Brand New Pacifica Hybrid Breaks down less than 4 hours after driving off the lot

[bumonbox]

So my sister just bought a brand spanken new Pacifica Hybrid. They drove it home - a few hours later they went to pull it out of the driveway.... And the magic began.
While backing up the e-brake suddenly engaged. They released it. It reengaged. The light on the shift knob was blinking and wouldn't allow them to shift, it stayed in reverse and kept trying to back up. It did throw a service transmission message.. They kept releasing the e-brake and it would reengage. They finally turned off the car, but it turned itself back on. They did this several times but the car would not stay off.

After a bit, they let it be, which was with car the car on, in reverse, and ebrake on. They called the dealer, and the sales guy was so thrown (having never seen anything like it) actually made a house call. He reached out to his service department but they had never seen or heard of anything like this before. They called for a tow. By the time the tow arrive, the car was completely dead (no battery), there was no releasing the parking brake, so apparently trying to get it set for the tow wasn't smooth either.

Has anyone heard of anything like this? Any ideas? Any recourse?

 

[bumonbox]

Well. Looks like it was a bad 12v battery. I would say it's weird but I've seen how much the internal computers hate low voltage. Add in electric shifting and ebrake, and I guess it explains away everything. Apparently was their first time seeing this on a Hybrid.

 

[TripleT]

I cant wait until that redundant system is no longer part of the PHEV system, it is just adding weight at this point.

 

[bumonbox]

I cant wait until that redundant system is no longer part of the PHEV system, it is just adding weight at this point.

Yeah I really hadn't thought much about it until this. I also noticed that while some Hybrids don't use a traditional alternator, the Pacifica does. Maybe because it was designed as a gas vehicle first, and a hybrid 2nd?

 

[UN4GTBL]

Well. Looks like it was a bad 12v battery. I would say it's weird but I've seen how much the internal computers hate low voltage. Add in electric shifting and ebrake, and I guess it explains away everything. Apparently was their first time seeing this on a Hybrid.

Appreciate you providing a follow up for this post!

My first thought was to check/disconnect the 12v

Should have been done during the dealer prep, but oh well.

 

[Mike V.]

I cant wait until that redundant system is no longer part of the PHEV system, it is just adding weight at this point.

A simple step down transformer can drop the voltage down to 12v easily and can be located where the battery currently resides.

Problem solved

 

[TripleT]

A simple step down transformer can drop the voltage down to 12v easily and can be located where the battery currently resides.

Problem solved

Totally redundant unneeded system in the future