Are We There Yet? Chrysler's App Answers a Bit Too Well

CARS.COM — The 2017 Chrysler Pacifica has more family-friendly gadgets than Babies”R”Us, from its magical one-touch opening doors to its entertaining Uconnect Theater system. The latter features built-in apps that aim to keep kids occupied in the car. One is designed specifically to answer that obnoxious, age-old question: “Are we there yet?!” And although it answers that, our editor-parents have discovered that it also inspires many, many, many other questions … and comments … and exclamations!  

Related: 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Family Road-Trip Review

Here’s how it works: Input a destination into the navigation system, and kids in the second row can launch the app and view the distance remaining to the destination and the estimated arrival time on one of the two touchscreens. Sounds helpful, but it might just be a little too helpful.

“The Pacifica’s Are We There Yet feature seems like a great way to deal with the never-ending questions from backseat passengers, but after chauffeuring four fourth-grade boys to a birthday party recently, I’ve learned the hard way that it’s not. For the majority of the trip, the kiddos were giving play-by-plays of when we would (finally) get to the party. The arrival time varied whenever I sped up or slowed down en route. Needless to say, it got old really, really fast — at least for the front-row occupants. Next time I’m in the Pacifica, I’ll be disabling this feature,” said managing editor Jennifer Newman.

Kelley Enright, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Central Region PR Manager, confirmed that the alerts can be turned off by changing the notifications setting from on to off. Notifications are shown on the main page of the app. The information is still sent to the app, but the notifications themselves have been deactivated.

Senior Research Editor Mike Hanley tested the system with two of his three boys, ages 6 and 4, and they were intrigued by the changing destination information on the screen but more focused on the system’s other games.

“They were really enthusiastic about the dual-screen entertainment system in general and kept saying how it was such a cool van. Part of that stems, I think, from normally riding in a comparably tech-free minivan: our base 2012 Honda Odyssey LX. They normally look at books, color, play with small toys, etc. during road trips. They really liked the different games built into the system and wanted to keep playing them even after we arrived at our destination.” 

He did note some other issues, however — mainly that it’s tougher for younger kids to use the system independently. “Gavin (age 4) was constantly asking for help to do this or that with the system, and I couldn’t help much from the driver’s seat. I suspect he’d be able to master more of the system in time, but trying to walk him through it while driving was actually more distracting to me than normal,” Hanley said.

Smallest kids are at a disadvantage for another reason, too: The second row’s Stow ‘n Go seats don’t slide, so it’s tough for short arms to reach the screen. I too had this problem with my 6-year old. To solve it, I sat her behind the front passenger seat and then slid that seat all the way back so she could reach the screen mounted on the back of it. With two kids using the system, though, this won’t work unless you have a very tall driver. Two remote controls are included with the system, however, which should help ease this problem.

So after vigorous kid testing, the system isn’t perfect. But our kids love it and no other van offers such an engaging, comprehensive entertainment system with games that will keep the kids happy — and quiet — until we’re “there.”