miles, and then it did it again. We had the vehicle towed. Chrysler had to put a whole new transmission due to a hybrid part within...

Driving as usual and without warning, no check engine light, the van stalled. It lost all power in the middle of the road and would not start back up. Pushed out of the road & waited on a tow truck. 2021 with 14,000 miles. Dealership pulled the code poa43.

I was driving about 45mph and my Pacifica hit 0 miles on the electric miles on the hybrid system (I had over half a tank of gas). At that same time as I was pushing on the gas pedal to accelerate the van and nothing was happening, the acceleration wasn't working. I put the pedal all the way to the ground and nothing happened and I drifted to a stop. I was luckily not on a freeway, however was on the side of a very busy road in the dark with cars flying closely by with 1 of my kids in the car freaking out. It was so dangerous and scary. After the van sat idle for about 10 minutes and got a little hybrid charge I was able to accelerate a little to get my car around the corner and pulled to a safer spot off the road before...

The vehicle is a PHEV. The system that malfunctioned is related to the vehicle charging system. The vehicle seems to think it is plugged into the wall when it is actually not plugged in. It is a safety issue because the vehicle will not move -- my family could have been stranded. Planning to tow the vehicle to a dealership to have diagnosed within one week or so. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone yet. There were no warnings prior to the failure. Currently there is a check engine light on as well as an image of a plug/cable indicating that the vehicle thinks it is plugged into an electrical outlet (which it is not).

Driving around 40 MPH when car alert came on to Shift into P and lost all forward drive. Needed to pull onto a side street since car would not accelerate. Car said service charging system and would not recover. Could not turn car off but A/C system stopped working. The transmission light were flashing from P to R to D but would not engage. Had to be towed to dealer to await troubleshooting.

The vehicle loses power while driving. I have to pull over shut it off and turn it back on. Most of the time it happens when I'm driving 75 mph. The service charging indicator pops up while also telling me to shift the car to park. Dealership diagnosed it to being a transmission issue. Drive motor A is failing in the transmission and is causing it to over heat. Which causes it to shut down. A quick restart and the van is going again.

car stalled at high speed in HOV fast track in rush hour traffic - terrifying! was running on electric mode. Heart stopping emergency tow. First Chrysler dealer where car was purchased said they could not trouble shoot for 2 months. Found another dealer, had it towed there. Waiting to learn what the problem is. Only 14,000 miles and under warranty.

Driving on the interstate at 70-75 mph and lost all forward drive. Car said service charging system and would not recover. Got towed to dealer and troubleshot and replaced the transmission

While driving on highway at approx. 75 mph using adaptive cruise control, the red power cord shaped warning indication appeared on the instrument panel. At the time the warning appeared, the vehicle was in battery powered mode. At the same time the warning showed, the electric motor stopped providing power. The vehicle did not transition to hybrid mode (gas powered), and depressing the accelerator did nothing. The vehicle began to slow from highway speeds, while other cars were in the vicinity. While all this was happening, the "D" on the gear selector was flashing. There was also a message saying to put the vehicle in park to restart, however, i did not want to attempt that at highway speeds. Other systems seemed to operate as normal, brakes worked, the electrical system seemed to be functional other than the described fault. I pulled over to the shoulder and stopped the vehicle...

I was driving on the interstate in the middle of morning rush hour traffic at approx. 65 mph and approximately 1/4 mile before a tunnel my van completely shut off and I was not able to accelerate or maintain speed. I was in the far left lane when this happened and immediately crossed the 3 lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder on the right side. I then tried to turn off and restart the van 3 or 4 times after periods ranging from 5-20 minutes apart and the van would only allow me to go a foot and shut off again. After waiting for over an hour in the 30 degree weather with no heat, I was finally towed back to the dealership. Due to many fortunate circumstances (i.e. none of my 3 children [ages 4, 2, and 9 months] were in the van, I was not yet...

Car stalled out while driving at 35 mph. Lost all propulsive power. Indicated “service hybrid system” and “shift to park” error on multi function display. Was able to safely coast to side shoulder and stop. Car would not move again after this reading the same errors even after shifting to part and attempting to restart car. If this had occurred on a multi lane highway it would have been extremely dangerous.

Driving on the freeway at speed (approximately 65 MPH), the vehicle suddenly lost power and displayed "Service Charging System" message on dashboard. Accelerator pedal was non-responsive. We had remaining battery charge and fuel in the vehicle (it is a PHEV). Pulled over to side of freeway as vehicle was decelerating and came to a stop in the safest place our momentum could carry us to. We were eventually able to get the vehicle restarted by putting the vehicle in Park and pressing the start button 3 times in a row without touching the brake. This issue has happened four (4) times in the last several months, and has occurred on the freeway each time, and each time with remaining battery charge and fuel in the vehicle. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer for this specific problem.

