You were right! I bought in 2020 a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid thinking it would solve my needs for space and fuel. Well it did BUT it had issues from the first day. The fuel sensor was bad and that prevented me from refilling the tank since that prevented the fuel cap from opening since it was electronically linked to whatever was triggering the sensor. Took two weeks for that to get fixed.
Then the brakes were not working well due to a sensor malfunction, that only took a day to fix.
The last straw was the Check Engine light came on. "Total Hybrid System Failure" is what they told me. Then they told me it would be two months to get it fixed. They bought it back thankfully, and I ended up with positive equity in my next car which after I got my check, went right over to Toyota and got a V6 Highlander. (Based on one of your videos) Thank you!
How many miles did you have when the "Total Hybrid System Failure" light came on?
Typical FiatChrysler products, absolute junk!
the sad thing is that Chrysler is part of Stellantis and they used to make killer minivans (like the Citroen Grand SpaceTourer 2.0 HDi) with solid diesels and Toyota gearboxes but just decided not to sell them in the US.
Enjoy the Highlander, but make sure you replace the oil in that Direct Shift gearbox.
Hi there, not much it had about 8000 miles on it. :*(
I mean I wouldn’t be sad you got lucky that they agreed to buy it back easily (some forum members had a get lawyers and sue when Ford didn’t want to buy-back completely broken down 5.0L V8 that they just couldn’t fix) also that mistake didn’t cost you much at all - and you get to enjoy a Highlander which is just a magnificent car (much better than the competition with Honda’s trashy 9 speed or Subarus questionable engined and CVTs)
Usually these breakdown at about ~10k miles or one year out of warranty and owners have to find a Chrysler “magician” and pay tens of thousands to purchase batteries and other electric components.
Smart move to switch over to the Toyota Highlander. This is why we tell people to never buy from FCA and other brands, or at least to lease them, but even then when things go wrong under warranty then it takes time to get fixed, if it ever does (incompetent dealerships).
Congrats on the "free" lesson. I had one last year (a used Prius - Scotty was right!) and I might be having one now (2014 4Runner that was neglected but the dealership has a supposed warranty).
Might I add the suggestion to report the car to the NHTSA as a dangerous vehicle. Just imagine those failures while driving and what it could do to a family heading down the freeway with a big rig behind them...
https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem
Wow what a POS!
Interesting. A coworker just bought a plug-in Pacifica a couple weeks ago.
Check engine light came on the 2nd day. Took 4 days to get the car back from service.
A day later, the check engine light came on again.
It runs and charges fine, but now has to drive with the CEL on and wait for the company to find a fix.
Well that's what Chrysler told me. It was a bunch of issues related to the hybrid system. Yes, it charged, but it wasn't keeping it's charge efficiently, or regenerating efficiently. And it would go to gas mode even fully charged in warm weather.
I have a 2018 Highlander now, no issues at all, runs perfect. Just uses a lot of gas relative to what I was spending. I would love a fully electric but can't justify 60k for a Tesla Y. At the end of the day it is a car.
@Carlos have your coworker look into their state lemon law if they can't get it fixed and have Chrysler buy the vehicle back. Or even if they fix it they should just sell it through some place like Carvana, Vroom, etc. and then purchase a Toyota or Honda. I would trust a hybrid Highlander (if they prefer hybrid) a lot more than any Chrysler vehicle.
That's a good thought if it can't be fixed.
I went with Scotty's advice to find a Highlander or older Honda CRV. I couldn't find a decent older CRV at the time. Plus Scotty said for maintenance purposes don't buy a used Highlander Hybrid or any hybrid due to maintenance. I checked also with my mechanic who I've been going to for 15 years and she said the same thing. While price of batteries has come down, if you hold the car past it's warranty, the parts for Toyota hybrids goes way up and knocks out whatever you had saved on gas.
Since the car Carlos mentioned their coworker bought was brand new my suggestion was for a brand new hybrid Highlander (and they bought plug-in so assuming they would want to stick with a hybrid car). Also, I wouldn't say a Toyota hybrid would start needing expensive repairs right after warranty period because they make great hybrid technology and I've seen for example Prius with 300k miles still running perfectly. Overall the decision of hybrid or not comes down to the buyer and their driving use, but if anyone wants a hybrid then definitely Toyota is the best choice.