2003 Pontiac Aztek: windshield wiper failure

Filed Nov 1, 2009 · Visibility · 47,890 miles · VA

1. Failure occurs when the windshield wipers are activated (inclement weather, windshield washer). 2. The wipers bind together and lock up on the way back to rest position. The binding happens frequently, and this incident is approximately the third time this has happened on this vehicle. There is constant risk the wipers could bind at any time during wiper operation. Consequences include loss of forward visibility which could result in an accident, vehicle fire due to motor burning out while wipers are stuck (motor tries to move wipers to rest position even when wipers are switched off), or personal injury or death if struck while getting out of the vehicle at the side of the interstate in heavy rain or snow to unbind the wipers. 3. Corrective action: the driver must immediately stop the vehicle on the side of the interstate in heavy rain or snow and get out of the vehicle to manually unbind the wipers to restore forward visibility and to remove risk of vehicle fire due to windshield wiper motor burnout. Wipers were replaced at the dealer, but incident recurred. Wipers were replaced again at auto part store and correct blade sizes were verified to be correct, but incident recurred.

Filed Oct 8, 2008 · Visibility · 127,332 miles · GA

While driving my wipers stopped working while in the rain. Please refer to odi id#10100739. I almost crashed my car because I could not see. I had to constantly flick button on and off to get it to start back up.

Filed Feb 3, 2005 · Visibility · 29,473 miles · WI

Both wipers flew off the vehicle while driving 45 -50 MPH in inclement weather. The consumer had to pull off the road due to severe visibility problems. The dealer was notified.

Filed Nov 30, 2004 · Visibility · 28,000 miles · NJ · fire

A few weeks ago the windshield wipers stopped working on my 2003 pontiac aztek, after shutting the vehicle off and restarting the vehicle the wipers began to work. Wednesday, november 24th, while driving in the rain my windshield wipers stopped working once again. While trying to shut the wipers on and off to correct the problem I noticed smoke coming from the dashboard, smoke then filled the passanger compartment. I pulled the vehicle off the road and opened the hood, the windshield wiper motor was charred appearing to have been on fire. The fire department was notified and responded. The fire department verified any fire that exsisted was extinguished. Upon further inspection it appears an electrical harness is damaged. Vehicle was towed to the dealership. The dealership claims this problem is not coved under warrenty because a emergency responce siren was installed in the vehicle, this item was not operating at the time of the fire. I am still waiting for the full damage report from the dealership. It does not appear they are willing to honor the vehicles warrenty on this item.

Filed Apr 29, 2004 · Visibility · NY

Difficulty seeing out the rear window due to the spoiler and lack of a windshield wiper. *ph that gave consumer difficulty in seeing incoming vehicles especially during the evening hours.

Filed Apr 20, 2004 · Electrical · 24,000 miles · FL · fire

On 2/8/2004 consumer started the vehicle and turned the windshield wipers on. The windshield wipers stopped operating and began to smoke. The vehicle caught on fire due to a malfunction in the windshield wiper motor which was replaced by the dealer. Two weeks after being repaired the windshield wipers failed twice during inclement weather, causing poor visibility to the driver while on the highway. *ak the vehicle had an electrical fire. The windshield wipers wires were burnt up making a hole in the windshield fluid container. The consumer requested reimbursement for missing work, stress, and car payment. *sc

Filed Mar 30, 2004 · Suspension, Visibility · 8,536 miles · NY

We purchased our 2003 pontiac aztek last july (03). This january, the vehicle started making a horrible grinding noise when driving on the highway. We took it to our local gm dealer for repair, and the left front wheel bearing had separated internally and needed to be replaced on 2/4/04. A few weeks later, noise returned. The right front wheel bearing had to be replaced today (3/29/04). This vehicle has less than 12,000 miles on it. One of the employees at the dealership said another aztek with low mileage had to have one bearing replaced twice. Could gm have gotten a defective batch of bearings, or is there possibly some design flaw that causes the bearings to wear out abnormally quickly? For the most part, I love this vehicle, but there are two other issues with it which could make it less safe to drive. The 'spoiler' between the slanted and verticle parts of the back window does impair rearward vision (I usually use the outside mirrors to check behind me because of that fact). Also, the windshield wipers move more slowly, even in the fast position, than most vehicles we've owned, which impairs visibility even in moderate rainfall.