I read of your investigation in automotive news. My 12 yr old daughter's wrist was broken last summer while attempting to open the door of our 2000 montana. She grabbed the handle from inside and as the door moved open it bent her wrist backward. It didn't stop, despite the resistance. It was broken in the growth plate and did not require a cast but was splinted for 2 weeks. *jb pe04064.pco
2000 Pontiac Montana body complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 31 of 31, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Driver side rear strut/shock mount, part of the inner wheelhouse assy., rusted at a weld and cracked in both directions, not sure when it happened but it has been like that for a long time. The crack is rusted all the way down the crack in both directions until the ripped part starts where the part finally failed. Then it ripped out driving down the road. Van has never been wrecked. Took it to the gm dealership they said it was a defective part, body shop that fixed it said the same thing. After three months and many phone calls to the dealer (s) we have finally got it to the point where they are calling it a product liability . Took a gm rep. To take the time to come and see it. Originally they did not bother since they were originally calling it a warranty issue and were blowing us off. The general manager at the dealership has been very helpful however. After he looked at it he reopened the case , but they dont seam to be very helpful at the customer service number that is supposed to be organizing this whole thing. And no one there returns phone calls. I have taken a lot of high quality digital pictures, and still have the part.
There have been many problems, most notable recently when the driver's side sliding door feel off at 45000 miles. Gm won't pay, it's not "under warranty". This door has had continual problems with hitting the front door upon closing. Repair was supposed to have been made but obviously ineffectual due to evidence of chipped paint at the site where dors collide. Could this have precipitated the door falling off? Supposedly their was an adjustment made, could this adjustment been made incorrectly to damage the door? I feel it is unacceptable that this door has fallen off my car at 45000 miles.
Problems with transmission and molding strips on sliding doors.*mr a vehicle with only 49360 miles the solenoid went out on the transmission costing $914.04 in repairs. On each sliding door, there was a long black rubber molding strip on the bottom of the door frame that kept falling down in to the door track. The consumer hoped that the dealership can resolve problems with defective vehicles, because it seemed to be a major safety concern and could result in a tragedy. *cb
The left front pretensioner was open and had to be replaced. The air bag light stayed on, which was caused by the faulty seat belt tensioner. *ts. Also the power sliding door did not return when it was opened
Problems with paint, gaskets, brakes and cooling system. *mr there was a hissing noise which had come from the tire area due to misalignment, low coolant light had come on, the gaskets ,oil pump and drive o-ring were replaced, the brake pedal had gone to the floor while stopped at a light which happened more than twice and seemed as if they weren't going to work at all and had to pump the pedal to bring the pedal back enough to allow stopping. There was an incident where the consumer had to activate the emergency brake to avoid an accident. The warning light never had come on. The master cylinder was replaced, the front brake pads, resurfaced rotors, cleaned and adjusted rear brakes. Other problems are as followed: the trim on the driver side windshield had come apart, the handle on the back latch had come off, and both turn signal bulbs needed to be replaced. *scc
Automatic sliding door has sensor that failed to respond if occupant was not clear of closing. This allowed door to continuously close even with pressure applied by owner. Please describe details.
Consumer states that the sliding door on driver side keeps coming open, will not latch. Dealer contacted , can not identify problem.
Consumer's hand got caught in the handle of the sliding door, causing consumer's wrist to twist and break. Once the door has started to open there is no way to stop it from opening. Dealer and manufacturer have been notified. *ak pe04064.pco
Electronic door inside of vehicle opened and closed intermittently. Dealership was aware of problem.
While putting child in backseat sliding passenger door closed on consumer, and did not open as it should. Instead it pinned her between door and frame of vehicle. On 20 oct0ber 2001 while driving 70 MPH same sliding door opened. Both recalls on sliding door had been done prior to this. Consumer took vehicle back to dealer 3 times after recall repairs were done, unable to remedy problem.
The child inadverntly hit the button to close the door and was close to the door when it closed and caught her upper arm
Recall 01v067000 repairs were done. Soon after sliding door would open up on its own. Vehicle taken to dealer 4 times, could not remedy. Consumer currently had more problems with sliding door than prior to recall being preformed.*ak consumer states sliding door continues to open while in motion, vehicle is currently at dealer for consideration in a vehicle buy back.
My three year old daughter was starting to enter our minivan as the power sliding door was closing. She reached in to stop the door and reverse it (by pressing the interior button)and the door closed on her hand and shut. An adult had to come and open the door before her hand could be freed. The door is supposed to reverse when resistance is encountered. I have tried to stop the door and the amount of resistance it takes to stop this door would bruise my arm and definately crush her hand or any other body part including her head. Luckily only one side of her hand was stuck and severely bruised and now swolen and bruised across her knuckles and down her hand. The power of this door exceeds any power brought about by a garage door and they seem to have higher safetly standards than a minivan which is geared toward familes with children. I brought this to pontiac's attention and received no explanation or answers. I think there should be a beam, as in garage doors, or an adjustment to the resistance needed to reverse the door before more serious accidents occur.
Recall 01v067000 on sliding door performed. Currently, door does not open automatically. Consumer had to put setting for door to manual. Dealer stated recall was done.
Driver' s side sliding door flew open and off tracks. Dealer has been notified.
When consumer purchased vehicle he was told that rear sliding power door would stop closing quickly if he were to hold it. His wife was in door way when consumer accidently closed it, and wife was pinned by door. Consumer was unable to stop door.*ak consumer's wife was bruised very badly.
Consumer complaint is against design of the power sliding door. A child would not be capable of stopping door from closing because child could not use enough pressure to stop door. *consumer did receive notification for a recall, stating that door can automatically open while in operation. Consumer is taking vehicle in for repairs. However ,this is a separate issue.*ak the sliding door closes very forcefully and the consumer was concerned ablout the potential danger of the door.
Power door would intermittently or not at all open from both sides. Vehicle been into dealershop, and problem still reoccurring. Please feel free to provide any further details on this matter .
Once the automatic sliding door is activated it can only be stopped by a button, no amount of pressure will stop the door from closing. The manual states that the amount of pressure will have to increase as it gets closer to the closing point, but we (service guy) and myself could not stop after an inch of movement. Have tried this on other montana's with the same result. Since no force can stop this door, people or things could get caught. Looking for it to operate like an elevator door esentially. When enough force is applied the door stops or reverses. There is an override in the car to disable the automatic door, but then it is so dificult to open manually that it is not a desireable situation.
Passenger side power sliding door does not close all the time. It has a failure rate of about 30% of the time. Vehicle has been back to the dealer six times, and neither gm or dealer can fix it.
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