It's been a couple of months since my last update and I thought I would share my progress. After a good deal of back and forth with the FCA rep, they approved $85/day for my rental. I got to that amount because it was the reasonable per day rental cost through Turo for a comparable electric car. Turo is like airbnb for cars. I have been renting a Tesla model 3 for the last 2 months and already got my first reimbursement check through Chrysler. It works out to roughly $2.5k per month, so it will add up fast. Each month as I ask about approval to rent for the next month, I remind them that I am open to a buyback. No progress on the buyback yet, but there has to be a breaking point if the battery delays continue.
Recall announced on 2017-1018 Pacifica Hybrids!
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So I'm the guy who posted about FCA randomly calling me to see if I'd swap out my battery for them to study. About a week later my dealer calls me and asks me what concerned me about my battery enough to order a new one. I was like..."um, the part involving fire..." Then I explained the deal and they took my car the same day. Two days later they called to say it was all ready. As I signed the paperwork, I became concerned with the total lack of specifics on the maintenance record. It said something to the effect of "replaced battery." When I had dropped it off, I told them I expected serial numbers for the outgoing battery and incoming battery to be documented. Well, neither the service advisor nor parts manager could offer any extra level of detail. They said if I go to trade the car in to an FCA dealer they would see it's a new battery. (at which time I explained this could be my last FCA product ever, so that doesn't help me.) Finally got the service department manager involved and asked:
1. Is my car removed from the recall? "No, this is not the official fix." Ok, that's understandable.
2. Did the FCA department that emailed them and sent them the battery authorize me to park indoors, charge, and park near other vehicles? "No, but it's a new battery so it's probably safe." Pretty sure my insurance will not reimburse me for a burned down house with this level of clarity.
3. Was this even a newer model of battery? "We think so."
At this point I emphasized my concerns and the service manager agreed it was shady. So they still have my van until I get concrete answers. I don't mind if my van is still under the recall, but now I'm concerned about what's currently installed. Guess I'll just keep renting 7 pax cars at stupid rates. (And they keep on saying no to a car subscription, despite the thousands in savings.)
1. Is my car removed from the recall? "No, this is not the official fix." Ok, that's understandable.
2. Did the FCA department that emailed them and sent them the battery authorize me to park indoors, charge, and park near other vehicles? "No, but it's a new battery so it's probably safe." Pretty sure my insurance will not reimburse me for a burned down house with this level of clarity.
3. Was this even a newer model of battery? "We think so."
At this point I emphasized my concerns and the service manager agreed it was shady. So they still have my van until I get concrete answers. I don't mind if my van is still under the recall, but now I'm concerned about what's currently installed. Guess I'll just keep renting 7 pax cars at stupid rates. (And they keep on saying no to a car subscription, despite the thousands in savings.)
Now I'm wondering if the dealership even swapped out your battery at all.
But this seems par for the course when working with Chrysler and the Dealerships. I like my dealership, but they are also having trouble dealing with FCA for a replacement part while our van sits on their lot.
Today is almost 3.5 weeks of our van at the dealership service waiting for parts. 1st the dealership ordered the part, FCA later said it was discontinued and tried to get the dealership to order the new part (only AFTER I called, FCA had no plan to tell the dealership anything, just let the customer wait forever). 2nd the dealership was able to order the new part only for FCA to call me to tell me the dealership didn't order it 'correctly' so they had to cancel the part a week later. 3rd FCA calls me to say they haven't been able to get a hold of the dealership to instruct them on how to order the part correctly. 4th FCA finally calls me (nearly 4 weeks now since my van has been waiting for this part) to say the dealership has put in the order again, and I am not kidding here when I say this next part, the FCA employee told me they "really hope the part was ordered correctly and doesn't get cancelled again." The FCA employee went on to tell me how much of a mess everything is on their end (lack of communication internally, etc) and was very sorry for all the trouble (not sorry enough to offer a loaner or rental reimbursement though, which is what I asked for in the beginning and they said no to).
It's quite clear to me that FCA has no real intention of working with a 'customer first' attitude. Story after story that reaffirms this are posted here on the forums (like yours and mine), all over facebook (I'm part of the PACHY facebook group which is just full of stories like this). It just gets tiresome to read so many FCA customers are having these issues again and again.
Anyway, I'll probably keep ranting about my experience until there's some kind of resolution, which is probably weeks/months away as we continue to pay for a vehicle we can't drive or use. We are at just about 4 months in 18 months of ownership of where our PACHY is sitting at a dealership for various issues.
