2008 Pontiac Solstice: brake failure

Filed Jan 29, 2013 · Brakes · 6,000 miles · CA · crash

On two separate occasions (the second date was about 2 months ago), I have had to make very hard stops at freeway speeds. Both times, the car came to a stop with the anti-lock brakes functioning properly (brake pedal vibrations indicating correct modulation). Once the car comes to a complete stop however, the brakes suddenly failed completely. The brake pedal goes to the floor with absolutely no back pressure. The car begins to roll again, indicating the brake caliper/pads have released the disk. The only way I was able to stop again was to pump the brake pedal, activating the stability control module to boost hydraulic pressure to the braking system. This seems related to the previous issue of brakes not functioning on start-up due to low vacuum. Following a hard stop, the vacuum boost to the brakes apparently becomes depleted, causing braking system failure. I have reported this to my dealer and they have been unable to re-create the problem. Due to the potential dangers this presents, I felt it important to report this since the dealership seemed unwilling to pursue the issue.

Filed May 26, 2009 · Brakes · 550 miles · NC

2008 pontiac solstice has no brakes when you first start up early morning pontiac say`s this is normal for this type vehicle. When is no brakes normal for a new car.

Filed May 26, 2009 · Brakes · 550 miles · NC

2008 pontiac solstice has no brakes when you first start up early morning pontiac say`s this is normal for this type vehicle. When is no brakes normal for a new car to have no brakes when you first apply.

Filed Jun 11, 2008 · Brakes · 500 miles · FL

Tl*the contact owns a 2008 pontiac solstice. When the contact first starts the vehicle, there is a loss of brake functionality. He took the vehicle to the dealer and was informed that they were aware of the failure, but could not make a repair until gm formulates a remedy. The vacuum boost switches to turbo on the engine and needs to build up. Once it finally builds up, the brakes work normally. The failure mileage was 500. Updated 07/07/08.*lj updated

Filed Mar 26, 2008 · Brakes · 270 miles · GA

Pontiac solstice - 2008 gxp after my car has sat for a period of time when it is started up again the car over revs and the brakes to not work. The first time I noticed it I was putting down the top and by the time I was done it has stopped revving. The second time a day later I was pulling out of my parking spot and headed toward a gate. The brakes would not work almost causing me to hit the fence. After I let it sit for a while it started working ok. Third time my wife was pulling out of our garage while backing down the driveway. The brakes did not work causing her to roll into the street. Good news is she did not get hit. Took the car to the dealership. Took 4 days to figure out the problem. I was told they had to reprogram the car but it should be fine now. After I picked it up from the dealership and drove home. The engine fan ran for 5 minutes after it was turned off.

Filed Mar 13, 2008 · Brakes · TX

I have a brake failure problem on my 2008 pontiac solstice gxp with 2.0 turbo engine. After starting car I proceeded to back out of garage, after backing up 5 to 10 feet I stepped on the brake to stop car and car would not stop. Had to push on brake pedal several times very hard and to pull on the emergency brake to finally get it to stop. If there had been anyone on sidewalk behind my at the time it could had resulted in a bad accident. Then I took my car to dealership and they told me they had never heard of this happening. After leaving car at dealership a day or 2 I went back and they had found a service bulletin ( document id# 1982132 ) dated 6/04/2007 about this problem which stated that this was normal on the pontiac solstice gxp and the saturn sky and there was nothing they could do. After that I spoke with the general motors rep. And the service manager and he told me the same thing but he would check in to the problem and get back with the service manager with the findings. After a week I received a call from the service manager and was told that general motors was writing a new software program and that it would not be ready for 2 or 3 months. That was on november 3, 2007. After waiting for 3 and did not hear anything from dealership I called they and was told that the software was ready and I could bring my car back and they would install the new software to solve the problem. The new software was install on 3/3/2008. I returned to dealership to pick-up my car only to find that the "new" software did not solve the problem and was told by the dealership that they could not do anything and that they were at the mercy of general motors to solve the problem. This braking problem was not a one time occurrence and it happens every time you start the car when it is cold, even after driving car and the letting it set 4 or 5 hours it does the same thing. So I consider this a safety issue and would like to have it resolved before someone gets hurt or killed.

Filed Dec 28, 2007 · Brakes · 500 miles · NC

We purchased the car with 67 miles on it, within a couple of days of driving the car we noticed if it sat for a long period of time that the brakes would not engage at initial start up. *tr we would place the car in reverse and or drive press on the brake and the brake pedal was hard,you could not push it down to engage the brakes at all. We have had to use our emergency brake numerous times after start up to ensure while backing out of our driveway that our car would stop. We have taken the car to the dealership 3 times letting them know that something major is wrong with our braking system, they finally on december 19th replaced the ebcm, but this did not correct the issue, we still have no brakes at start up. Someone could get hurt or an accident could occur if this problem is not corrected. Brakes in my eyes are an important feature on a car. Gm needs to look into this. I am on a forum that has numerous 08's with this same issue all over the country, this needs to be taken seriously.

Filed Nov 23, 2007 · Brakes · 200 miles · NC

This complaint is identical to one already filed with the federal safety agency, representing a potentially hazardous safety issue. While backing out of the garage from a cold start in my new pontiac solstice gxp delivered only one week earlier (mileage at one week=200), the brakes failed with the car in reverse and the car continued to roll backward (fortunately without power applied down a slightly inclined driveway. When put into drive, the brakes responded. Later in the day, from a cold start, the brakes failed again momentarily while pulling out in drive. The dealer service department was very responsive and diagnosed a failure of the valve in the master brake cylinder that allows pressure to build up in the hydraulic lines. The part is on national back order as a stac order. I was told that no spare parts have yet been stocked to fix this problem anywhere in the country. The dealership put me immediately in a rental vehicle at gm's expense until the part comes in, which could be "2 days, 2 weeks, or 2 months" as the service manager said. Could this be a manufacturer's defect present in all brake master cylinders, perhaps outsourced, delivered to the solstice gxp assembly line in delaware?

Filed Nov 2, 2007 · Brakes · 50 miles · AZ

1) started car and proceeded to back out of garage. Applied brakes to stop car. 2) car would not stop and continued to roll down driveway. Nearly hit family car parked behind. Brakes failed to stop the car until there was constant "pumping" of the brake pedal. 3) car brought in to dealer and described problem with brakes. Service advisor said the dealer will not fix. Service advisor said there is no "fix" for this problem. Service advisor admits this is a dangerous situation and someone can get seriously injured during this brake failure. 4) vehicle is a 2008 pontiac solstice.