[hill]

Only after roughly a dozen of our hybrid vans become barbecues .... not 4, or 5, or 10. Chrysler decides to send out notices of a recall. That was last February. Two Months and still not fix?

So - you buy a van because it easily operates at a cost of only 5ȼ per mile running electric (ZERO if you have PV Solar). With Gas now $4 - $7 a gallon? Chrysler's temp fix? Don't charge your car. And park outside, even if it's -10°f outside, provided you HAVE such parking available. You may easily be paying 20ȼ per mile now - running in hybrid mode.

I wonder if these fires are related to the defective (BHC) battery coolant heater electrical plug (Chrysler Service Bulletin 08-034-18 relating to Mopar Part # 68420270AA) that Chrysler has REFUSED to fix upon request, because unless your car shows an "active" code thrown, Chrysler won't change it out. You have to get down there & hope to God the corroded plug doesn't dry out & stop acting up. Baahhh, that's only a low voltage connector ... will just cross fingers & hope for the best (sigh)

Pretty funny Chrysler. Thanks for the help.
How many changes could possibly be made in subsequent years' traction packs? And if you trace down those changes? How hard could finding a remedy be?!?

Anyone else have one of the affected / unfixed models?
If you don't get a notice of Chrysler's "Fix" .... Park outside ... & your house burns down ... does Chrysler prefer to replace your House? Car? Appliances? Clothing? Artwork? Furniture? Years cost for lodging?
Yea ... no worries.

.

 

[alphawolff]

You're going off on so many tangents I don't even know where to begin. The ECH TSB you linked is completely irrelevant to both the fires and the actual wide spread ECH failures we've had. There's no fix available for the Z11 recall because they literally need to replace the batteries of the entire fleet. I don't know where you think they're going to magically create thousands of $15k batteries out of thin air while the battery manufacture is being sued and investigated for said faulty batteries, not even regarding the chip shortage.

They can't fix **** when they don't have the replacement parts. If you're worried about it catching fire then sell it and move on. Otherwise sit tight, cross your toes, and motor on

 

[CANADAHYBRIDGUY]

Look at the lg batteries , other manufacturers, and see what the real outcome is in reality. Drive it , charge it, use it and let what happens to the outcome be what it is .

 

[PacificaMinivanFan]

Look at the lg batteries , other manufacturers, and see what the real outcome is in reality. Drive it , charge it, use it and let what happens to the outcome be what it is .

We need to do more

Hi everyone: I think we need to organize ourselves and others in our position so that we make more commotion. They clearly are not going to do anything meaningful until we rattle them a bit more. At a minimum, since we could not charge our cars for 1.5 months and counting, they should be giving...

www.pacificaforums.com

 

[PacDave]

You're going off on so many tangents I don't even know where to begin. The ECH TSB you linked is completely irrelevant to both the fires and the actual wide spread ECH failures we've had. There's no fix available for the Z11 recall because they literally need to replace the batteries of the entire fleet. I don't know where you think they're going to magically create thousands of $15k batteries out of thin air while the battery manufacture is being sued and investigated for said faulty batteries, not even regarding the chip shortage.

They can't fix **** when they don't have the replacement parts. If you're worried about it catching fire then sell it and move on. Otherwise sit tight, cross your toes, and motor on

I’ll tell you where they magically create thousands of batteries out of thin air. They take the batteries that they’ve ordered for the manufacture of their new 2022 vans and allocate them to fixing the 2017-2018 vans. Yes, you temporarily stop production of new vans to fix the problem. It hurts, but it would be the right thing to do. Not that I think Chrysler will do that. The bottom line means more to them than pleasing their customers.

 

[PacDave]

Only after roughly a dozen of our hybrid vans become barbecues .... not 4, or 5, or 10. Chrysler decides to send out notices of a recall. That was last February. Two Months and still not fix?

View attachment 49794

So - you buy a van because it easily operates at a cost of only 5ȼ per mile running electric (ZERO if you have PV Solar). With Gas now $4 - $7 a gallon? Chrysler's temp fix? Don't charge your car. And park outside, even if it's -10°f outside, provided you HAVE such parking available. You may easily be paying 20ȼ per mile now - running in hybrid mode.

View attachment 49797

I wonder if these fires are related to the defective (BHC) battery coolant heater electrical plug (Chrysler Service Bulletin 08-034-18 relating to Mopar Part # 68420270AA) that Chrysler has REFUSED to fix upon request, because unless your car shows an "active" code thrown, Chrysler won't change it out. You have to get down there & hope to God the corroded plug doesn't dry out & stop acting up. Baahhh, that's only a low voltage connector ... will just cross fingers & hope for the best (sigh)

Pretty funny Chrysler. Thanks for the help.
How many changes could possibly be made in subsequent years' traction packs? And if you trace down those changes? How hard could finding a remedy be?!?

