2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara: sudden loss of power

6 of the 161 complaints about the 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara describe sudden loss of power.

owner complaints: 6
of this car's complaints: 4%
typical mileage: 54,025
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 2 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Sudden loss of power by model year

2006
6
2004
1
1999
2

What owners say

Filed Jul 15, 2010 · Electrical · 130,000 miles · ME

Suv lost power while in traffic would not take gas took to dealer could not find problem two weeks later same thing had to get boosted three times to get to dealer they said it was alternator this could have caused an accident.

Filed Apr 3, 2010 · Steering · 32,750 miles · CA

Getting off the freeway I experienced a major loss of power steering on my 2006 suzuki grand vitara. I was barely able to "muscle" it to my office a few blocks away. In searching the web, I discovered there is a design flaw with the belt tensioner where a molded plastic outer ring is prone to failure. When this breaks, the belt becomes loose and looses its grip on the power steering pump. Sure enough, parts of the broken outer ring were found in the pan under the engine. Suzuki has corrected the problem on newer cars with an all metal pulley and it's an easy replacement. I was lucky, had the failure occurred going around a curve or turning in an intersection it could have caused a serious accident. Suzuki is aware of the problem but there has been no recall and will not replace the part if the car is out of warranty.

Filed Mar 16, 2010 · Steering · 67,487 miles · KY

Power steering pulley broke without any warning. Failure : lost power steering. Had to tow the SUV to the dealership (since it was hard to control the vehicle without power steering). Dealer replaced the power steering pulley. I have the old pulley.

Filed Feb 28, 2010 · Steering · 41,800 miles · MI

Sudden loss of power steering on 2006 suzuki grand vitara.

Filed May 16, 2009 · Steering · 54,025 miles · NY

My 2006 suzuki grand vitara has a broken power steering tensioner pulley. The reason is that the many 2006 models of the grand vitara used a metal pulley wrapped with a piece of plastic around it. The plastic has cracked, and according to suzuki, it is not free to replace it. Since 2007, suzuki has started using a all-solid metal tensioner pulley after realizing that plastic tends to break more often. According to suzuki, a broken tensioner pulley will lead to immediate and sudden loss of power steering. This could cause major accidents when power steering stops working without prior notice. Having realized this design flaw, suzuki is still not willing to replace the plastic-covered tensioner pulley for free, asking me for $200 for the replacement. This issue seems to be a safety concern where I am not at fault. I specifically asked the technician if there was anything I could've done to prevent it, and he said no. This problem could have dire consequences if left in it's current state. I feel like this type of design flaw should be the responsibility of suzuki to correct, and not the consumer.

Filed Mar 21, 2007 · Airbags, Electrical · HI · crash · fire

Tl*- the contact stated that her 2006 suzuki grand vitara, has had several safety issues since she's purchased the vehicle last year. The first problem was her air bag sensor; she stated that when there is someone sitting on the passenger front side the air bag sensor constantly turns on and off. She has stated that sometimes if you sit in the seat a certain way the airbag sensor works. She has taken the vehicle to the dealership and they changed the computer in the vehicle on one occasion. The seat continued to have the same problem and she took the vehicle back and they changed the seat sensor and that didn't work. The stated that they have also re calibrated the seat and the seat sensor was still malfunctioning. On 03/16/07 while driving at a speed of 60 MPH she tried to pass two vehicles on the expressway and the vehicle stalled. She stated that the engine accelerated, but instantly the vehicle lost power. She noticed that the engine light was on, but not sure if any other lights turned on. The contact stated that the vehicle coasted to the side of the road and was able to restart the vehicle immediately. The contact stated that she drove two miles and had the vehicle towed to the dealership. The contact stated that as of now she's waiting for the diagnostic evaluation of the vehicle. The current mileage was 7016.