2017 Chrysler Pacifica complaints

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that occasionally, while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel failed to return to center after a turn to the left or the right. No warning light was illuminated. The contact scanned the vehicle; however, no error codes were retrieved. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 115,000.

Power steering issue when turning, if felt that the front wheels got stuck and then over corrected when I accelerated.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds and making a slight right turn, the steering wheel became sticky and failed to return to center as designed. The driver had to forcefully turn the steering wheel back to center. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 152,000.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds and making a slight turn in either direction, the steering wheel had become sticky and failed to return to center. During the failure, the driver forcefully turned the steering wheel back to center. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,000.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving on several occasions at various speeds, and turning the steering wheel to the right, the steering wheel became stiff, and the contact had to forcefully maneuver the steering wheel to correct the failure. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed, and it was determined that the power steering system needed to be replaced and reprogrammed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and making a left turn, the steering wheel became stuck. The contact had the pull the steering wheel to correct the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 87,000. The VIN was unavailable.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds and turning in either direction, the steering wheel became difficult to return to center. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who was unable to identify the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 50,000. The VIN was not available.

Steering has jerking sensation at higher speeds going around turns. Causing me to almost overcorrect. Safety of my children involved.

Today I learned that there is an open investigation pertaining to the steering on my model of vehicle. What I orginally throught to be "normal" for the vehicle I now believe could be an issue. Since I have owned this van there have been numerous random times where I have been driving and it feels like my steeling wheel gots stuck in position and required extra effort to move it. It has always been in a gradual turn or curving of the road vs in a hard right or left turn. Additionally, there has been times where I am turning at a very low rate of speed, say to turn into a parking space, where I can feel what almost seems like a "bumping" sensation from the steering wheel through my hands. I have never been able to get the issues to occur when asking someone else if they feel or experience it.This is my first van that I have ever owned, so I assumed these to be little quirks of driving the vehicle. I guess I did not realize that me, my family or other's safety could be at risk during these episodes. There were no warning lights or indications that either event was ever about to occur. I have owned this vehicle since 2019 and the vehicle is available for inspection at anytime.

I took my vehicle to the Chrysler dealership to have it check out because I noticed a hard shift when taking off when accelerating in first gear but they told me they couldn’t duplicate the issues because their wasn’t a check engine light on I’ve explained to them what I was feeling so they had me drive the vehicle with one of their technician and he seen exactly what I was talking about but they did nothing they told me when the check engine light come on in there a code they can read then they can see about fixing it this was back in 2020 and 2021 now the vehicle is starting to feel like it slipping worse in first gear and it has this suction noise in when is does shift hard it throws you and the passengers forward and the van only has 42,000 miles on it

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds and making a turn, the steering wheel was sticking while making the turn, and after making the turn, it required an extra effort to turn the steering wheel. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Action: PE25009 (Steering). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel failed to turn in the intended direction. In addition, the contact stated that the transmission slammed into gear while shifting. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that the steering wheel pulled to the left while the contact was attempting to go to the right. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact referenced an unknown recall; however, the VIN was not under recall. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 125,000.

The electric steering has a stiff jerk at random positions when taking a turn. It seems to happen at the 11 o clock and the 1 o clock positions on the wheel. It causes a stiffness when driving on a turn that causes myself to have to jerk the wheel to get it out of the stuck position, which causes the vehicle to jerk and causes panic. It seems to happen every time I drive the van, several times during a trip, basically every time I take a basic turn. The safety of my family is put at risk because it causes me to have to jerk the wheel to get the steering under control. This is a current on going investigation. There are no warning messages or lights on for this. Please investigate this and get this issue fixed. It’s scary and dangerous to my family and others on the road.

While turning, my steering wheel will get stuck, sometimes causing me to over correct while trying to fix it. It has been happening for quite some time and seems to be an ongoing issue. It typically occurs when I'm going around a curve, not when I'm doing a complete turn. I am afraid this could cause an accident at some point.

When I’m steering to the right of the highway, my van is hard to steer back onto the roadway.

The steering gets stuck at the 11 o'clock position. The steering wheel does not respond immediately and is putting me in a dangerous situation and causing many close encounters with the vehicle oversteering in the neighboring lanes on the highway putting me and my family at risk for a major car crash. There was a past recall on the steering where the dealer checked the ground wire but no repair was made.

The vehicle had a recall a few years ago to install updates on the PCM computer for a stalling issue but it was never corrected. The vehicle still stalls on turns and on the highway and inside the Chrysler Dealership but the dealer was not able to identify the issue. It seems that the computer tries to correct the issue but it does not work. This is very dangerous when the vehicle stalls on the highway and the car does not start. Eventually it does start after the vehicle stops but my family and I are risking our lives when we drive the vehicle. In addition when going up a steep roadway, the vehicle is not able to drive up the hill easily and I have to pull over, the vehicle computer seems to make adjustments which take 30-60 seconds and then the vehicle is able to drive up the hill. Please contact me to look at the vehicle and identify the issue with it stalling. Thank you.

