2021 Chrysler Pacifica
This year drew an ordinary 359 complaints for a Chrysler Pacifica — the model's median is 201. What they were about is the unusual part: 32% of them mention charging, against 12% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Chrysler Pacifica, which began in 2017. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 359 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 201 |
| Involving a crash | 11 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- charging — 32% of this year's complaints, against 12% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: charging, charging system, service charging, shift start.
- lanes — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation (4.7×). Owners wrote it as: lanes, lanes traffic, heavy traffic.
- camera — 9.7% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: camera, prevention, image, back over.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
I was driving 70 miles an hour, in the left lane ,in heavy traffic on I -75 when I suddenly lost all power. A warning flashed on the screen saying to service charging system. I barely avoided a collision trying to get off the highway. I could has easily collid…
while reversing, the rearview camera image was either blue, blank, or there was static. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the radio software was updated under NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V436000 (Back Over Prevention); however, the failure persisted whil…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 22V181000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 23V010000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 24V436000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 24V793000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 25V876000 EQUIPMENT ADAPTIVE/MOBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 25V877000 EQUIPMENT ADAPTIVE/MOBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 26V362000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chrysler Pacifica was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2021 Chrysler Pacifica? What happened to yours?
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