Blend door for heat broke allowing only cold air. Was unable to defrost the windshield and warm interior. Condition limits visibility. Other models of same year have been recalled. Only fix is to remove the dash and replace broken part.
2006 Pontiac Torrent visibility complaints
Page 2 of 4: complaints 11 to 40 of 89, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 pontiac torrent. The contact stated that the heater unit malfunctioned. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 140,000.
Driving, turned the defrost on, only cold air came out, unable to defog or defrost windshield. No heat whatsoever. Blows cold air at all times. Apparently some of the other gm vehicles based on the same platform have had the same problems.
While driving 55mph on a trip the heat just stopped blowing. As since, this weather has been -20 and -25 below and I have no defrost, heat. I went to a certified mechanic only to find out the heat/air/door is broke. Cost of repairs 1200.00 to 1,500.00 it is an all day job. The dash and all components will have to be removed and put back on. Needless to say with this winter being one of the coldest I understand and can feel what others are going through that has this same problem... And I have to bundle just to go to work. I work an hour away and after finding this is a huge problem !!!! I think that there should be money given to the ones that needs this fixed.
I am totally outraged finding out that gm placed a non safe part on this truck that I bought brand new. It will cost $1000.00 even after keeping this truck maintenance free, trouble free from regular maintenance at the deliver that I purchased it from. I am very upset that this part was not recalled as the part costs between $22-100.00 while the labor because of where it is will cost up to $1000.00 at the dealer I purchased it from and get regular maintenance check ups with. I totally agree with all of the consumers on here: the actuator that operates the heater blend door - overextends and breaks the heater blend door. This causes the heater to not work at all. The actuators are defective and the heater doors are defective because they break due to a manufacturers defect. If the heat doesn't work the windows won't defrost so this is a visibility hazard. I also listed it as an electrical and unknown hazard.
Heater doesn't work. Only blows cool air. Safety issue in winter. Defrost doesn't work. Known problem with heat blend door. $50 part. Quote for repair $900.
Purchased vehicle used on 12/06/2006 with 9,968 miles. Replaced entire engine ($5,000) on 03/27/2009 due to issues with the cylinder head gasket (was told the vehicle was no longer under warranty). Mileage at that time was 84,625. In approximately 2009 the passenger side window started going up and down spontaneously. My dog had her head out of the window and it spontaneously closed on her head, restricting her airway. The passenger side door was ripped apart and wiring was replaced. The window worked correctly for about 2 years and then in 2011, the window stopped working entirely. Have had 3 wheel bearings replaced (one twice). In january/february of 2013, the ignition switch and fuse center had to be replaced. Mechanics advised that the fuse center/panel was on "national back order" with no known available date. They repaired it. Total cost paid for that repair was over $335.87. Mileage at that time was 171827 on april 12th the heater stopped working as I was driving. The fan still blows but only cold air. The hoses from the coolant tank heat up when the car is running. Known problem with this make/model. According to similar complaints filed the entire dash will need to be dismantled to fix the blend door/actuator. Known defective part.
I started my torrent just like any morning, the heater ran for maybe 10 minutes then just stopped. It will not blow out any kind of air (hot or cold). Being winter, cold and frosty, this is a severe safety issue. With no defroster it is very hard to see, and its very cold. It costs around 1200 dollars to get it fixed. Even if it is fixed I as told the way that they made the torrent that it will just break again. I do not have that kind of cash just laying around. It should be recalled but gm is to cheap. This is not the first time I have heard of this happening. I drive along ways and its dangerous not being able to see.
My 2006 pontiac torrent has been having problems with the heater, including the defroster. I live in an area with a lot of snow, ice and extreme cold and often times while driving in the winter the windshield builds too much frost to be able to see out of it. I am very concerned about this as a safety issue. The repair is very expensive (about $1000). As I understand it this is a very common issue with this vehicle. I believe gm should issue a recall for this problem.
I own a 2006 pontiac torrent my heating system started getting intermittent the end of winter last year 2011 I did receive a recall letter in. The mail from gm about there hearing system switch but nothing about there heating system seems like after reading up on this issue I'm not the only one that is having hearing system problems I spoke to the dealer about the replacement they said that if its not be switch its not here problem from the sounds of it gm has more than just a switch problem !!!! The economy sucks enough I can't spend 1000's of dollars trying to eliminate a obviously existing problem !! Who is there to bail out who?
