I recently saw that toyota voluntarily recalled some of their vehicles due to failures of the cable that holds their spare tires in place. I had this exact same failure occur to me on a 1997 pontiac montana van. The actual failure occurred on 1/21/08. I was parked in a parking lot when the spare tire suddenly separated from the vehicle and fell onto the ground. The metal cable on the spare tire winch had failed due to corrosion and allowed the tire to fall. Had this happened even 20 minutes earlier, when I was driving on the expressway, the tire would have been bouncing around on the highway, in moving traffic. I was concerned that this was likely a generic gm problem and the chance of someone getting seriously injured, or worse, was very high if a spare tire was bouncing loose on the highway. On 2/6/08, I personally reported this information to the dealer from which I had purchased the vehicle new. I was told they would report the information to general motors. On 2/25/08, I emailed my contact at the dealer to see if they had gotten any response from gm. I never got a response to that email. On 3/4/08, I called pontiac customer service and reiterated my concern with the deficient gm design. I was assigned reference number 71-608132149. I spoke to a couple of customer service types, the last being a supervisor supposedly. He informed me he did not intend to take this matter (my concern) any further in the gm organization, that he would personally take responsibility for any injuries resulting from failed spare tire winches on pontiacs. The fact of the matter is, gm has the same problem as toyota. Toyota has recalled their vehicles to correct the problem. To the best of my knowledge, gm has done nothing. I never got a recall notice. This issue is out there and someone could very likely be seriously injured or worse if gm does not address it.
The worst 1997 Pontiac Montana problems
Ranked by number of owner complaints. Mileage and cost come from what owners wrote.
- Engine8
- Lights3
- Body2
- Seat belts2
- Suspension2
Problems by type
Tap a problem to see which part fails, at what mileage and in which other years.
- Engine8
- Lights3
- Body2
- Seat belts2
- Suspension2
- Visibility2
- Airbags1
- Electrical1
- Tires1
- Transmission1
Recalls 1
Latches/locks/linkages: doors: latch
- What is wrong
- On certain minivans equipped with second-row bucket seats or captain's chairs and a power sliding door on the passenger side of the vehicle, a passenger using the interior handle to open the power sliding door could be injured.
- Risk
- If a passenger uses the interior handle to open the power sliding door and holds onto the handle while it is being opened by the motor, the passenger's arm may be pushed into the seat back or armrest and a wrist or lower arm injury may result.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the power sliding door interior handle on the passenger-side. If the vehicle is equipped with a power or manual sliding door on the driver-side, the interior handle will also be replaced for appearance reasons. Note: before the vehicle is serviced, gm advises owners to not use the interior door handle to open the door. The driver can open and close the door from switches at the driver's position or by using the remote key fob. The driver should tell passengers to use the switch located in front of the door to open or close it. The driver should use the override switch to prevent operation of the power door by children or by others who are not familiar with its use. The owner notification letter mailing will be conducted in phases with the first phase beginning on may 31, 2005. The second phase mailing began on july 18, 2005. The recall began on may 31, 2005. Phase 2 began on july 18, 2005. Phase 3 (final phase) began on august 24, 2005, to all remaining customers. Owners should contact chevrolet at 1‑800‑630‑2438; pontiac at 1‑800‑620‑7668; or oldsmobile at 1‑800‑630‑6537.
Recall number 04V597000 · Recall details
See all 1 recalls for the 1997 Pontiac Montana
Defect investigations
Rear axle trailing arm failure
On november 18, 2002, odi opened a preliminary evaluation (pe02-086) to evaluate allegations of rear axle trailing arm failures in the subject vehicles (u-van) which included two reporting crashes.on april 9, 2003, odi upgraded pe02-086 to an engineering analysis (ea03-005) to continue its examination of the issue. The trailing arm design in these vehicles has been used in the u-van from my 1997 through the present.the gm analysis concluded that the subject trailing arms could crack or buckle if they were damaged during assembly, pre-delivery handling, or subjected to certain service related abuse conditions such as improper towing or jacking.analysis of odi and gm data has identified 19 incidents of rear axle trailing arm failures in the subject vehicles.there have been no new reports to odi or gm in the last 12 months and only one new complaint in the last 21 months. Due to the low complaint rate and the absence of a continuing trend in reported failures, a safety-related defect has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation is closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will take further action if warranted by the circumstances. For additional information, see the attached closing report.