When turning the steering wheel it will feel like it gets stuck for a split seconds. It happens alot.

The steering on my 2017 Chrysler Pacific sticks at the 11 and 1 position. It cause us over steer while driving down the road or on the interstate. It is very scary.

The power steering sticks when making a gradual turn which makes it feel like it's not going to straighten back up so overcorrecting is easy if you're not careful. It happens intermittently and the dealer said they were unable to reproduce it but it happens on a regular basis.

The steering wheel sticks when driving at speeds 50-70mph. When I am on a turning roadway, the steering wheel will stick in place, and will stay in that position unless forced to rotate.

The steering tends to stick in the 11 o clock or the 1 o clock position when driving on the highway. I feel it and luckily I’m able steer it straight without much force. Seems to be getting worse.

Steering wheel can randomly get stuck with mild turning or with a short curve in the road. It is much worse when driving downhill with a slight curve in the road. It is very unsafe and in order to unstick the steering wheel, the driver has to aggressively pull the steering wheel back into position to avoid overturning and driving outside the driving lane. This could definitely lead to an accident if the driver is unable to get the steering wheel unstuck promptly. This needs to be addressed immediately. This has been an ongoing issue for years so I listed the first date I really noticed this being an issue-when we took a road trip just outside the Smoky Mountains. The steering wheel sticking is horrendous driving downhill with curvy roads.

I consistently have an issue with my steering wheel sticking in a turned position when making a full circle turn (for example: exiting a highway). The steering wheel will remain locked in this position, even with no hands on it, until jerked the opposite direction which seems to unlock it.

I do all routine maintenance on my car and do my standard oil changes on time. I only have 80K miles on my car and may now have a head gasket issue. I have seen many online posts that there are many users that have experienced this issue and some looking to possibly do a class action law suit. Has this issue been looked into as a potential recall? When speaking with the dealership I advised that my check engine light had come on and I took it to my local repair shop and the code indicated it was either a coil or spark plug that needed to be replaced. My repair shop checked and it was the spark plug that needed replacing. The car was fine for 2 weeks then the engine light came on again. When speaking with the dealership they said that yes the code will usually first present as a coil or spark plug and the engine light stops blinking since it assigned a code. So that is why my engine light went off but now came back on. I am not sure why this should not be addressed by the manufacturer if so many people are having this issue with a head gasket issue with such low mileage. This repair is going to cost 1k-4k to fix which is ridiculous in an engine that is maintained and has only 80K miles.

Engine ticking,blind spot not working

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while his wife was attempting to park the vehicle with the brake pedal depressed, the engine unexpectedly began to rev. The vehicle then accelerated inadvertently, resulting in a collision with a pole in front of the parking space. There was no damage to the pole. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed to a collision center, and the insurance company declared it a total loss. No police report was filed. No injuries were sustained. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 76,000. The VIN was not available.

Transmission will have a very severe jerk when starting out, usually at low speeds, causing the driver to temporarily lose control and distract them from driving. This appears to be a very common issue on the recent model Pacifica that uses the ZF transmission. There is a serious disagreement about the servicing interval of the oil in the transmissions. Chrysler states that it is a "Lifetime" oil and does not require changing. The transmission manufacturer ZF, states on their website that it must be changed at 100,000 Km. Some Chrysler dealers say it needs periodic changing, while others say it never needs changing. The impact of this is that a significant number of transmissions are failing. When these are in warranty, they are replaced by the dealer, but those out of warranty result in a major expense to the owners, even though the owners are following the auto manufacturer's recommendations. Owners need clarification of this, and if the servicing recommendations for the ZF transmissions are in error and result in a transmission failure, the auto manufacturer should bear some responsibility. A quick scan of the Chrysler Pacifica online groups will show numerous cases such as this,

After the latest 73B recall, the engine light sporadically turn on. In one occasion, while cruising at low speed ~25mph in the electric mode, the vehicle switched to gas engine mode even there was 16 electric miles on the battery. This issue was not there prior to the recall. Need investigation on the software reliability and the underlying battery issue

Blown head gasket

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at slow speeds, the vehicle stalled with the message "Service Now” flashing on the instrument panel. After waiting for approximately 15-30 minutes, the vehicle was restarted and resumed normal operation. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, and it was discovered that the oil filter adapter was cracked, contributing to the failure. Upon investigation, the contact linked the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V049000 (Electrical System, Engine and Engine Cooling). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

While driving I lost my steering and it was hard to turn as i approached traffic and attempting to turn on ramp, I had to fight steering to get off of road. I took it to a garage and technician diagnosed it and said it is a steering module mounted outside under vehicle.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V536000 (Hybrid Propulsion System); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The check engine and battery warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it remained for the recall repair. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 65,000.