Anyone else have one of the affected / unfixed models?
If you don't get a notice of Chrysler's "Fix" .... Park outside ... & your house burns down ... does Chrysler prefer to replace your House? Car? Appliances? Clothing? Artwork? Furniture? Years cost for lodging?
Yea ... no worries.

.

In my opinion, twelve burned vans is not too many considering that some 19,000 of the vans were produce in 2017-18. You may want to assume a little bit of risk and just continue driving the van like you have for the last 4-5 years. If you’re jittery about parking it in the garage then get a heavy duty extension cord and charge it out in the driveway with a level 1 charger. Less than one out of a thousand vans have burned down. Do you really think yours has a high chance of burning?

I’m just as upset as you are at Chrysler for delaying on this issue for as long as they have but I’m not going to play their game. If they thought they could get away with it they’d just tell everyone to quit driving their vans cold turkey! They know that would go over like a lead balloon so they’ve only gone as far as they realistically can.

 

[jcastill]

Ok, I get you are angry, yet what do you expect? They rush a fix that ends up not working and go back to square one (like GM did)

Batteries are not created by Chrysler and it's unreasonable to expect them to cover all the replacement/fix cost associated with this. Basically a supplier had a manufacturing problem and will ultimately bear most of the replacement cost which most likely is stipulated on their contract for sourcing the batteries.

Now, Chrysler decided out of abundance of caution and to avoid issues, to try and keep batteries in a low charge state by discouraging charging them and instead drive the vehicle as a regular hybrid. Yes, I understand you are using fuel when it's expensive, and yes I understand you bought it to drive electrical and not use gas on a day to day. And trust me they know as well. Yet you are still most likely getting better mileage than any other non hybrid minivan out there, so you still got that going on.

Lot of people on this group are still charging and venturing ignoring Chrysler recommendations. While I highly discourage them (in case the worst were to happen and insurance try to blame on your decision to ignore a warning from the manufacturer), I would still charge it under active monitoring in the most safe (based on my risk tolerance) way possible.

I get it you are upset and expect a manufacturer to cover all your expenses, but let's try and be realistic, don't expect any car manufacturer to go above and beyond what is required by law they do. If you think they should do more, talk to your representatives to push laws to increase their liability or talk to a lawyer about your possible legal strategies.

Personally, I think this whole recall would make me very upset, but on the brighter side, I rather they figure out a one time solution instead of making me waste time for potential fixes recalls that end up doing nothing but take more of my time. My last car got like 5 recalls related to the airbags. So yeah, recalls happen and it's a pain for all involved.

 

[Chris]

As an engineer I recognize that is extremely difficult to diagnose an issue, like this, that has only affected one out of a thousand vehicles over a 4 year period. Unless they can catch the failure in process it will be almost impossible to isolate the cause. I doubt there is any actual data indicating that charge level has any effect, just a supposition that the high energy level in the battery may be significant.
I am continuing to charge my van in the drive. I have a smoke detector in the car to warn me in the house if the van catches fire. I have no concern about driving it since there would be enough warning to safely evacuate.

 

[ArizonaJon]

As a Chevy Bolt and Chrysler PHEV, I have a unique view on this. Chevy is replacing all batteries on the 140,000+ Bolts – 2017 through 2022. LG is paying for most of the cost. Chevy shut down manufacturing from August 2021 until this month and allocated all new batteries to replacement. They are still only about 1/3 through with the replacements. They also provided the owner with the option of a buyback using the state lemon laws even if the vehicle was too old to qualify for a lemon law buyback. You can find a lot of info on this on the Bolt EV forum. Link below. FYI the problem was in cells that have both a torn anode and a folded separator. It took Chevy and LG about a year to find the cause as the evidence was always destroyed in the fire.
New Posts

 

[PacDave]

As a Chevy Bolt and Chrysler PHEV, I have a unique view on this. Chevy is replacing all batteries on the 140,000+ Bolts – 2017 through 2022. LG is paying for most of the cost. Chevy shut down manufacturing from August 2021 until this month and allocated all new batteries to replacement. They are still only about 1/3 through with the replacements. They also provided the owner with the option of a buyback using the state lemon laws even if the vehicle was too old to qualify for a lemon law buyback. You can find a lot of info on this on the Bolt EV forum. Link below. FYI the problem was in cells that have both a torn anode and a folded separator. It took Chevy and LG about a year to find the cause as the evidence was always destroyed in the fire.
New Posts

Thanks for that information. It sounds like Chevy is doing the right thing even though I’m sure it is painful for them. Let’s hope Chrysler follows suit.

 

[ArizonaJon]

Thanks for that information. It sounds like Chevy is doing the right thing even though I’m sure it is painful for them. Let’s hope Chrysler follows suit.

Yes. They did two buybacks from us.
Now waiting for either new Bolt EUV or Ioniq 5. Love the BEV. The PHEV is alsmost as good for around town - buy gas once every 3 months unless we are taking a long trip. But efficiency is about half of the much smaller Bolt and not as easy to park.

