1,563 federal complaints and sixteen recalls, the worst year of the Pacifica by a wide margin. Roughly half of the recent filings describe one thing: a steering wheel that sticks in highway curves, and there is no recall to fix it.

Applies only if the van is the plug-in hybrid, meaning it has a battery you charge from a socket as well as a petrol engine. Recall 22V-077, Chrysler code Z11, covers 16,741 2017 and 2018 plug-in hybrids. NHTSA's summary is one sentence: 'A vehicle fire can occur when parked, even with the ignition in the Off position.' The remedy record begins with the instruction to owners, and it is the kind of instruction that tells you how seriously this was taken: 'Owners are advised not to recharge their vehicles, and to park outside and away from structures, until they are repaired.' Dealers update the battery pack control module software, the computer that watches the big battery, and inspect and if necessary replace the whole battery pack, free. Final owner letters went out on 6 October 2022. The detail that matters most for a used buyer is at the end of NHTSA's own record: 'This recall is superseded by NHTSA recall 24V-538.' That later campaign covers 2019 to 2021 plug-in hybrids for the same fire, and describes itself as 'an expansion of NHTSA recall number 22V-077'. In plain terms, the first fix did not settle the problem, and Chrysler has been back to this battery more than once. Check this campaign by VIN and get documentary proof it was completed, not a verbal assurance.

The 2017 has its own stalling recall, and it is worth naming precisely because this model year has several campaigns that all end in the van stopping. 18V-049, Chrysler code U01, covers 2017 Pacificas 'equipped with a 3.6l engine' where 'the engine control software may become out of sync with the crankshaft position sensor, possibly resulting in an engine stall.' Dealers update the engine control software, free. Separately, 19V-348, Chrysler code V53, covers 2017 to 2019 vans fitted with engine stop/start, where 'a loose battery ground connection may result in an intermittent loss of power steering assist and/or a stall.' That one matters twice over on this model year, because losing power steering assist is also the symptom owners are complaining about under the steering issue above, and a buyer needs to know these are two different things with two different causes. The 19V-348 fix installs no new parts at all: technicians clean the ground point and reassemble it.

A fleet-wide Stellantis campaign that swept up 4,815,661 vehicles across most of the company's range, of which the Pacifica's share is the 2017 and 2018 model years only. The defect, in NHTSA's words, 'could prevent the cruise control system from disengaging. If, when using cruise control, there is a short circuit within the vehicle's wiring, the driver may not be able to shut off the cruise control either by depressing the brake pedal or manually turning the system off once it has been engaged, resulting in either the vehicle maintaining its current speed or possibly accelerating.' The remedy is a free software flash of the engine or powertrain control module. NHTSA attached an unusual instruction to this one: 'Owners are advised to stop using cruise control until the software update has been performed', along with what to do if it happens, which is to brake firmly and steadily, shift to neutral, and select Park once stopped. If a 2017 you are considering has this campaign still open, do not use the cruise control on the drive home.

A short entry but a serious one, and easy to overlook next to the bigger campaigns. Recall 18V-395, Chrysler code U50, covers 2017 and 2018 Pacificas where 'the Manual Park Release (MPR) plug may be removed without a tool', which puts the van outside Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 114 on theft protection. The Manual Park Release is the emergency lever that lets someone move the van when the transmission will not come out of Park. NHTSA's consequence line: 'If the MPR is engaged unintentionally, the vehicle could roll away striking and injuring a bystander or cause a crash.' Dealers replace the plug, free. This is a genuine concern in a family vehicle where children sit unattended in the cabin.

Both are early campaigns and both are the kind a used buyer should verify rather than assume, because a van that has changed hands three times may have missed a letter. 16V-490, Chrysler code S42, covers 2017 Pacificas built between 22 February and 28 April 2016, where 'the center overhead seat belt stow clip may fracture and prevent use of the seat belt in the third-row and/or second-row center passenger seat.' Dealers replace the stow bezel, free. 17V-542, Chrysler code T54, covers 2017 and 2018 vans with the eight-passenger seating option, where 'the second-row center seating position seat belt buckle could cause the left outboard seat belt to become unlatched.' The fix is a shorter second-row buckle, free. Both are exactly the kind of defect that matters in a van bought to carry children, and both are cheap and quick to confirm.

