2017 Chrysler Pacifica complaints

My 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Touring-L has suffered repeated and dangerous electrical failures since purchase. Shortly after buying it from AutoNation Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM in Valencia, CA, I had to return it twice for electrical repairs that kept it in service several weeks under warranty. About two years later, while still under extended warranty, the engine underwent a complete rebuild for multiple-cylinder misfire codes that were likely caused by intermittent CAN-bus voltage loss rather than a mechanical defect. Over the past nine months, the vehicle has again developed severe electrical faults while driving: sudden loss of power steering assist, all dashboard lights illuminating, windshield wipers activating spontaneously, and the engine failing to shut off using the Start/Stop button. The vehicle has also stalled without warning while driving in traffic or idling at red lights, restarting only after 5–10 minutes and blocking traffic lanes, placing me and surrounding drivers at significant risk. Two major repairs in the last two weeks failed to resolve the defects: (1) repair of the CAN-bus system after the vehicle would not start and acted erratically while driving, and a week later (2) replacement of the brake-booster vacuum pump, which was shorted internally and caused CAN-bus shutdown, complete steering loss, sudden braking, and no engine power. The vehicle is currently at Dependable Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Canoga Park, CA, awaiting further diagnosis despite repeated

Steering sticks occasionally at 1 and 11 position while traveling at highway speed.

This van has a factory defect of the engine. These engines have known issues with blowing head gaskets and Chrysler doesn't seem to care. There are hundreds and hundreds of reports of this issue and these are just the people online talking about it. I am sure there are thousands more. https://www.pacificaforums.com/threads/2017-pacifica-engine-failure-owners-list.52928/page-19?post_id=723158&nested_view=1#post-723158

We are experiencing steering wheel locking on right or left gradual turns. The steering wheel locks and it has to be jerked back into a straight position. We've experienced this for over a year now. We understand it may be a chronic problem.

Steering system can feel "sticky" during gradual turns, particularly when the steering wheel is held in specific positions (around the 11 or 1 o'clock position). This can be followed by a sudden, forceful return of power steering assistance, which could lead to oversteering. This is a reoccurring issue

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.

I have been driving, usually at lower speeds and the entire electrical system shuts down. This has left me and my children in the middle of a busy road without brake lights. It has happened multiple times. The battery will be dead and charge multiple times, but then I end up having the electrical failure. It is terrifying. I had the battery checked and it is not the issue. I have not contacted the dealership, but plan on it tomorrow.

Power steering sticks while making gradual turns in either direction. Most commonly noted on highway entrance/exit ramps, but also slight curves in the road. Some force is needed to return the steering wheel to the correct position which has led to over correction. This is a repeated issue, not an isolated incident.

L submitted a form regarding open investigation NHSTA Action number XXX and included my invoice from the Chrysler dealership, Lake Wales, FL regarding the 2017 Pacifica power steering. As of October 26, 2025 there is nothing showing regarding the open investigation. I also requested an email in return regarding these updates. I have not received any emails in return.

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.

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

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds and making gradual right turns, the steering wheel was sticking and failed to return to center automatically after the turn. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Action Number: PE25009 (Steering). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 91,000.

The van have issues with a head gasket, Chrysler is aware yet the dealers keep selling the van with this known problems, I reached out to Chrysler and they said they cannot help. I had the van less than a year and I had the van serviced multiple times. Im attaching this link to show you guys that there ia a lot of people having the same problem, everything starts with the smell of the coolant then the misfire PO201, po301, then after taking it it was po305 and po205, https://youtu.be/sUfTxNBkRLU?si=JoLL29t6YbHZIiVg they speak on the video how they replaced the apparently bad part then the codes come back. I had this vehicle less than a year and I had so many issues, in my search I found this happening to multiple pacifica owners. vehicle starts misfiring creating a real possibility of having an accident as the car speed had to be reduced, specially if we are on the highway.

Have noticed intermittent sticking sensation when driving. No particular direction. Just sometimes happens going around curves. Have to perk steering wheel in opposite direction to free up.

When making long sweeping turns, like highway off ramps, the steering wheel will stick. The driver has jerk the wheel back towards center to get the wheel to turn again. We have owned the car since new. We have expirenced the problem between 15-20 times. The issue seems to come in waves. We will expirence it a few times in a short time then it wont happen agian for an extended period.

