Battery dies on Pacifica Hybrid - Rolls out of driveway into street!

[email protected] said:

This morning my 2018 Hybrid Limited was dead. It had been plugged in overnight using the 110 charger that came with the van. It would not start, and briefly flashed some kind of service needed warning on the screen. Then the screen turned off and the vehicle repeatedly made a clicking sound. The screen would not come back on, and the van was completely unresponsive.

We exited the van and went back inside the house to call the dealership. When I looked back out the window, I noticed the windshield wipers were ever so slowly in motion back and forth. I checked the switch but the wiper was set to the “off” position. None of the wiper controls would change the setting. The dealership set me up with a number for Chrysler tow.

I exited the vehicle to make the call, and was standing about 20 feet away from the van. Suddenly the van started rolling backward down the driveway and into the street! Fortunately it came to a stop in the middle of the street without hitting anyone or anything! I ran over and checked it and still everything was unresponsive, the wipers no longer moving however the parking brake button, and shifter buttons, and overhead lights were flashing.

Fortunately no one was behind the van or they could have been seriously hurt or killed! We had the van towed to the dealership. The tow company the Chrysler contracts with lifted the front tires and towed it on its rear wheels (hopefully that didnt damage anything).

This is the third electrical issue with this van. The day I purchased it, the salesman went to pull it around and found the van to be dead. He said someone left a light on. It sounded like they were going to replace the battery, but ended up just jump starting it.

Then on 1/7 I brought the van in for service again because of a speaker static noise when brakes were applied while the blu ray was playing a movie over the speakers. They checked and found no issue. They said they charged the battery.

Now just two days later the van is not only completely dead in my driveway, but it is a MAJOR safety issue, that for any reason it would disengage from park and roll backward! I just don’t feel safe in this vehicle anymore and it has not even been 3 weeks, and less than 650miles on it.

I let my dealership know, and as a member here suggested, I reached out to @ChryslerCares. I expect the dealer to work with Chrysler to get me a vehicle I can feel safe putting my family in. Does anyone have any ideas here on what could cause the van to release all brakes and roll backward?? The hood was raised at the time this happened as well.

I am going to try to upload the video I have to YouTube to show what happened.

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Bond007 said:

First rule. Don’t take delivery of a vehicle which has been dead on arrival from the dealership. There is a reason it had that failure. Simply walk away and get another car. Will save you a lot of trouble later on.
One of the most often cited reasons for strange electric problems is failure of regular 12v battery. Get it replaced. If issues still persist, then ask for a replacement vehicle or refund. You just bought a brand new car. This shouldn’t be happening. Write a letter to Chrysler and send by registered post.



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hookshot1 said:

Hi everyone, I'd like to add my experiences with my 2018 Pacifica hybrid limited. It's fairly well loaded and was built in early January 2018. I bought it in May of 2018. Really like the car, but I'm not real sure it's safe. I had the first shop visit on July 6, 2018 for the U73 recall. The second shop visit was November 8 for the U94 recall. On November 19th, I was driving in town about a quarter mile from my house when the car died. I was able to coast to the side of the road but unable to restart the van. It was towed to the dealership where I bought it (about 2 miles away). It was there 16 days, a star account was started, and the PIM was replaced. Most recently January 10th, the car died again under similar circumstances. I coasted to the side of the road and attempted to restart the car. After several attempts, the car restarted but the yellow engine light remained on. I drove it to the dealership and got a loaner. They re-flashed the computer, cleaned the contacts under the hood, drove it 18 miles and said that it seemed to be OK. They had it one day. Always looking for a place to safely coast to while driving now. Trust will build slowly. As a side note, one little thing, when I fuel up, I close the fuel door, climb in, start the van, have to step out and re-close the fuel door and then proceed. The dealership is going to replace the fuel door mechanism. Taking care of the symptom and not the cause?

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hookshot1 said:

Hi PacDave, no, I'm not a pilot. My father was a Naval aviator and flew F8F's and Corsairs. He related some stories to me which included landing with no power. I guess that over dramatizes the issue of pulling off to the side of the road in your car with no power.

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