While driving, the vehicle flashes a warning that a charging fault has occurred and instructs the driver to stop and put the vehicle into park. Once stopped and in park, the vehicle will not shift or drive. This has happened at least 6 times and the dealer has not been able to fix it.

The vehical shutdown on the Interstate at highway speeds for the second time in 4 days. The deal has scheduled time to review the problem but shutting down is a safely issue.

Have a 2021 Pacifica Hybrid Pinnacle purchased 01/2021. Since getting the vehicle randomly the car will not start, the gear selector flashes and will not drive. Have to continually restart the vehicle to get it to move. Then randomly while driving the car would display a check engine light and message Service Charging System. This would occur 1-2x a month. When you plug the car in the indicator lights would flash, the fan would spin up very loud and not engage charging. This would last for a few days. Took it into service around 5 times to two different dealers and could not recreate either issue. Then in April 14 2022, while driving on the freeway roughly 75 the engine cut off, message came up Service Charging System, Shift To P To Start. Check Engine Light comes on, drive selector in bottom right flashes, gear selector light flashes. Have to...

In November 2021 the vehicle began by losing electrical power in the hybrid motor system. The "check engine light" (CEL) came on. Dealer attempted to fix it and "briefly" turned off the CEL. The CEL came back on a short time later. The car began "shuddering" when driving it. The cabin heater stopped working. Electric motor worked for a short time. Dealer diagnosed a "defective hybrid heater" - Chrysler error code "POE15". The dealer said that there were no parts for this repair and said it was okay to drive. Vehicle then continued "shuddering". Then a loud whining noise developed when it was moving. Dealer then diagnosed the same prior error code was causing additional issues. The dealer and Chrysler advised to stop driving the car until a fix was developed and parts became available. The car has been out of service since early January, 2022. Judging briefly from one...

the electric heater for the battery has been broken for 3 months now. Chrysler cannot seem to find a replacement part. what this does is cause the engine to come on and go off way more then expected. this also can cause weird transmission and acceleration issues when the car doesn't know which one to pick. this is also putting a lot more pressure on the transmission and causing issues with which device is sending the power. this has been going on all winter and Chrysler cannot find the part to replace.

wife was driving on the freeway when all of a sudden an error light on the dash appeared reading "Service Charging System," the accelerator no longer delivered power, and the car began quickly slowing down. Luckily, my wife was able to coast to the side of the freeway. The Pacifica remained on with all systems working (radio, lights, etc), but the car accelerator would not deliver power and the car could not be turned off. After several minutes the car was able to be turned off and after sitting for approximately 15 minutes on the side of the road it started again and was driveable. This process occurred twice.

While driving, the vehicle shut off. Steering and brakes were still working, it's already happened 2 times and I was able to coast off the highway. After turning off and on the with the starter button the car starts normally with only the engine light on. There are several other posts on forums of others owners having the same problem.

While driving, the vehicle shut off. Steering and brakes were still working, so I was able to coast off the highway. The check engine light, a battery fault indicator, and a service charging system warning all displayed on the dash. This is the second time this has happened, and a Chrysler dealer service center installed software updates they claimed fixed the issue. It is now back at the dealer. The first time this occurred, it was on a busy road with no shoulder near a dangerous turn. I was stopped in the road for several minutes before I got it to restart and was able to limp to a safe parking spot. There are several other posts on web forums and YouTube of other owners having the same problem.

My PHEV Pacifica Hybrid experiences intermittent dangerous lurching during braking. Symptoms: - During modest braking where regenerative braking system is doing most of the braking, the regenerative braking system flutters on an off a couple seconds at a time - The Power gauge on the cluster (Far Left) Bounces wildly with each flutter - Sudden loss of braking causes lurching of vehicle - Problem is periodic. Will not have the problem for weeks and then suddenly have the issue constantly for several days I have experienced this at highways speeds but it is most dangerous when braking in traffic.

Vehicle lost all power while traveling on interstate. Vehicle is a hybrid plug-in and was fully charged at time of power loss. Appears to have taken place when vehicle attempted to transfer from combustion engine to battery power. Safety was put at risk as my family was in heavy traffic (70 mph) on interstate when all power was lost and were forced to traverse lanes of heavy traffic in attempt to safely reach road shoulder without any power. Vehicle is currently at dealership and they are the only organization that has inspected. Before issue there were no previous warning lights, codes, or indications of a problem. Post problem check engine light is now illuminated.

We currently have 13170 miles on our 2021 Pacifica. We have seen this charge system error now for the third time. Here is the list of errors below. First time I was driving 45 mph and the vehicle lost power and had a charge system error. I was able to safely stop on the side of the road. I was able to restart the vehicle after about 2 minutes with a check engine light. I was able to take it to the dealership and had all of the current software updates and removed the check engine light. Second time I was at work and I attempted to start the vehicle from the run button. The radio turned on but I had a charge system error and the vehicle would not turn off. I worked for about 5 to 10 minutes to turn the vehicle off. Luckily I was not driving...