Just curious. Is that $85/day paid out directly to you for the rental or is the invoice handled directly between Chrysler and the car rental company?
I have to pay out of pocket for the full month. Then once the month is complete, send them the receipt from the rental company and proof from my credit card statement that I paid that amount. Then they approved the check and i had it within a week or two. Of course by that point, I am already floating the second month rental fee. I also have to reach out to Chrysler each month to get them to approve the rental for the following month. Kind of a pain, but at least I am not having to spend money on gas and FCA is footing the bill. How many months before they agree to my buyback? I am guessing 5, but time will tell. Saw there was a reporter from the Wall Street Journal looking to talk to customers about this. That might just speed things up a bit.
Ok, thanks for the information. I appreciate it!
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I have a 2021 and am also hoping that they pull us in for a free battery replacement. I am willing to wait as long as I can to pile up the miles on my current battery first. I drive 70% battery so mine gets a workout.
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Oh, the smoke detector in the van is a really good idea.
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I talked to Chrysler and they said they have an agreement with Enterprise for a group rate. They made the reservation for me for a Pacifica (I could have chosen other car I think) and I'm paying $66+tax for the van. Chrysler said they will reinburse me for the expenses.
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there is a class action lawsuit going on in San Diego. Here are the details.
CPM Investigating Chrysler for Defect Causing Unexplained Explosion and Fire in Pacifica Hybrids: Top National Trial Lawyers for the Underdog
CPM Investigating Chrysler for Defect Causing Unexplained Explosion and Fire in Pacifica Hybrids
Service manager finally spoke to someone at FCA about what went into my van. It's the exact same battery but with new software that supposedly prevents/limits overheating? He wasn't clear on the details of what exactly it does, but he was surprised to hear that FCA wants to see how the new software does... because customers aren't really supposed to be guinea pigs. Anyway, he said someone from the recall team will reach out to me soon to tell me if I'm still under the recall or not.
So, they told you they were going to to swap it out but they didn't. Now you are just a guinea pig for some new software. And, they wouldn't have even told you if you hadn't pressed the issue. Not cool.
Sounded to me more like their battery was replaced with one that was the exact same part number (i.e. no major or known difference in construction), but coupled with new software (whether in the battery or charging module or something else).
@JJP2883, so was it a new battery w/ software or just a software update?
Why would you replace the battery with the same part number? Can the software not be updated without replacing the battery?
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The owners of my 2018 had the BCM updated two days ago when they took it in for an oil change.
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Are you supposed to bring the van back at some point? I wonder if the software had some additional data collection or logging to help the engineers find the problem.
Sorry, my choice of words was poor. They did replace the battery. My question to them was if this was a newer design, to which they said no. But it has some kind of new software compared to the outgoing battery. And I too wondered if I was supposed to bring it back for data collection... but that's not part of the deal. Guess it's a yes or no test: does his van catch on fire or not. (I'm being sarcastic, I'm guessing they're sending out whatever they're properly testing in hopes it is the right fix.) I still have no paperwork showing me what part numbers went out/went in...nor do I have any new info from FCA about whether I can charge it and park it indoors. I even called FCA on Friday to be proactive about my next rental for June 1, and they had no clue about anything. Hoping I get some new info soon so I can present it when I trade my van in asap.
JJP:
They probably wanted your battery because it may of had a lot-date-code the same as one that caught fire. This would enable the engineers to look for a specific manufacturing defect. It would be great news for both FCA and owners if they could trace the problem to a specific lot of batteries.
They probably wanted your battery because it may of had a lot-date-code the same as one that caught fire. This would enable the engineers to look for a specific manufacturing defect. It would be great news for both FCA and owners if they could trace the problem to a specific lot of batteries.
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This sounds exactly like what GM did at first for the Chevy Bolt battery recall. Let's update the software so it can detect a bad battery and alert the owner before it catches fire. I didn't work. I think they were hoping to avoid replacing tens of thousands of batteries. Now they are replacing tens of thousands of batteries and it's taking them a very long time.
FYI I had a engine coolant heater pump replaced but it took multiple months to get it fixed. I asked for actual cost of gas reimbursement for when EV mode wasn't working. They asked for credit card statements or receipts, so once I gave them my credit card statements with gas station charges over the repair time period, they approved the full amount.
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