2018 Chrysler Pacifica
Complaints about this year name head gasket far more often than the other years of this generation — 11% of them, about 27× the usual rate of 0.4%.
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 | 1,061 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 201 |
| Involving a crash | 30 |
| Involving a fire | 26 |
| Recalls | 12 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- head — 17.4% of this year's complaints, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: head, gasket, head gasket, coolant.
- start stop — 7.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: start stop, auto start, stop system.
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.
Also unusual this year
- cylinder — 8% of complaints, 21× usual
- misfire — 6% of complaints, 16× usual
- coolant — 8% of complaints, 8× usual
What owners wrote
Check engine light on. Number 3 cylinder misfire. Losing coolant. Head gasket replacement.
Check engine light p0305 misfire cylinder 5. Found head gasket leaking coolant into cylinder.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V395000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 18V492000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 18V493000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 18V332000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 19V143000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 19V348000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 18V524000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 17V824000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 12. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2018 Chrysler Pacifica? What happened to yours?
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