The transmission in our 2017 Chrysler Pacifica has had issues with slipping, or not engaging as well as violent, hard gear shifts for at least the last 40K miles. We have taken it to the dealership several times, but the dealership said they drove the van and could not replicate the issues. It is important to note that the issues are intermittent and there is no obvious reason why it happens sometimes and not others. There have been countless instances where the van starts rolling forward from a stop and effectively slips into a neutral position before hard shifting back into gear and moving forward. Sometimes when pressing the accelerator at a dead stop the engine revs up before the transmission engages and starts to move forward. Both of these issues create serious risk of being in the middle of an intersection when this happens as the slipping is most often when attempting to accelerate from a dead stop. The hard shifts are very abrupt and startling when they occur. There does not seem to be a certain speed or gear that is more or less likely to trigger the violent shifts but they are occurring more and more often as time goes by. There have been a handful of instances where the transmission shifted gears and initiated a shudder that went away upon the next upshift in gears.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH and turning the steering wheel to the left or the right, the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The power steering engaged and jerked the wheel to the left or the right of center. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 154,000.

When I was taking curved exit, 10 mph over, the wheel got stuck and over corrected itself.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the gear shifter independently shifted into park, and the service shifter error message was displayed. In addition, the contact stated that the odometer reading was incorrect. The contact stated that the odometer reading showed more mileage than the actual trip mileage. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the failure was not duplicated. The contact stated that the failure was persistent. In addition, the contact stated that the failure almost caused a crash while children were seated in the vehicle. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

When driving on the freeway, at around 65-75 mph, and on a gentle right bend, the steering wheel gets stuck. We can move it, but it jerks the car a little. It initially occurred rarely and was not easily reproduced. My dealer could not reproduce it. It is now becoming more common and a nuisance on road trips. It is also getting more stuck, resulting in more significance movements. I nearly left my lane when getting the steering unstuck this past weekend. We are going to see if our dealer can reproduce it.

Steering seems to stick momentarily during turns. Especially on ramps.

My 2017 Chrysler Pacifica is shutting off while driving need to be repaired

My 2017 Chrysler Pacifica shuts down while in driving

My car keeps draining my battery. Just bought brand new batteries from Less Schwab and they are both failed! The auto shop did a draw test and says the car isn't drawing power. But it's drawing power somewhere. I found 2 videos saying there's issues with the sliding door wiring corroding? Still working snd causing issues. So I'm going to test it out myself. Super frustrating. Had to buy new batteries as soon as I bought from the dealership last year and now those batteries are dead!

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.

Steering sticks especially when going around turns. This is an inconsistent issue, and the car does not self-correct steering as normal and needs to be pulled back to neutral. There are no lights or warnings that this is going to happen. The car has been taken to a dealer who simply drove it around the block and said it is fine. It is not fine and if something happens to my elderly parents driving this car, this will be a much bigger issue. This becomes a higher risk when driving in high traffic areas as there is no warning that the steering is going to change. The safety risk is that the car cannot always be controlled well, and we are afraid this problem will worsen, and a manual override will not be enough. My father has been complaining about this for some time, today I drove them into the city for an appointment, almost 2 hours behind the wheel of this van, and felt first-hand how scary that is to happen when driving. I am happy to have someone come take this car for a drive and get this fixed before someone get hurt.

Took vehicle to Chrysler Dealership on May 24, 2025 for issues one being the powersteering. For a little over a month, noticed steering sticks at 11 o'clock and the 1 o'clock. Chrysler confirmed. I have uploaded the report they sent. I know there is an ongoing investigation and would like to provide my vehicle in that report. I would also greatly appreciate a response if and when there will be a recall on this so I can get it fixed. I am unable to get this item fixed as I am on a limited income. It will take me a long time to save money to have this item fixed.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The vehicle was modified for wheelchair accessibility. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, the vehicle started rocking abnormally. The contact stated that further down the road, the vehicle drove over imperfections in the roadway and started rocking excessively. The contact stated that the body of the vehicle was rocking on the frame. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the rear spindle mount was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 61,300.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at a slow speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal, and the vehicle stalled. Additionally, the steering wheel seized. The message “No Letter D” or “P for Park”, was displayed and flashing on the instrument panel. The contact was able to coast to the side of the road. After several minutes, the contact was able to restart the vehicle to continue driving. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the NHSTA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 128,000.

Steering sticks or drags at 11:00 and 1:00. Will not return to center all the time. It is a safety factor. It has not been confirmed by a dealer. Said would be 2 weeks before they could make an appoint. No inspection of any kind. It happens every time I drive it.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving and making a right turn on several occasions, the steering wheel was sticking and failed to automatically return to center after the turn. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Action Number: PE25009 (Steering). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 59,000.

The steering is sticking after car returns to original position from the curve road.

The fuel cap snapped off. While trying to avoid a $1000 plus garage bill I was researching on how we could possibly fix this at home. While doing the research I’ve found hundreds if not thousands of people on Chrysler forums stating they’ve had the same issue and almost all breaks are identical. I/we that have these issues and them being so common including identical breakage find that it should be Chryslers problem to fix as they clearly used faulty products that now cause major emissions issues and fueling issues. Gas spills out everywhere as the pumps register the tank as full so it either stops the pump or it spews gas out not allowing the gas to go into the tank. I’d like this to be looked into as a bigger recall since it’s very obviously a huge issue in many Pacificas across the nation.

