Dear Editor, Your recent post about a gas range explosion got me thinking about a recent experience I have had, or am amidst having. It seems that the car industry is not immune to the same type of incidents of faulty manufacturing. I leased a brand new Pacifica from a dealer in NJ. I was very pleased with the car in terms of mileage, and safety features. With only about 1600 miles on the lease, who would anticipate problems? Yet, one day last week I found the starter clicking way too much before starting up. On getting into the car, it looked like just about every single warning light that it had was flashing. The motor was also running very loudly and the car was shaking quite a bit as well. Not realizing what this could mean, I pulled the car into drive to test it out, and at least ascertain if I could get it to the dealer service center.
What happened next took me completely by surprise. Normally, after releasing the break of a car when you have just pulled into drive from the parked position, you need to apply significant pressure to the gas pedal to get it moving to about 10-15 miles an hour. However in this case, the car began accelerating on its own! It wasn’t pulling out at high speed, but it felt as if I was pulling the car out to bring it up higher speeds when I wasn’t. I had not even touched the gas and the car was moving well beyond what it would if you just release the break! I noted I could break and figured I would have to drive around the block to get back to my spot. I applied more gas to get up to about 20-25 miles an hour, but then found the car would not accelerate past about 13-18 mph regardless of how hard I pressed the gas. So here I was in a car that was driving abnormally fast and accelerating to about 10 miles per hour unless I hit the break, but would not go higher than about 15 mph to no matter how much I hit the gas! Needless to say I was not feeling safe at this point and wanted to get the car home and leave it there.
Luckily, the second I saw a problem I took out my phone and wanted to get it on record. I say this because when I brought the car to the service station at the dealer, they responded that they saw no warning lights and detected no problem with the car. I immediately forwarded them the videos I took which showed the warning systems flashing and they re-evaluated I guess using more in depth search of the cars computer. At this point they found there were some computer errors, or what they called ‘fault codes’, that showed up. They wiped these codes from the system and gave me my car back the next day. It seems that in this ever more computer reliant world that we live in, things are either ‘calculator’ perfect, or completely off track. It’s like a string of pearls where if one thing goes wrong, multiple things will go wrong with the car that are governed by the on board computer.
I am happy to say that the sales rep I dealt with was a total mentch and asked to be kept in the loop so that he could help me out if needed. The workers I dealt with at the dealership were also courteous and I explained my concerns to them respectfully. I am surprised though that the issue was not caught the first time they evaluated the car, and that they were ready to give it back citing no issues. I’m hoping this was the last of the issue, but would like to know if others who purchased the Pacifica are noting similar types of anomalies. My attitude is that, if there is a one time glitch I can handle it, but if there is a systemic issue with this car, or with the model in general the only way to know is by getting this issue out for public discussion. Alternatively, I am sure a few mechanics out there read The Scoop, maybe someone can explain why this would happen in a totally new car.
(TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected])
Brake not break.
I could have wrote this story myself. I have a Jeep Cherokee. It’s the same computer system like the Chrysler Pacifica. I had this going on every morning for a week. I needed to pull onto the side of the road and restart may car. Once I restarted the car it worked going the proper miles per hour. I also had all the light go on and the car not starting. I brought it onto service and they didn’t see an issue. Eventually my battery started to die after the car was closed for a couple of hours and wouldn’t start without having a boost. My car had on it (at the time) 28K Miles. I brought it into service. They claimed they ficed the issue. 2 days later the issue startrd again. I had to wait 3 weeks for the next available appointment and 5 weeks if i wanted a rental car while it was being fix. Just a nightmare on a leased car. After 5 weeks of boosting the car and lots of wasted time they fixed the car never had the issue again.
I have my Pacifica (touring L+) for over a year with almost 6000 miles & I never had an issue.
TOYOTA SIENNA!
Just another Chrysler product failing not a surprise to any mechanic.
As a chaverim member I can say the only brand vehicle I’ve had to push off the road with temporary tags (brand new) is chrysler/jeep
Many of us switched to foreign cars/minivans, Honda and Toyota, for this very reason.. As much as we wanted to buy American, we wanted a safe, reliable, vehicle even more.
Maybe the new chrysler are actually made by microsoft like people have been joking for years
Sounds like you need a lemon law lawyer. Feel free to email me for a recommendation for a lawyer (who is also a lemon law arbitrator)
[email protected]
Same thing but with a BMW 1.3.5 Restarted the engine 1 or 2 times and the issue would disappear.
I got a 2017 Pacifica Touring last month.
On my first visit to the gas station to fill up, the pump cut off after half a gallon.
Thinking that the nozzle wasn’t in well, I repositioned it every way possible, but the problem continued. I couldn’t fill more than maybe half of a gallon without the pump stopping.
This continued at other pumps and at other stations too.
I immediately called the Chrysler dealer service dept and was told by the service advisor that they are seeing this on ALL the new 2017 and up models that have the new gas fill without a gas cap.
It’s so common, that the service advisor recommend a trick to get by temporarily, till I can give it up to be repaired.
She said, when filling up, put the pump in upside down and hold it in that position while filling.
Guess what it works but is a headache and looks ridiculous.
So how does a car leave the factory with such an obvious problem especially when it is a common and known issue????
They never filled the car with gas at the factory?
More so, if it is so common why haven’t they issued a recall or service notice for this issue so that they could have repaired this before I took the car?
It’s 1 month old with 750 miles and I have to now give it up to be repaired for an issue it came with, that was known and common???
My Pacifica had a recall for an aggressive acceleration issue. While being repaired they noticed a glitch in the safety sensors on the sliding doors. The next week the sensor in the gas tank went bad. Now I need to take it in again for a seatbelt recall. This is my first new vehicle, I’ve had it for 20 months, and it doesn’t even have 15k miles on it yet.
Rule 1:never buy first model year cars
Rule 2:never buy new from the ground up, model year cars
Rule 3:never buy CHRYSLER new from the ground up model year cars
I’m not sure how anyone can say ALL 2017 Pacifica’s have a fuel filler problem when I and several aquaintences never encountered the problem.
The seatbelt recall is because of Takata, the manufacturer for Chrysler and many hugely popular import brands seatbelt supplier. That same company had the largest and costliest safety related recall in all automotive history a few years back but many never heard of it because for whatever reason, certain companies get a pass from the press when their products endanger us. One of the very huge import brands that got caught up in that recall was known to blame their ‘sloppy’ American customers for jamming french fries in the seat belt mechanism!
The only problem I’ve had with my ‘17 Pacifica is a headset with a hair trigger. The slightest jarring of the headset turned it on and wore out the batteries. I wonder who made them for Chrysler?
My 2017 Pacifica hybrid broke down while driving on the freeway. Every warning light came on and quickly lost power. Had to pull over and call road side assistance and waited 2hrs for a tow truck. Dealer had the car for 4 days and wasn’t provided a loaner until day 3. Still don’t know what went wrong with the car.
I had the same problem with filling up Fuel the first 1-2 times. Then decided maybe im doing it wrong and went to a full service tank the guy there filled it without any problems. I was trying to watch what he did differently but couldn’t detect anything. After few more tries myself I figured what works and don’t experience this again. If I remember correctly you need to put the hose more gently not to cram it in so far. But be careful the first time i tried that it started spilling back at me.
“I’m not sure how anyone can say ALL 2017 Pacifica’s have a fuel filler problem when I and several aquaintences never encountered the problem.”
I guess she means a large majority, after all, she is a service advisor that deals with Chrysler repairs ALL day long.
Suffice it to say, it’s a prevalent problem.