The heater and the defroster stopped working. I found that there are a lot of people experiencing this problem. This is a safety issue during the winter time because the defrost does not work. Everyone online says the repair is around $1200.00 because of how hard it is to get to the part. Please issue a recall!
Air conditioning is not working and fan only blows warm air. I took it to a mechanic and he said the temperature air door was broken. It looks like the actuator that moves the door overextends and breaks the door. There are hundreds of complaints online about this issue. This is a visibility problem since the defroster will not work.
This is an issue with the actuator that moves the flap in the heater/AC case. This causes the heat not to be released into the car, just cold air. This issue is all over the internet with several people having the same issue. I believe that gm needs to see this issue as a fault of the part. The repair for this unit requires complete removal of the dash board. I have gotten quotes from 900-1500 to repair this part and they do not say that its not going to happen again.
The actuator that operates the heater blend door - overextends and breaks the heater blend door. This causes the heater to not work at all. The actuators are defective and the heater doors are defective because they break due to a manufacturers defect. If the heat doesn't work the windows won't defrost so this is a visibility hazard. I also listed it as an electrical and unknown hazard. There are thousands of complaints out on the internet for the 2006 pontiac torrents & chevy equinox's and all of them have the same problem and most of them are around the 50,000 mile mark. Gm will not pay for it if it is past the warranty because they say there isn't a recall for this. These 2 parts should be recalled because it is a hazard to drive your vehicle if you can't defrost your windows. It is approximately $900-$1200 to fix because they need to take apart the entire dash board to get at the actuator and the blend door. Gm should stand behind this and fix this so that people can drive safely and be able to see out their windows.
I own a 2006 pontiac torrent driving along one day and the heat just went out. This caused a dangerous situation as the defrost stopped working as well. I have been unable to drive the car in the winter for going on three years now its just not safe. Due to the number of complaints filed for this same exact thing it is unbelievable to me that the government does not force gm to conduct a recall before someone gets killed.
The blend door for heater is broken and only cold air is allowed to flow through. This has been documented to break in many torrents. The door is designed to only move 60 degrees but the actuator is designed to move 180 degrees causing the door to break. When I called to talk to several body shops to discuss this issue, they explained to me that this happens in many torrents and gm will not recall the part and it is my responsibility to get it fixed which could cost me between $1000 and $1500 for labor and parts.
The heat in my truck stopped working in the middle of winter. It was determined that the plastic connection shaft on the air temperature blend door was broken which is a common problem for the 2006 pontiac torrent.
The heater has stopped working. The mechanic says the door rod has either broken or the motor has gone bad. More than 200 complaints regarding this malfunction in this particular model vehicle have been reported. This needs to be addressed under the federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 103 - windshield defrosting and defogging systems - passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses (effective 1-1-88). This standard specifies requirements for windshield defrosting and defogging systems. This is not random in any way. I think we as consumers should band together and form a class action lawsuit again the maker of this vehicle. I will be in contact!!!
April 15th, 2010 our ignition wouldn't kick over. It would take more than three times to kick over. I tried conditioning the spark plug and it didn't help. (we just lived with the problem) june 2011 we had our first electrical problem with the car. The radio was the first to go in may. Then in july our A/C stopped working, and all we had left was our heat. We were able to fix the A/C, but it didn't last very long. We then lost A/C again and our radio started working in august(2011). Shortly after the radio started working we lost heat. Now we have only the radio that works. We cannot see anything because of the heat not working. The visibility is completely horrible! I have researched this issue and found that it would cost us 1,500 dollars to fix it. I can't afford that! We haven't had the car two years yet and it's stating to break down! This is a serious issue!!!
Defroster is inoperable. Temperature doesn't change to heat when air blend dial is turned. The heater doesn't work either. In freezing conditions, there is no way to keep the windshield clear due to cold air blowing.
The heater stopped working and cold air blows through the vents.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 pontiac torrent. The contact stated that the heater blend door fractured, causing the heating system to blow out cold air when the heating function was activated. The failure also caused inadequate visibility of the roadway due to the defroster not properly clearing the windows. A private mechanic confirmed that the heater blend door needed to be replaced to correct the failure but did not perform the repairs. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance. The current mileage was 35,000 and the approximate failure mileage was 34,800.
Heater blend door is broken - confirmed by two mechanics. From reading online, this appears to be a very common (and expensive) problem in the 2006 torrent and 2006 chevy equinox due to a design flaw. The dealer quoted us $1100-$1200 to repair. Reading online, I am not confident that this problem will not reoccur. Living in ny, we cannot function without a working heater and defroster. We are very disappointed that gm has not issued a recall for this apparently common defect.