When driving van will jerk or bang like slipping in gear, feels like possible being hit from behind, we have tried the adaptive learning reset several times, we had just purchased this less than 2 months ago with about 4800 miles in it. Feels dangerous to drive, especially with kids. We are scared to even try the cruise control. We heard and read online many whey same issues, with warranty and having there vans in dealership on several events, having reset in software upgrades, transmission replacement with only the problem to return. Please fix this, this one of my vehicles that unfortunately I have to drive because it's my only vehicle. This problem happens at lest everytime I'm driving daily, it started maybe a few weeks ago from the time this has been written.

The check engine would blink and the engine would shutter for a few minutes when the van would start. It would drive around normal. A few days later the van would not start at all. We checked both batteries and they were not the issue. We then towed the van to a Chrysler dealer who checked the starter and alternator, those were both good. They stated the engine was seized and quoted $15,000 for a new motor.. the van has 120,000 miles on it. The van is worth less than the quote we received.

I noticed when I am driving the van would lose power and or the the transmission would shift very hard and stall the car engine would then take off very fast or slow. I reported the car to the dealership that I purchased the car from and to the customer service at the Chrysler Pacifica Corporation no one will help me I told them that the car was very dangerous while driving.

While stopped in traffic, the car started shifting from Drive to Neutral and Parking, the lights of the shifting wheel started blinking, and it was not possible to turn off the engine. After ~20 minutes, it stopped doing that and I was able to turn it off. 10 minutes later I started the engine and I was able to drive home but the steering wheel was very hard to move and the Check Engine light and there was a message in the cluster to take the Power Steering Assist and the electronic stability control system to service, but while stopped in the driveway with the engine on, it did exactly the same and I wasn't able to power off the engine. I wasn't able to start the engine again after that, the lights of the shifting whell kept blinking. I took the car to an independent mechanic and he was able to start the engine, but Power Steering is so hard to move.

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)

While driving and going around a curve to the right, the steering 'locks up' and I need to tug on the steering wheel to bring it back to center. This does not happen every time, but it is becoming more frequent. It most recently happened on Friday, July 25, 2025 and then again today, July 28, 2025.

Brake pedal loses assist, vehicle continues rolling while pedal fully depressed. Known issue in newer Pacifica models but 2017 excluded despite same symptoms and parts.

Steering issue. The steering wheel sticks in place,, specifically during right turns. The problem seems more prevalent when the wheel is consistently turned past the 1-o’clock position (for example, when entering a highway via a right hand cloverleaf). I’ve seen other NHTSA reports on this condition. Most participants have received unsatisfactory service/fixes. NHTSA, please address this dangerous problem with the manufacturer.

Parksense Unavailable. While reversing we backed into another vehicle. Normally, the parking brakes if we get to close or at least a warning that we are approaching a potential hazard.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, there was an abnormal clanking sound coming from underneath the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the valve gasket covers, the intake manifold gasket kit, oil filter housing, front brake pad and rotors, all the motor mounts, and the front sway bar links needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 117,000.

Engine lost power and shut down and would not restart. Engine has had continued issues for close to a year.

- 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

I periodically receive a warning when the transmission is placed in REVERSE that the “Camera System is Unavailable”. Sometimes the camera works and sometimes it doesn’t. The Internet is replete with many similar occurrences of Pacificas across several years of manufacture where the camera operates intermittently. This is a serious safety issue and I am very surprised that there appears to be no recall notice.to correct this issue. Information on the Internet implies that this issue is related to a computer glitch and a software update of the Uconnect system may be required. Clearly, Chrysler should be responsible for correcting this design deficiency. Unless the camera fails completely as a result of an impact or age, is shoulfpd be available 100% of the time.

I own a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid that is currently under active recall and within the 8-year federal hybrid warranty. My vehicle is covered under Recall 20V334 (W46). The high-voltage (HV) battery has failed, rendering the vehicle undriveable. The dealership confirmed the battery needs to be replaced and opened a warranty claim, but they do not have parts available. Despite this, Chrysler has refused to provide me with a rental or loaner vehicle while the car is awaiting repair — citing that my vehicle is “not a 2019 or newer.” I was also denied escalation to a supervisor by Chrysler’s customer care team, even after I requested further review. This leaves me and my family without safe, reliable transportation. Chrysler’s refusal to provide a rental violates the intent of the recall process, which is to protect drivers and passengers from unsafe conditions. The car cannot be driven, and there is no known repair date. I am requesting that NHTSA investigate Chrysler’s refusal to support owners affected by this recall — especially those with vehicles built before 2019 who are still within the hybrid warranty period. I am concerned that Chrysler is selectively denying recall support to 2017 and 2018 model years despite the recall applying to 2017–2020 Pacifica Hybrids.

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.

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.

The contact owns a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel failed to turn in the intended direction. Additionally, there were several unknown warning lights illuminated, and the engine seized. The contact stated that after several attempts, the vehicle started. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the road and the failure reoccurred. The contact's husband started the vehicle, and the vehicle was driven to an independent mechanic; however, the failure was not duplicated. The contact stated that while attempting to leave the independent mechanic, the vehicle failed to start. The dealer where the vehicle was purchased, was made aware of the failure. The contact was advised to have the vehicle towed to the dealer and was provided a diagnostic fee. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 69,000.