Chrysler Pacifica
Problems & Worst Years

The Chrysler Pacifica reinvented the company's minivan in 2017, and for the most part it earns its strong reputation — but its owner-complaint record points to a handful of specific, recurring problems worth knowing before you buy a particular model year.

The single biggest theme across every year is electrical. Owners report the van suddenly shutting off at low speed or stalling in traffic, dashboards going dark, and no-start conditions traced to wiring and the body/anti-theft control modules. Chrysler issued several recalls in this area (18V332, 18V395, 19V348, 23V010), and it remains the most-reported and most safety-relevant issue on the Pacifica — especially on the 2017 and 2018 vans, which carry by far the heaviest complaint volume.

The second pattern is steering. A number of 2018 owners describe the wheel sticking or momentarily locking up mid-turn, which NHTSA classifies as a crash risk. It shows up far less on later years, suggesting Chrysler resolved an early-production issue.

On the engine side, the 3.6L Pentastar V6 draws complaints of head-gasket failure and coolant intrusion leading to misfires — again concentrated in the first two model years — plus stalling tied to the stop-start system. Plug-in Hybrid Pacificas add their own note: high-voltage battery faults that can drop the van into reduced-power or no-start mode.

If you're shopping by year, the data tells a clear story: 2017 and 2018 accumulated the most complaints and are the years to inspect most carefully — electrical, steering, and head-gasket history in particular. Complaints taper off notably from 2020 onward, partly genuine improvement and partly because newer vans have had less time on the road to generate reports. As always, a documented service history and a pre-purchase inspection matter more than the model year alone, and complaint counts reflect what owners chose to file with NHTSA, not a measured failure rate.