 

[PacDave]

Yes. They did two buybacks from us.
Now waiting for either new Bolt EUV or Ioniq 5. Love the BEV. The PHEV is alsmost as good for around town - buy gas once every 3 months unless we are taking a long trip. But efficiency is about half of the much smaller Bolt and not as easy to park.

Well, our other vehicle is a Honda Clarity. I topped off the gas tank in the Clarity with 3 gallons a couple of weeks ago. That was the first time it had been to the gas station since June of last year!

 

[ArizonaJon]

Well, our other vehicle is a Honda Clarity. I topped off the gas tank in the Clarity with 3 gallons a couple of weeks ago. That was the first time it had been to the gas station since June of last year!

So the Honda Clarity does not monitor the gas and oil to make sure it get refreshed?

 

[PacDave]

So the Honda Clarity does not monitor the gas and oil to make sure it get refreshed?

Yes, apparently it does. I heard it kick on once or twice during the winter when it normally wouldn’t have. But apparently the engineers are ok with letting it go for some months. When the ICE finally ran it was just as smooth as ever. Perhaps managing the vapors/pressure in the tank can assure that it will last longer.

 

[SKPacHy]

Yes, apparently it does. I heard it kick on once or twice during the winter when it normally wouldn’t have. But apparently the engineers are ok with letting it go for some months. When the ICE finally ran it was just as smooth as ever. Perhaps managing the vapors/pressure in the tank can assure that it will last longer.

All PHEVs, including the Pacifica, use a pressurized fuel tank to manage vapours. That’s basically by regulation. PHEVs are allowed far fewer gas tank emissions when compared to an ICE vehicle. So a pressurized tank is how that’s accomplished.

 

[PacDave]

All PHEVs, including the Pacifica, use a pressurized fuel tank to manage vapours. That’s basically by regulation. PHEVs are allowed far fewer gas tank emissions when compared to an ICE vehicle. So a pressurized tank is how that’s accomplished.

Exactly. My point was that it is perhaps why the ICE hasn’t been forced to run too often. Perhaps with the pressurized tank there is less chance of contamination that would cause the fuel to go bad or become stale. Over half of the gas in the tank of my Clarity is approaching the one year mark and the few times that the ICE has run it has been smooth with no apparent signs of degradation.

 

[SKPacHy]

Exactly. My point was that it is perhaps why the ICE hasn’t been forced to run too often. Perhaps with the pressurized tank there is less chance of contamination that would cause the fuel to go bad or become stale. Over half of the gas in the tank of my Clarity is approaching the one year mark and the few times that the ICE has run it has been smooth with no apparent signs of degradation.

Oh yes I would say you're correct. You're less likely to lose as much of the light hydrocarbons in a pressurized tank. That's also why fires in PHEVs could be somewhat more aggressive. You have a pressurized tank of fuel. Chrysler is definitely being more aggressive with their FORM implementation though. I don't know if some of that may have to do with the difference in gasoline between summer and winter here in North America as well. I don't know if other parts of the world have that same refining difference with the seasons. That could also have something to do with the Chrysler decision, since this vehicle is primarily sold in North America. Forcing the fuel tank to be emptied or at least added to every three months would also mitigate the effect of the seasonal difference in North American gasoline production.

 

[seo68]

My last tank of gas lasted me 15 months in my PacHy. At the 1 year point I purposely began running the ICE to burn off that fuel. I was 40 days into this tank when I experienced my first FORM event, which was the first time on this tank that the ICE ran. It lasted 2.7 miles (in traffic) on a day in the upper 80s and quit when the oil temp reached about 185F. Right now my ICE miles are under 2% of my total miles, and I am only driving about 500 miles/month.

 

[BJenkins]

Yes. They did two buybacks from us.
Now waiting for either new Bolt EUV or Ioniq 5. Love the BEV. The PHEV is alsmost as good for around town - buy gas once every 3 months unless we are taking a long trip. But efficiency is about half of the much smaller Bolt and not as easy to park.

The "much smaller Bolt" being key here. The two vehicles are not in the same category. You can't get a sheet of plywood into a Bolt...You can in a Pacifica. We purchased ours to have the best of both worlds (and we're still happy customers)

 

[Masuk]

Every battery and I really mean every device that stores an electrical charge must displace heat during the transmission of electric (either charging or discharging). The faster the transfer (the higher the voltage and amps) the greater the heat generated that must be dispersed. The entire future of EVs depend on rapid heat transfer. And so we come to problems with charging systems that rapidly charge the batteries but do not efficiently disperse the heat, the result... fire. If you are concerned about this matter always use the 120 volt charging system that comes with your vehicle and wait at least 1 hour after driving to plug it in to allow the depleted battery to cool down before beginning the charge. Same can be said for any battery powered tool.