Advocacy group pushing for recall after van owners complain of sudden stallouts

Imagine driving 70 miles an hour along the highway, then your van turns off and stalls out.

That terrifying ordeal is what dozens of owners of a new minivan are reporting.

Channel 11 spoke to a couple who loved their Pacifica so much they convinced friends to get the same minivan, but who now refuse to get back behind the wheel.

Adam and Allison Cohen are driving a loaner minivan.

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Their 2017 Chrysler Pacifica is parked at the dealer after twice the engine shut down without warning, while Allison was driving.

"The car just kind of felt like power was sapping out of it and it just turned off completely," she said.

Federal regulators at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration have received 50 complaints about similar incidents.

"The minivan is our family car so that's where our kids are all the time and driving on a highway 60 miles an hour, it just wasn't worth taking the risk," Allison Cohen said.

The Center for Auto Safety is now filing a formal petition requesting NHTSA open an investigation into the Chrysler Pacifica and its asking Chrysler to issue a recall.

"It's not time for them to just wait and see till they figure out a problem and someone gets hurt and God forbid dies, they need to fix it before we have a body count," said Jason Levine with the Center for Auto Safety.

Fiat-Chrysler has sold more than 150,000 Pacificas, according to a statement, "The Company is unaware of any injuries or accidents associated with these complaints." The company also said its vehicle monitoring is data driver.

A NHTSA spokesperson told Channel 11 the agency is now reviewing the Center for Auto Safety's petition.

As for the Cohens, Chrysler technicians haven't identified the cause of the problem and asked them to drive with a data-tracker.

"That would essentially render us to be their crash test dummies," Allison Cohen said.

But they say they won't drive a Pacifica again until the problem is located and fixed.

There are only 50 filed complaints out of 150,000 Pacificas sold, but a Chrysler spokesman said they take the complaints seriously and are in constant communication with NHTSA.

Cox Media Group