Skip the 2017 and 2018. Hunt for a 2020 or 2022, and buy the petrol one.

The launch year, and the steering nobody will fix. 1,563 complaints, more than the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 model years put together, and sixteen recalls. Roughly half of the recent filings are about one thing: the electric power steering sticking and catching on gentle highway curves, typically around the eleven and one o'clock positions, then releasing so the driver overcorrects. Owners describe it identically and several name the open federal investigation they are filing against, NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation PE25009, which concerns the electric power steering gear rack. An investigation is not a recall. Nothing has been ordered fixed and nobody has agreed to pay. On top of that sit a stalling recall (18V-049), a cruise control that may not switch off (18V-332), a Manual Park Release plug that could let the van roll away (18V-395) and two separate seat belt recalls. If it is the plug-in hybrid, it is also one of the 16,741 vans under 22V-077, the fire recall that told owners to stop charging and park outside, and which NHTSA records as superseded because the first fix did not settle it.

The year with three things built wrong on the line. 1,050 complaints and fifteen recalls. The steering complaint from 2017 is still the largest single cluster and still uncovered. What makes the 2018 its own problem is three assembly defects unique to it. Recall 18V-492 covers a transmission component that 'may not have been welded properly', and the remedy is not a repair: dealers 'will replace the transmission', free. Recall 18V-493 covers front halfshafts that may not be secured to the constant-velocity joint, which causes 'a loss of drive or allow the vehicle to move while in the Park position'. Recall 19V-143 covers a right front lower control arm that 'may separate from the steering knuckle'. All three are free to fix and all three are reasons to run the VIN before you hand over money rather than after.

The quietest year in the run, if you buy the petrol one. 221 complaints, the lowest total here, and seven recalls, also the lowest. The launch-era steering cluster has gone and there is no equivalent replacement. A petrol 2020's entire campaign list is a rearview camera software update that can be done over the air, a curtain airbag connector that Chrysler records as already fixed fleet-wide, and a wheelchair-conversion recall that will not apply to you. There is also a free customer satisfaction programme, Y97 on hub bolts, that nobody will offer unless you ask. The caveat is sharp and worth repeating: the plug-in hybrid version of this same year is caught by two overlapping battery fire recalls at once, 24V-538 and 26V-362, and both instruct owners not to charge the van and to park it outside. The petrol 2020 is arguably the easiest Pacifica to recommend in the whole band. The hybrid 2020 is not.

Mature, with the work in the paperwork rather than the mechanicals. 313 complaints and ten recalls, and the petrol van's own defects are genuinely small: a wiper arm nut that may be loose (22V-619), a second-row seat latch (22V-181), a camera software update. By 2022 the nine-speed automatic has had years of refinement and the mechanical hardware has a good reputation among people who work on it. Two things to do rather than worry about. First, run the VIN on the day, because recall 26V-189 from March 2026 'expands and replaces' the earlier curtain airbag campaign and states that 'vehicles previously repaired under a prior recall will need to have the new remedy completed'. Second, ask a dealer about ZD3 and ZD2, two free customer satisfaction programmes specific to this model year covering the nine-speed transmission and engine misfire respectively. Both are free and neither will be mentioned unless you raise it.