During the summer, the air conditioning on our 2006 pontiac torrent started acting up. We could only run the car's air conditioner for a few minutes before it would start blowing out warm air. We found that if we turned it off for a while, then turned it back on, it would work for a while longer, then we would have to repeat the process. Now that cooler temperatures are here, we have found that the heater is blowing out cold air. We took it to a repair shop to see what was wrong with it and was told that it was the blend door, which is a common problem with the torrent. Cost: $1200, as it would be a good eight hour job to replace the necessary part. Since the cost was so high, we took it to another place and was given the same verdict, but the repair cost was substantially less - $750, which is still a lot for a part that costs less than $100. We don't have the money to have this part replaced right now because we just dished out $551 to have the catalytic converter replaced, so we are looking into a portable heater until we can afford to have the repairs done. The blend door should be recalled and taken care of by the manufacturer. Our family of five (the youngest being nine years old) has been bundling up every time we get into the car, but are worried about when the temperature gets colder and the windows start frosting over. This part, in particular, is extremely dangerous to be without during the winter, due to inadequate visibility from windows that cannot be defrosted. Definitely a safety issue that should be addressed by the manufacturer!!!
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 pontiac torrent. The contact stated that the heater's blower motor malfunctioned and only cold air would blow out of the vents. The contact also stated that the front defroster was no longer functioning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the blend door needed to be replaced. The failure mileage was 79,000. The VIN was unavailable.
The heat went out in my 2006 pontiac torrent. Took it to the dealership where I was told it was the blend door actuator. I was also told this is a common problem with the pontiac torrent. The labor alone on this problem is $1200.00. The part itself is only costing me $35.00. I feel this is very dangerous as it gets very cold in indiana for winter, and when you have no heat, and only cold air blowing out it reduces visibility to almost zero. Why isn't gm recalling this part? Hundreds of people are having this problem. I don't feel this is an effective way to keep an honest business running. Please make a recall on this problem and reimburse people for the cost.
The heater stopped working on my 2006 pontiac torrent, cold air comes out of the vents regardless of the setting. I live in michigan where it is essential to be able to use the defrost and the heater. We contacted the dealer and were told that it would cost a minimum of $1200 dollars to fix and 8-10 hours of labor, the actual part is under $100. The delaership even said that this is a typical problem on the torrents and that they have fixed many of them. The warranty doesn't cover it once the vehicle has gone over the mileage allotted by the manufacturer however I don't feel that this should be a factor for the heater as the number of miles driven does not affect the heating/cooling system. I don't feel that I should be responsible for replacing a plastic part and paying for labor especially since this seems to be a common defect in the torrent. Additionally and most importantly this is a huge safety issues since you need to see out your windshield to drive. Gm needs to make this right by having a recall on this part!
I had 2 wheel bearings replaced with 3 months of one another and then the heater died. Just blows cold air - told it was the blend door and would cost $1200 to fix - which I do not have. No defrost either - definite hazard. This is obviously a defect in this vehicle and gm is not willing to fix. My car has 78,000 miles currently -
I own a 06 pontiac torrent and just recently the heater and defroster quit working. After having it fixed and paying 200 and driving it 5 miles, I woke up the next day to go to work to have no heat or defrost again to have it diagnosed again and be told that the heater blend door was broken and it would cost around $600 to be fixed. After much research I have found that there are thousands of torrent owners with the same problem, as well as chevrolet equinox owners. This is a serious visibility issue, with no way to clear our windows of fog and frost in these colder months. Although I have not heard of any deaths or injuries resulting from this obvious design flaw, I believe it is just a matter of time. Please help!!!!
Failure of the HVAC blend door (verified by gm dealership after paying $135) has made defrosting the forward windshield in cold temperatures impossible. This is a safety issue because of the limiting of visibility and in violation of standard 103 from the u.s. Department of transportation. Gm has admitted a design flaw in the HVAC blend door actuator in that a dealer replacement uses an updated HVAC blend door actuator which more accurately limits the rotational travel. The failure of the HVAC blend door occurs because the original faulty designed HVAC blend door actuator travels too far causing structural stress on the blend door which eventually leads to premature failure of the blend door. This results in vent air not passing over the heat core, therefore making defrosting of the windshield not possible in cold conditions.
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