Keep in mind the ZF9 transmission is not a FCA product. It was designed by another company and is used in other vehicles including the Honda Odyssey. The issues I'm familiar with are primarily software based. The transmission design means it behaves differently and vehicle manufacturer's have been challenged in getting the right feel when shifting. FCA has done software updates for the Pacifica's transmission that have resolved most issues but some owners still have unsatisfactory performance. I have not experienced any transmission issues with my 2017.


Here is a link that describes the ZF9 operation

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/02/zfs-9-speed-9hp-transmission-puts-dog-clutches-on-the-leash/

 

That's quite an article. The bottom line as stated: "... For me, understanding why the transmission is doing what it is doing is key to my like or dislike of a car’s road manners. Once I understood what the Cherokee’s automatic was up to, I was able to focus on the rest of the car. What about you? Are you willing to “sacrifice” shift quality at the altar of fuel economy?"
As for me: Seems to work pretty good. Good fuel economy for a big, heavy vehicle and is pretty smooth. For the number of Pacificas that are on the road now, I can't say I'm alarmed by the number of posts saying they needed to have the transmission replaced. Will that radically change in the future...?

 

I can post more of my thoughts later, but in a nutshell I think the overwhelming majority of issues were electronic, and have been resolved with recent software updates. No issues whatsoever with my '17's transmission.

There's a difference between not liking how it shifts and the component not working right. I think mine shifts great.

 

My 17 is fine. The transmission functions well to the point that I don’t think about it.

Ironically, my Pacifica replaced a 2011 TnC as well. The differences between the two are significant. There is only one single thing I prefer in the TnC over the Pacifica...tailgate seating. Everything else is hugely in the Pacificas favor.

 

I get the impression that newer production cars are less problematic than the earlier ones. I just don’t see as many complaints about shift quality in 2018 and 2019 models as 2017. Perhaps this is because problems start with some miles, or perhaps some running changes to newer units have improved things.

My 2018 is 11 months old with 15k miles. No complaints on my part. About the worst I’ve experienced is a noticeable shift when accelerating to 50ish mph and quickly rolling out of the throttle. Not the most graceful, but not a problem either. I generally drive the van very conservatively - it’s not a sports car, you know - and shifts are imperceptible. It does shift a lot, always trying to be in the most efficient gear. But this is true of all these newer transmissions.

I’d like to see video/audio of peoples complaints to get a feeling for how bad is bad, but have never seen even one posted.

 

I have a late build 2017, admittedly with low miles (around 4,500). I have not experienced any rough shifting or the big jolts that been reported by others. The shifts are smooth and imperceptible for the most part and downshifts as appropriate. I find this transaxle much better than the six speed in my old 2012 Town and Country. I do miss the “Electronic Range Selector” on the 2012.

 

I do miss the “Electronic Range Selector” on the 2012.

Ditto here.

 

I have an earlier built '17 that I purchased in Aug of '16. I did experience some sporadic jerky shifting and the dealer ended up replacing the transmission under warranty. Since then it's been flawless. I used to think the original transmission was smooth (when it didn't jerk) but with the new one it's way improved.

 

Its a great transmission! No issues at all!
John

 

This! ^

 

We have a 2018 Pacifica, and a 2019 Jeep Cherokee. Both have the 9 speed ZF9.
As I was shopping for the Jeep, I had read many horror stories, and reviews slamming the 9 speed. My son works in the auto parts industry, so I asked him if the 9 speed was really all that bad. He says "that's the same tranny that you you have in mom's Pacifica".

Well - no issues with the Pacifica, and after doing a bit of research, the 2014s and early 2015 Cherokees had some issues.
Since 2016, the complaints are very few. I'm happy with the performance in both vehicles. To be sure, this rig favors economy, but the only time it feels a bit weird, is in the Jeep if you slow down coming to a light, and then go back to accelerating. It takes a split second to transition from slowing to going, but not to the point of being a problem. Fuel economy is better than expected in both vehicles.

 

Yes, Honda has the same trans but they have perfected the shifting to provide their customers with a smooth shifting, non problematic trans. My questions why can't Chrysler do the same? I have a 2019 Pacifica that has been to the shop 7 times and the dealership has tried to fix the poor shifting quality to no avail. It sucks because this is an awesome vehicle otherwise. If they don't fix this issue they will lose a lot of repeat Chrysler owners.

 

You should search the Honda Odyssey forum. The number of complaints regarding the 9 speed transmission indicate that Honda has not perfected the shifting. There are Odyssey owners who are very unhappy with the shifting.

 

shawnee-Yes, I have been on the Honda Odyssey forum and no recent posts of jerky transmission at low speeds in the recent year models. Like I said, they have made efforts to satisfy their customers unlike FCA!! Don't want to argue with you but their forum is nothing like the complaints on here.

