2022 Chrysler Pacifica PLUG-IN Hybrid

On Aug 26th, 2023, I was driving on NJ turnpike. under the speed limit of 65 mph. I was raining a bit and rain intensity picked up. I had both my hand on steering wheel. As I tap on the brakes a little bit to further slow down my vehicle, the brakes got locked and the vehicle started spinning and the went into the ditch divider between lanes. Fortunately nobody was hurt in the vehicle. It was a rental vehicle and I was driving it from 12th of August. I had driven that vehicle for about 12 days and I recollect that braking of that vehicle was always a bit odd. I've been driving for over 20 years and never had I ever had such braking experience. I thought it was atypical because I was not used to hybrid vehicle braking, but in hindsight their may have been more to it.

Was driving on freeway with my family, including my one year old baby and four year old daughter in the back, when a warning message came on dashboard stating "Stop Safely Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon" and van suddenly died in the middle of the freeway. Had to immediately cross multiple lanes and was terrified I was going to get hit by a big rig or other vehicle passing by. The safety of my family was absolutely put at risk. Contacted Chrysler dealership immediately but told they did not have any available appointments and could not examine the van until Thursday, 07/21/2023. Took the van to local dealership on Thursday, 07/21/23. Next day received a call and was told that the transmission needs to be replaced. The van was new when we bought it in February 2022 and had less than 15K miles when this incident happened. Was told by dealership that it could be months before the van can be repaired and that no loaner cars were available but that I would be placed on a wait list for a loaner car. Instructed by dealer to contact Chrysler Cares, which I did. Was assigned a case number by Chrysler Cares and told that someone would get back to me within 48-72 business hours, but that in the meantime there was nothing that could be done about the fact that the one vehicle we rely on to transport our kids is in the shop.

I have submitted a report on this same vehicle following the initial incident on 5/12/23. I have not heard anything after I submitted this and would like to have some type of feedback. This report is an update on the vehicle with how it was handled at the dealership and company level. At this time our van is at a Chrysler dealership that is 3 hours away from where we live, as that is where the van broke down, and has been there for over two months. During this process we have verbally been told by the dealership that this is not the dealership's problem and it is a Chrysler problem. Chrysler has told us that they needed their engineers to investigate initially. After several weeks of us calling, they told us they were not able to fix it and were considering other options. Then, after having the van about one month they decided they needed to replace the hybrid generator/transimission. On 7/12/23 we became very pushy demanding information or we were going to get legal advice. At that time customer service told us that our vehicles information was confidential. On Friday 7/15/23 we were left a message that the van was ready and the dealership would contact us. On 7/18/23 we were left a message that stated they wanted to ensure we got the van and they wanted to close the case in two days. I am working on trying to get the dealership to ship the vehicle to us, as I do not have a vehicle to go get it. They have still given us no real information or assurances, paid for anything (rental vehicle for one week, hotel for one night, towing, etc). I am pretty sure that what happened is rare, but not knowing what it was and assuring they replaced a dysfunctional new part with another new part is not reassuring to us. I am not sure who reads this, what it does or whatever. I would like feedback, direction, advice, assistance of any kind. The whole incident was very scary and I would be surprised if it does not happen again, hopefully nothing bad happens.

Van stopped working on busy highway. No prior issues. No power steering, lights all flashing, van shaking, braking intermittent. Van rolling on shoulder of road, had to put on emergency brake. Family of six, one child with special needs. Over two hours to get roadside assistance. Tow truck operator had to have driver help to get on/off tow truck due to van switching in/out of gears. Dealer service department claiming no responsibility and no assistance and passing onto Chrysler. Chrysler said it was not the recall possibly the hybrid transmission shutting down and the dealer will get to it when they can. It has been almost one month. We are driving two cars everywhere, paying loan for the van still, we had a rental, but gave it back because they said they could not guarantee payment. We are really feeling at a loss. We are not sure it would be safe to take on the highway again or if it would be worth it due to the issues we have had following this incident. Please assist and/or advise if able.

While driving on a freeway at about 70mph, the "Stop Safely Vehicle Will Shut Off Soon" warning message displayed. Additionally on the dashboard, the BRAKE (red warning light), the yellow engine light, the red turtle light displayed. The car quickly lost power and speed was reduced to about 40 mph. Within about 1/2 of a mile the car continued to slow down and we were able to coast into a truck weight station. We turned off the car. We checked for anything visibly wrong. We did not see anything wrong. We restarted the car. The yellow engine light remained on. We drove to a parking lot, off the freeway. We had the car towed to the nearest Chrysler dealer in Cloquet, MN. During the process to hookup the car, the "Stop Safely..." message again appeared. Quickly slowing down and stopping a car, on a freeway could have caused injury and/or death to my wife and me and possibly other drivers who were following us. If we had not found a safe place to coast to, the van could have become disabled in the traffic lanes. Additionally, we had just had the recall regarding the transmission short completed about 4 days earlier. I do have pictures of the dashboard messages. At this time, the dealer charged the hybrid batteries and cannot see any issues. I have call Chrysler Customer Service.

Vehicle had a sudden loss of engine power while at speed traveling on the highway. We were able to safely pull over, and after a few minutes restart the vehicle. After additional driving we encountered the issue again, at speed on the hoghway, however the vehicle did not shut down properly and would not start after repeated attempts. The vehicle would show the ignition was on 'run' however would either not allow shifting into gear, or upon shifting into gear immediately throw an error message on the dash stating to shift into park and restart the vehicle. I believe that this issue will not be fixed by a recall where the solution is advanced warning of an engine shutdown. We are fortunate to ha e had this happen when we were in a position to pull over safely as the speed of the vehicle plummeted unsafely after loss of engine power. This happened on Saturday March 11, the previous night the vehicle had been charged overnight. The loss of power was not experienced untill the hybrid battery charge had been depleted and the vehicle was running on the combustion engine

On 11/19/22, while driving to a family member's for Thanksgiving week, we stopped to get gas and turned the vehicle off. When attempting to start, we received a "Service Charging System" error on the dash and the vehicle would not start. Fortunately after waiting several minutes we were able to get it started and made it to our destination. The next morning it did not start and we had it towed to the nearest dealer. The issue was reproduced at the dealer and they did some things to clear error codes, recalls, etc. and the vehicle started one day but then the issue reoccurred the next day. After three weeks they were able to upgrade the hybrid system software which seemed to do the trick. We picked up the vehicle and drove it home. Two weeks later on Christmas day when we were leaving a family party the issue came back and we were not able to get it started. The next day 12/26/22, we had it towed to the nearest dealer where it is currently at as of this writing. When it was delivered to the dealer the issue was still present however they did not bring it in to service for a week and when they did the issue was not there. They are working to recreate the issue to try and diagnose. There were no warnings or error messages in advance of this issue occurring. Luckily this issue did not happen while driving as that would have put myself and family in a dangerous system. The fact that this issue has not been resolved and seems to occur randomly is a major concern. I do not feel safe driving this vehicle knowing that this can happen and leave us stranded or in an unsafe situation. We are currently working with the dealer with hopes of a solution but this is a serious issue.