EA03005
Safety belt assembly failure
Odi identified 59 reports with the alleged defect.odi was able to contact 44 of the 59 consumers in order to determine the specific cause of the latch problems.of the 44 owners contacted, odi determined that four failures were due to an out-of-tolerance latch plate, and that 23 failures were due to a displaced buckle housing cover.the remaining 17 failures had indeterminable causes.of the 59 reports, there were three alleged minor injuries.no legal claims or lawsuits have been filed with regard to this alleged defect.based on the limited number of reports, and a declining report trend, this investigation is closed.a safety-related defect has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appeared to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation is closed.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist.the agency will take further action if warranted by the circumstances. See additional summary report.
EA02032
Technical service bulletins for the 1997 Pontiac Montana 26
Bulletins tell dealers how to fix known problems. A warranty extension means the manufacturer pays for that repair for longer.
- Fuel system, gasoline
- This technical bulletin provides a procedure to reprogram the media disc player with the latest...
- Vehicle Recalls
- Expanded Availability for Remanufacture and Return (R&R) Electronic Control Modules
- Power door lock inoperative
- Battery drain on vehicles equipped with power sliding doors
- Information on error codes on radio display their cause and corrective action
- Second row seat belt will not retract passengers side
- Power door locks inoperative
- Water leaks at overhead console map
What 1997 Pontiac Montana owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
Antifreeze leak; lead to replacement of lower intake manifold gasket (very costly) about 4 years ago. Needs replacing again. Dealership warns of excessive engine damage due to antifreeze in the motor oil.
Pontiac transport montana was parked in a parking lot for 1/2 hour or so and became ingulfed in flames. Fire marshall thinks it was from battery/ electric. Destroyed our car and 5 others. No humans hurt...thank god it was parked and my son was not driving it.
Dt contact states his passenger safety belt in his vehicle is locked, originally designed a child safety feature. The seat belt buckle in the middle row, center and right side seat is coming apart.
Driving down a two lane freeway, vearing to the right and I rearended a car. The seatbelts did not lock and the airbags did not work..the vehicle was inspected and everything was said to be working fine..the van is fully loaded and all the elctronics are working perfectly, as far as I knew.
Intermittently vehicle had difficulty making a left turn, or was unable to make a left turn while in motion . Consumer received a recall notice concerning this problem back in october 23, 2003. But was not able locate that information in the federal safety agency data base.
The headlight on drivers side fell out while driving. The passenger side headlight fell out after the trunk was closed.
Lens cover over the headlights fell out of both headlights on seperate occcasions. I had to buy the whole headlight assembly. I was driving down the road and they just fell out and broke on the road. We currently have a problem with it overheating have replace thermostat and water pump still having same problem. Not fixed yet. The power sliding door alarms that it is open for no apparent reason. The door has not opened and closed by the power for several months. It has to be mannaully opened. We have also replaced the both air shocks in the rear of the van. Can't get the radiator cap from radiator haven't been able to remove since it was bought.
A/c heat - air conditioning / heat unit in rear of van failed in 2001. Have not attempted to have it repaired to date. A/c and heat is ok front. Body - passenger automatic sliding door. Rattled almost from the day we bought the car. It also at times would not closed (in park). It would close automatically until it touched the car body then would re-open. They replaced the power sliding door unlatch actuator under a recall. Engine - starting at 48,000 miles the check engine light would start to blink when driving, immediately the van would start to run very roughly and have poor acceleration. Light would then stop blinking and stay "on". Then over a period of about an hour running time would turn off. This would happen every other month or so for a day. Eventually -we were told it was the fuel injectors (at 56,000 miles). We replaced those 2000 miles ago and the same problem just appeared again today (july 31, 2003) august update: had coolant loss - it was the gasket which had to be replaced at about $750.. Most of it labor to get to the darned thing.
The most important problem that I have had with this car is that when making right hand turns, going approx 5-10 miles an hour, the car will shut itself off completely. In order to return driving, the car must be put into park and then restarted. This has occurred many times. The car has been taken to several different professionals and no one has an explanation. There have been several smaller problems as well, many of which I have seen reported in this web page. Thud in gas tank, leaking coolant, driver auto window malfunction, as well as the power steering. I have a two year old little girl and bought this car hearing that it was a safe vehicle, fortuneately for us we have not had any accidents, however, I would not call this car safe at all.
Compare the 1997 Pontiac Montana
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Questions about the 1997 Pontiac Montana
Is the 1997 Pontiac Montana reliable?
Owners have filed 18 complaints about the 1997 Pontiac Montana, fewer than a typical Montana model year.
What is the most common problem with the 1997 Pontiac Montana?
Engine and cooling, with 8 complaints, typically around 55,000 miles. Next is lights (3).
How many recalls does the 1997 Pontiac Montana have?
1 recall, covering latches/locks/linkages.
What year does the Pontiac Montana have bad engine?
The Pontiac Montana model years with the most engine complaints are 1999 (100 complaints), 2000 (72 complaints) and 2001 (38 complaints).
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