 

Man, I sure don’t get that impression. Lots of dissatisfaction over there with the 9 speed and Honda hasn’t done anything about it for anyone. Don’t forget that Honda sells fewer Odyssey’s than Chrysler does Pacificas, and not all Odyssey’s use the 9 speed. So a lower volume of complaints in the forum doesn’t necessarily translate to a less problematic vehicle.

 

Encouraging.

Thanks.

 

I have read lots of the Honda complaints and have seen the poor souls that also spent 50k-ish and got a defective product. It is heartbreaking.

Ironically, Honda does give the tranny victim a way out...........buy either of the top 2 trim levels and then you can get the well liked Honda 10 speed. Oh, then you have to sell your existing vehicle.

 

I agree about the Pacifica improvements.

While our 2011 TnC is in the dealership being battered as the mechanic labors to accomplish a TIPM no-start failure by starting my vehicle a million times, we are driving a rental base model 2019 Pacifica from Enterprise.

Pacifica performance is remarkable, turning radius certainly feels smaller, pedal is crisp with a peppy response, it seems somewhat quieter in the forward cabin (the middle and rear seats seem pretty noisy to me), closing the door delivers a quiet and substantial sound, interior appointments are nice, etc. Indeed, a much improved car. I am not dazzled with the fuel economy yet, but I am just doing around town driving and getting 17-ish. My 2011 can do that.

That full moon roof is way cool and I would love to buy it, but those tranny horror stories are cold feet inducing.

 

Forgot to mention, our rental Pacifica (8k miles)shifting is smoothly undetectable, but I have seen lots of forum posts where the problems start later, but, in all fairness, earlier too.

It appears to be a real roll of the dice.

 

The fact that outright failures still seem quite rare reinforces the idea that the issues are primarily software-related. There been several updates since the Pacifica was released, which originally had far fewer issues than the 2014 Cherokee did when it was first rolled out with this transmission. My van had the latest update installed with a recall, but I never had issues with the transmission before that either.

In fact, my ZF9 pulled my 3,500-lb boat out of storage yesterday and 42 miles back home. I wish I had the ability to select gears manually, but the transmission software seems to do a decent job putting the transmission right where it wants to be. I put the throttle down and left rubber all the way through second gear accelerating into traffic yesterday, the transmission was perfect.

 

My biggest issue with the transmission is how it works with ESS.

If you come to a stop, and ESS kicks in, IF you need to start going again as this process happens (ESS stopping the car), the transmission will LURCH forward in a truly awful way as the car kicks back on.

Like the gearing/gas injection gets going BEFORE the engine and once it does BAM... huge lurch. And I am NOT lead footing it... Its just BAD DESIGN. Period.

Ive also had this happen when driving and it changes gears back and forth- but thats been very rare.

The transmission is definitely not perfect... And I style my driving to accommodate it and ESS now.

Anyone who says NOTHING is wrong with it just hasn't noticed the issues or had anything weird happen YET... Let me drive your Pacifica and I can replicate the lurching without blinking an eye...

 

Anyone who says NOTHING is wrong with it just hasn't noticed the issues or had anything weird happen YET... Let me drive your Pacifica and I can replicate the lurching without blinking an eye...

The problem is that you are describing a characteristic you don’t like is a fault in the vehicle. That’s like saying a painting is incorrect because you don’t like the shade the artist used for the backdrop. That may make it undesirable for you, but others may not be bothered by it.

I’m in the latter group. Yes, the car will jump off the line a bit with ESS, but do you adapt your driving style to it. Mine will bark the tires if I give it moderate throttle from a stop before the engine comes to life, but I’ve had other cars act similar with aggressive throttle programming. Doesn’t bother me at all, and it certainly wouldn’t prevent me from buying one.

 

BLUF / TLDR: Amazing van when it works, but ours has always had at least 1 ongoing issue and when something breaks the dealerships (yes more than one) deny it. Also, 1 year of ongoing un-diagnosed intermittent extremely harsh shifts at 15mph.