A known wear point on the 3.6L Pentastar V6 that runs across the whole 2017 to 2023 span, and one where the arithmetic strongly favours acting early. The oil filter housing, which owners and mechanics also call the oil cooler, weeps oil where it meets the block. An owner-mechanic who found it on his own 2018 at just 26,000 miles laid out the numbers: the housing part itself 'is cost about 200'; his dealer's estimate 'just for looking at it is 558'; and if you are out of powertrain warranty 'it probably cost you more than a thousand dollars just to replace' at a dealer. His argument for not waiting is the important part, and it is a warning about neglect rather than a quoted repair: if you let it leak until the engine runs low, 'the engine itself is going to cost five six thousand dollars, so you rather waste 200 than six thousand dollars.' The counterpoint, from an owner at 200,000 miles: 'We have not had to do the oil cooler on this yet.' It is a check, not a certainty. Look for oil residue below the filter housing with a torch before you buy.

Petrol Pacificas with engine stop/start carry a second, small auxiliary battery as well as the main one, and it fails. When it does you get 'Stop/Start Service Required' or 'Service Auto Start/Stop' on the dash and the system switches itself off. Chrysler published a program for it: Y65, filed as an Engine Stop/Start Auxiliary Battery Goodwill Initiative and as a customer satisfaction notification, covering 2017 and 2018 vans with the 3.6L engine and stop/start. A customer satisfaction notification is a free fix that is not a safety recall, which means nobody will write to you about it and you have to ask a dealer by VIN. Note that Y65 is a software program, not a battery replacement, so it will not help a battery that has simply worn out. For that, an owner-mechanic who replaced his own reports the part sits 'right under this little airbox assembly', comes out with a 10 mm socket, and cost him 'right around 100 bucks'. His warning sign was memorable: 'a really really strong sulfur type smell' from the failing battery, bad enough that 'we actually had to open our garage door and let it air out'. One high-mileage owner reports having done this battery 'like five times' and blames a parasitic drain that keeps waking the van up.

Petrol vans use a nine-speed automatic built by the German supplier ZF, known as the 948TE, and it has a reputation. The reputation is for rough, abrupt shifting rather than for breaking. A mechanic who diagnosed his own van at 65,000 miles is the clearest source we have: the same gearbox 'is used in the pacifica, the jeep cherokee, the front wheel drive version, honda odyssey uses this same transmission and all of those vehicles have had kind of similar issue with rough shifts.' His conclusion after tearing into the problem: 'the transmission is mechanically sound, it is not a mechanical problem with the transmission, it is simply a software control.' The control module is adaptive, meaning it learns and adjusts clutch pressures and shift timing over time, and his view is that the learning drifts in the wrong direction. His own answer is to reset the transmission control module about once a month, which he calls 'very easy to do, not much of a burden'. Two pieces of hard evidence back him up: draining the fluid at 50,000 and again at 60,000 miles produced 'no metal', and a separate owner at 200,000 miles reports the van 'hard shifted between second' from new, had it reflashed under a recall, still does it, and says 'it's not an issue.' Expect an abrupt shift around 14 mph. Budget a fluid change. Do not read it as a failing gearbox without evidence of one.

Two more plug-in-only campaigns worth confirming on a 2017. Recall 17V-371, Chrysler code T34, covers 2017 and 2018 plug-in hybrids whose Power Inverter Module, the box that converts the big battery's power into drive for the electric motor, has 'diodes that may fail due to an overvoltage condition. If the diodes fail, the vehicle will not move under its own power.' Dealers reprogram four modules and replace the inverter if needed, free. Recall 18V-740, Chrysler code U94, covers the same two model years where, after running on battery, 'the gas-fueled engine may not restart properly resulting in unburned fuel entering the exhaust catalyst', which NHTSA notes could cause either a loss of drive or a fire in the catalyst. Dealers update the powertrain controller software and replace the catalytic converter if necessary, free. There is also 20V-334, Chrysler code W46, on the 12-volt isolator post behind the driver's seat, which carries its own park-outside style warning: 'do not park these vehicles inside of buildings or structures, or near other vehicles', and an instruction to keep liquids out of the back seat area.