Pontiac problems by model
Owners have filed 35,079 complaints with NHTSA about the 15 Pontiac models with enough data to profile here, covering 92 model years from 1990 through 2010. The G6 draws the most at 8,443, 24.1% of the make's total.
Complaint volume tracks how many cars a make sold as much as how they held up, and NHTSA complaints are unverified owner reports rather than confirmed defects. Nothing on this page compares Pontiac against another manufacturer. Use it to find the model, then the model year, then read what owners of that year actually filed.
Every Pontiac model
| Model | Model years | Complaints | Most-reported year | Top system that year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G6 | 6 2005–2010 | 8,443 | 2006 2,602 | Steering (47.5%) |
| Grand AM | 15 1991–2005 | 7,852 | 1999 1,318 | Service brakes, hydraulic (19.0%) |
| Grand Prix | 19 1990–2008 | 6,965 | 1997 1,064 | Steering (21.8%) |
| Bonneville | 11 1992–2002 | 2,272 | 1998 359 | Engine and engine cooling (58.8%) |
| Vibe | 6 2003–2009 | 1,993 | 2009 600 | Air bags (58.7%) |
| Sunfire | 8 1995–2003 | 1,418 | 1996 320 | Engine and engine cooling (16.9%) |
| Montana | 6 1999–2005 | 1,255 | 1999 329 | Engine and engine cooling (31.9%) |
| Torrent | 3 2006–2008 | 899 | 2006 362 | Visibility (21.8%) |
| Trans Sport | 4 1994–1998 | 873 | 1997 307 | Steering (17.9%) |
| Solstice | 3 2006–2008 | 829 | 2007 352 | Air bags (64.8%) |
| GTO | 3 2004–2006 | 785 | 2004 333 | Suspension (54.7%) |
| Aztek | 3 2001–2003 | 690 | 2001 329 | Electrical system (14.9%) |
| G5 | 3 2007–2009 | 508 | 2007 249 | Steering (23.3%) |
| G8 | 1 2009–2009 | 185 | 2009 185 | Air bags (37.8%) |
| Firebird | 1 1995–1995 | 112 | 1995 112 | Electrical system (17.9%) |
Model years shown are those with at least 100 complaints on file, the gate every page on this site has to clear.
Reading the numbers
Across every Pontiac model year on the site, electrical system is the system named most often — 4,719 complaints, 16.8% of those filed under a named system. Individual model years diverge from that sharply, which is the reason to read the year rather than the badge.
The three most-reported Pontiac models — G6, Grand AM and Grand Prix — account for 66.3% of the make's complaint volume. That is a concentrated picture: most of what gets reported about Pontiac here comes from three nameplates. Bear in mind that a nameplate selling in the millions will out-file a niche one whatever its record.
Of the 35,079 complaints, 2,185 describe a crash, 1,666 describe a fire and 160 report a death.
Most-reported Pontiac model years
The single heaviest model year of each Pontiac nameplate, 1990–2010. Heaviest is not worst — read it alongside the model page.