Transmission Failure

CarComplaints.com Notes: The Pontiac Vibe is the mechanical twin of the Toyota Matrix.

Both models were a joint GM-Toyota venture, manufactured together at a NUMMI production facility in Fremont, CA. Only the heating & A/C systems are different.

8.0

pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$2,500
Average Mileage:
78,000 miles
Total Complaints:
1 complaints

Most Common Solutions:

  1. replace transmission (1 reports)
2004 Pontiac Vibe transmission problems

transmission problem

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2004 Pontiac Vibe Owner Comments

problem #1

Jun 282007

(reported on)

Vibe 1.8L

  • Manual transmission
  • 78,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

We have a 2004 Pontiac Vibe that has approximately 78,000 miles on it and a few weeks ago our transmission went out. A clip or bearing came loose and caused irreplaceable damage. We had the vehicle towed to the closet transmission repair and they found that the transmission had such severe damage that it could not be rebuilt. The cost $2500.00 on a car that we thought we could depend on. Our 2003 Honda Civic has twice as many miles on it without any costly repairs.

We called Pontiac Elhart to find out if Pontiac had a longer warranty on the transmission and they told us to bring the vehicle to them. When we told them that it was in the process of being fixed they basically told us there was nothing they could do for us because we did not bring the vehicle to them first.

We immediately had the process stopped, until we could find out more information. We contacted GM to register our complaint. After a few more conversations with GM and Elhart Pontiac, Holland Michigan, we were told to continue to move forward with having the car repaired and to bring the transmission out to Elhart.

Customer Service, at Elhart, found that a clip or a bearing had come loose and that is what caused the damage. This is not suppose to happen on vehicles with 78,000 miles on them.

We were then told that we would have a three way conversation with GM, Elhart and ourselves to talk about what they discovered and see if we were eligible for any assistance. This conversation never happened. We simply received a phone call saying that we were denied of any assistance.

This decision came from the District manager, whose name we were denied, and we are also being denied access to any and all of the records that General Motors was given. When we asked to speak with someone higher up, we were told that we could not speak with anyone and if we wanted to proceed we needed to write a letter.

So basically we bought a GM car and after we purchased it, General Motors could care less about our, the customers, satisfaction or standing behind their product. We simply feel that when you invest in a vehicle, you should be able to expect it to not incur such costly damages.

- Angela P., Jension, MI, US

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