There are 5 owner-reported brakes complaints for the 2021 Chrysler Pacificain NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
Car rolls forward when in reverse and takes a dangerously long time to slip into gear. Car rolls back when foot is taken off brake, especially on hills.
The contact owned a 2021 Chrysler Pacifica. The contact stated that occasionally, while driving at various speeds, upon depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle would surge forward 3 to 4 feet before proceeding to slow down or come to a complete stop. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed, and the contact was advised that the failure was not duplicatable and nothing was found to be wrong with the vehicle. The local dealer proceeded to replace the spark plugs, the brake fluid, field spark plug weld, and gasket cylinder head cover, however the contact stated that after the repair the failure increasingly persisted leading them to be involved in a crash where the contact stated that while driving on a highway at 55 MPH, there were two vehicles stopped ahead, the contact depressed the brake pedal and the vehicle proceeded to surge forward and crash into the vehicle Infront of them with the entire front end of their vehicle. The impact caused the vehicle in front of the contact to crash into the rear end of the vehicle in front. That vehicle sustained damage to the entire rear and front end of the vehicle as the impact caused that vehicle to crash into the rear end of the vehicle in front of it. No property damage was reported. The vehicles came to a stop upon rebound after the impact. The air bags were deployed. The vehicle was towed to an auto body center, and no warning lights were illuminated. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The contact was injured while seated in the driver's seat; the passenger in their vehicle was not injured. An individual in the vehicle in front of the contact was injured. The contact sustained injuries to their ribs and sternum. Medical treatment was needed for the injuries, and the other individual also required medical treatment for unknown injuries. The individual at the front of the line in this collision was not injured. The local dealer was contacted however, the vehicle was not diagnosed as it was declared a total loss. The approximate failure mileage was 82,500.
The forward collision alarm was triggered when there was no collision. Additionally the ABS system and cruise control went offline. This occurred numerous times during winter while at a full stop as well as when driving between 45-55mph. Once triggered the collision alarm remained on for hours to days at a time. During that time cruise control was not able to be used and ABS was offline. Additionally the assisted parking was not available. ABS and stability control is important for safe driving and braking in icy/slippery situations putting both my own, my passengers, and other drivers at risk. The vehicle was inspected 4 times by the Bath NY Chrysler dealership. A sensor was replaced the first time but this did not correct the issue. The 2nd time another component was replaced, but the technician stated the issue was still present and I would need to bring it back in for further testing. The 3rd and 4th time the dealership was not able to recreate the issue and did not perform any repairs. The issue has recurred, but the dealership was not able to get the car in at that time. This vehicle has not been inspected by manufacturer, police, insurance etc. There was no prior warning to the issue. When it occurs the warning lamps that come on are: BRAKE, Front Collision, Front Collision OFF, ABS, Seatbelt, and the Traction Control. I have a photo of the dash from one of these incidents.
I was on the highway traveling at 60mph, with the adaptive cruise control on. The semi in front of me began to brake, I tapped off the cruise control and began braking. The semi came to a complete stop and I pushed my brake pedal to the floor to stop my vehicle. It did not stop. My Pinnacle has emergency braking and forward collision warning. My driver's instrument panel did not give a forward collision warning indication in a timely manner and my emergency braking did not stop my vehicle. At the time of the accident vehicle had less than 10,000 miles, dry weather conditions, and vehicle was used for leisure - in town driving. A month previously, I took my Pinnacle into the dealership because I didn't feel my brakes were working properly. They felt mushy, little resistance, and were making a noise. An inspection was performed by the dealership but were unable to detect a noise or visual issue. My safety was put at risk when a system I depended upon, that was advertised as, "Full speed forward collision warning with active braking assists you by providing both visual and audible warnings as well as applying emergency braking to help bring the vehicle to a full stop, if needed" (chrysler.com/pacifica/safey-security.html) failed. The brakes didn't engage properly to stop us before hitting the vehicle in front of us. The forward collision warning indication didn't happen in a timely manner, it was delayed causing us to lose precious seconds. If this had been a passenger vehicle in front of us we could have injured the occupants and we ourselves could have been gravely injured had we been traveling at a higher rate of speed. The problem has not been confirmed by a dealership, but was taken there prior to the incident less than a month before. I reported the problem to Chrysler the day of the accident. The vehicle is pending inspection by insurance and I have asked that the Electronic Data Recorder be removed and the information on it to be evaluated.
I was stopped at a traffic light for several minutes. I started to feel like we were moving and checked the brakes to make sure they were still fully engaged. When I realized that they were and that I was still rolling, I put the car into park. I did bump the semi in front of me. I’m not sure if the impact or putting the car in park that stopped me. I have had the car for 3 months and never had anything like that happen. We had the car towed to the dealer and called Chrysler to report the problem. An inspector spoke to me and then went to the dealer to inspect the car. A few days later , we received an email saying that there was no manufacturing defect found with few other details about the inspection . We have since called several times to ask questions about the inspection and are told a “supervisor” needs to call us back. Despite being given several dates/times when this would happen, they have failed to call us back to discuss.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 26, 2026