Late '17 Pacifica here and it's a beautiful machine, when it's working. We have the intermittent shift issue under light acceleration at 15mph that others have discussed. It's been to two dealers 4 times and they can't replicate the issue. I drove a tech around today for 20-25 minutes and I couldn't replicate it, which is exactly the problem with intermittent issues. Because the techs don't experience it they basically ignore the issue. I'm 100% certain it's software based since it comes in waves (like a sine wave) as it learns itself into the hard shift it becomes more frequent then learns itself out of it and it becomes less frequent. Some days it happens 5-7 times, other times it doesn't happen for a week. I've been told it's because we have two drivers (it happens to both of us) and I've been told it's how the ZF9 works. We're talking about a shift so hard it scares passengers that haven't experienced it before. Passengers including my dad (parts manager at a dealership for 25 years, hot rodder, and ex-racer) and mom (Penske dealership customer relations for 20 years). I myself have worked on cars intermittently for 20 years and now I'm a software guy. The shift feels like you got rear-ended. It's harsher than shifting my Supra with a heavy clutch banging gears in the 1/4mi. It's harsher than neutral bombing my first car trying to do burnouts decades ago. Calling this "normal" is like calling the recent crashes of the Boeing 737-MAX "normal" due to the software and faulty sensor that caused them. I'm not saying this to dissuade you. I had a newer Caravan for 2 days as a rental, what a let down after driving the Pacifica. The Pac-dawg as we call her is extremely smooth and luxurious when she works. The service you get when it doesn't work leaves a lot to be desired. I have a case open that has been escalated to "Enhanced Customer Satisfaction" for this issue. They're trying to get a flight recorder installed so we can see the logs when it happens.

-Bill

 

My 2018 has one of the smoothest transmissions I’ve had. I don’t remember ever being reminded about the transmission at any time during driving it (which is how it should be).

But I have a Mercedes which has the occasional hard shift (feeling like someone rear ended you) and poor rev matched shifting at times, so I’m aware of how a bad transmission feels like.

Thankfully my Pacifica doesn’t exhibit any of that behavior. Whatever software magic they had done to the ZF transmission, has worked.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Clearly there is a difference in the trannys that have issues and the trannys they don't. I am a not so lucky owner but I am irritated by the lecture on how I am somehow responsible for this jerky, confused tranny that doesn't know what gear to be in. The vehicle or you do not need to school this "well"seasoned driver!!!

 

I think you're confusing a lecture for a difference of opinion. What is smooth to me might not be for you, and I don't think anybody was blaming you for anything. No reason to get irritated about that or anything else on the Internet for that matter.

Shift quality isn't that important to me, in fact harsh shifts are better for transmission life then smooth ones because there is less slippage between the gears. I've never heard of a ZF9 wearing out clutches, so it's not something I'm worried about to begin with.

 

I suppose my biggest concern with transmission is reliability. The infamous "slushbox" has always been the mystery component under the hood that stands to cost the hapless owner thousands when it fails without warning out of warranty. They are virtually impossible for the home mechanic to work on, and incremental repairs are generally not possible without a full rebuild.

Modern transmissions have come a long way, though. Failures are becoming increasingly rare, and your modern computer designed transmissions are more commonly lasting for the life of the vehicle. ZF builds a fantastic transmission, some of their previous designs introduced in the early 2000s are known for not failing without permission, even after hundreds of thousands of miles. This reputation, as well as a lack of physical failures, is why I have so much confidence in this transmission. I can deal with the occasional jerky shift as long as it continues to properly move my van down the road without costing me a fortune. The fantastic fuel economy is great as well.

 

Laura,
I got the same response from the dealership. Oh, it's because you have 2 drivers. Hmmm, I don't remember reading anything in the manual about that being an issue. I also go "maybe you're lifting right when the transmission tries to shift"....yup, both my wife and I exhibit that behavior at exactly 15 mph...

 

For some perspective, go check the stats on carcomplaints.com - This is probably the best website to research complaints to NHTSA.

If you research the Jeep Cherokee (also uses the 9 speed ZF), you will see a huge spike in 2014 and 2015, with the trans being the predominant issue. That has fallen off to very few issues in recent years.

Now.. go look at the Pacifica.
Hardly a peep on trans issues, and relatively few complaints in total on such a high volume vehicle.

Now go surf other models. Check out the Odyssey. You will see exactly the same trend on the ZF trans. Look at 2014 and 2015.
Honda had the same struggles with this unit. They have fallen off dramatically in recent years.

This is not to suggest the nobody ever has a problem. I have no doubt that some Chrysler and Honda owners get the occasional bad unit. But.... there are not widespread issues with the transmission in recent years for either manufacturer.

 

OK

I did it

I swallowed hard, rolled the dice, and bought the white, ZF9 equipped 2017 Pacifica with full moon/sun roof.

So far, and it is only 7k miles on the car and I have only driven it under 200 miles, the transmission shifts are smoothly unnoticeable. I know, I know lots of the forum reported problems appeared well down the mileage road from where I am, but, hey, I am actively embracing my ZF9 honeymoon period.........hah ha.

Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts.

 

Congrats on the new van! I hope she gives you many happy miles.

 

8700 miles on my 2019 touring l,and tranny works flawlessly.Have disabled ESS by unplugging hood open sensor,and am very pleased with this vehicle,having owned 2 Odyssey’s ?

 

That works, but those with remote start need to know that it is then inoperable.