When the wheel gets turned to the right to go around a curve, the steering wheel gets "Stuck". The car continues to turn when exiting the turn, and will only return back to center by having to pull hard on the steering wheel.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while turning to the left or the right, the vehicle hesitated while accelerating, causing the vehicle to unexpectedly decelerate. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions while turning into a busy intersection. The contact was concerned that the failure might cause a crash. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The manufacturer was not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 40,000.

When turning to the right, around 35-45mph on a sharp turn, the steering will stick. Yesterday the sticking was so bad it almost caused me to lose control in the middle of the curb. It does not stick when taking sharp turns to the left. The mechanic has not been able to locate the issue.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while turning to the left or the right, the steering wheel remained in the position the steering wheel was turned, instead of automatically returning to center. The contact used force to straighten the steering wheel. The contact stated that the failure was most persistent while turning; however, the contact noticed that the failure had started to occur while the steering wheel was slightly turned to the left or the right. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

When turning vehicle back to the left after a slight right turn the steering wheel is difficult turn.

Most noticeable when about to merge on to highway (so a very slight turn of steering wheel), it catches just slightly, causing me to jerk the wheel in over correction.

I read that the NTSHA was looking into the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica's rack and pinion sticking at the 11 & 1 o'clock positions. Our did that a couple of years ago, but we had it repaired. Dealer replaced the rack and pinion, that fixed the issue.

Mine has a looseness feeling yet on inspection everything like tie rod ends are good. Definitely at the 11 o clock position I can get a shudder or shimmy even at low speeds. Despite it feeling loose it’s tracking excellent on the highway like everything is tight. I also get a rattle like the tie rods are loose at speeds below 30. There is no looseness anywhere on inspection. If the wheel is shaken on a drive on lift you can feel the noise in the rack mostly on the left side. Happens every day.

On December 28, 2024 my family and I were in a crash with our Pacifica van. In a gradual left turn at approximately 40 mph, the van slowly drifted to the right. I slowly corrected to the left with no affect. After slightly more left correct, the van cut hard left and crashed head into a concrete wall on the opposite side of the roadway. The steering correction inputs should not have resulted in such a hard left turn. The drift to the right should not have occurred and I was not able to correct for some reason. The vehicle was inspected by insurance and totaled. No other inspections were completed to my knowledge. There were no issues or warnings of a potential problem. We did suspect the lane keep assist system could have caused an over correction but have no way to confirm that.

During a road trip at mostly highway speeds, we experienced an intermittent "sticking" sensation in the steering wheel while trying to recenter the wheel on turns, almost as if the power steering temporarily disabled, that required additional torque to turn the wheel back to center, after which the steering felt normal again until the next time it happened.

While driving you feel the steering wheel sticking when at a certain degree. It has mostly occurred when on a curve and when going over 40 mph. We take several long trips and it has happened multiple times.

When driving and turning wheel to the right it gets " stuck" and uses more effort to straighten wheel back. Sometimes it's "stuck" to the right longer than the turn in the road and about run off the side of road. Speed does not matter happens at any speed. Happens more often than before. Happening for year and half . Have took it to 3 different mechanics and they couldn't determine for sure the reason. Said electronic power steering should not fail.

The vehicle will randomly shut itself off while it is operating causing the dashboard to flicker on and off before shutting down fully. The steering wheel gets stuck at the 1:00 position.

When turning right, changing lanes, or taking a circuar exit the steering wheel will feel stuck. You have to move the steering wheel in the opposite direction before continuing your turn. Once I let go of the steering wheel and it was locked in place duing a turn. Not as frequently, but I also experienced this while turning slight left to pass a vehicle in a passing zone on a 2 lane road. The delaership has been unable to resolve this issue. This started happening in 2024, but it wasn't until spring 2025 that is became a consistent problem that wasn't resolved by new tires, front end alignment, new brakes, or new struts.

When turning right, changing lanes, or taking a circuar exit the steering wheel will feel stuck. You have to move the steering wheel in the opposite direction before continuing your turn. Once I let go of the steering wheel and it was locked in place duing a turn. Not as frequently, but I also experienced this while turning slight left to pass a vehicle in a passing zone on a 2 lane road. The delaership has been unable to resolve this issue after having new tires, 3 front end alignments, new breaks, and new struts.

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

Steering exhibits a sticking sensation on gradual right or left turns, like while driving along a wide sweeping cu4ve on a road. The steering hangs and does not return to center, and I have to pull it back to center.