NHTSA — Service Brakes, Hydraulic Problems

2.3

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
65,767 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

1997 Pontiac Trans Sport brakes problems

brakes problem

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1997 Pontiac Trans Sport Owner Comments

problem #3

Apr 252011

Trans Sport

  • 107,300 miles

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

Driving in rush hour traffic, on congested freeway, at 55 mph the brake pedal went to the floor without any warning. The traffic in front of me was slowing down and I almost rear ended the car in front of me. Dropped it in first gear, applied emergency brake and made an evasive lane change to get to the shoulder and let it slow down by itself. Pulled off on the freeway shoulder got out of the car and I noticed the brake line right underneath the driver side leaking at a high rate and brake fluid puddling underneath the vehicle. Only god's grace that I didn't rear end anybody or gotten into a car crash. Disappointed is not a strong enough word to use for what happened. I have never experienced a brake line burst in a vehicle. Doing some online searches on GM brake line failures I found a lot of reported cases of GM vehicles having severely rusted brake lines that had catastrophic failure with the brake pedal going to the floor. Hope that you'll open an investigation into these concerns in order to avoid any future incidents.

- Troy, MI, USA

problem #2

May 152001

Trans Sport

  • Automatic transmission
  • 39,000 miles
At 51000 miles the 3.4L engine had lower intake gasket failure in which the dex-cool anti freeze dumped into the crankcase mixing with the oil. This only had one warning a couple months earlier as the low coolant light came on and I added 1/2 gallon dex-cool with no signs of leakage. Next time it happened was when my wife was taking daughter to school and temp. Light came on. Van was not driven over 2 miles to dealer, as light went out. Dealer said extreme mixture in both crankcase and radiator. Recommended replace radiator, waterpump, intake gaskets, flush both systems at a cost of 1500 not to be applied toward engine replacement if failure on start up. Dealer had just had van in week before for check engine light and steering recall and found nothing wrong !!!! we traded it in at a loss as I checked into the problem and learned about thousands of other owners with same problems with total engine failures after repairs made. We lost over $3000 equity between what trade value would have been if no problem with engine and letting dealer fix problem after trade. Van had many problems since we bought it new but we always had them fixed and was well maintained. Looked new when we traded with only 50,000 miles. Paint on hood blistered twice, steering / brakes wobbled since new at varyng speeds, always had ticking sound in engine dealer said was "normal", rear seats would jamb up if you tried to remove, wiper arms failed twice, serpentine belt tensioner broke off on engine start up in Dec. 2002. Cost $375 with towing, power window switch failed in down position at replacement cost of about $175. Engine under warranty when it had a severe gas smell that nearly caused a fire in about 1999. They kept it a week and never said what the problem was. They had just worked on it for ticking sound. (probably intake gaskets then also). GM was no help after warranty was up.

- Louisville, KY, USA

problem #1

Dec 182003

Trans Sport

  • 51,000 miles
The brake locked up and the pedal became hard to press to decelerate the vehicle. The consumer also heard a loud clicking noise coming from the brakes. The dealership has been notified, but did not resolve the problem.

- East Meadow, NY, USA

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