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.
2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara steering complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 22 of 22, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I was driving my 2006 suzuki grand vitara 2.7l SUV -turning through a major intersection when the power steering belt tensioner pulley lost it's outer ring without warning. The loss of this ring caused the belt to slip, resulting in a complete loss of steering, not just power steering, but of steering altogether because the belt slippage was causing intermittent pumping of the power steering pump, causing fluid cavitation and making the wheel impossible to turn. By sheer luck I managed to get my vehicle to turn by almost hitting a car head -on. Suzuki knows about the issue with the 2006 and 2007 grand vitara power steering pump tensioner pulleys and has even released a revised part that uses a metal outer ring on the pulley instead of the original plastic one. Had to have my vehicle towed to the dealer where I was told this was not covered under the warranty since I had 41,000 miles on my vehicle and my extended warranty did not cover this failure. There needs to be a recall on this defect before somebody gets killed. After discussing my concern with the service manager I called the 800# for suzuki and complained and the local district manager called my dealer service manager and decided to cover the replacement after I told them about what I read on the internet about so many others having this problem and that I was going to file a complaint with the federal safety agency.
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.
Sudden loss of power steering on 2006 suzuki grand vitara.
There is a very dangerous problem with the 2006, 2007 suzuki grand vitara. The power steering tensioner, due to its defective design, can fall apart at anytime. That particular part has since been redesigned, due to many failures, and the new part subsequently utilized in the later models of that vehicle. However, no attempt has been made by suzuki to recall the vehicle or inform it's owners about the problem. When the power steering tensioner breaks apart, the power steering is immediately disabled and the driver is faced with a very sudden, severe increase in effort, required to steer the vehicle. Many people would panic in that situation and could very likely have a collision. As soon as I described the problem to the service manager, he immediately knew what the problem was and had me bring in the vehicle for repairs. The repair manager mentioned to me that he had at least 20 failures of that component occur within the past two years. I called suzuki, but they would not cover the repair cost nor even give the slightest hint of wanting to recall that model & year vehicle. Fyi, the original tensioner consisted of a metal pulley wheel which had a plastic ?u? Shaped rim molded onto the outside of the pulley. The function of the plastic rim is to hold the power steering belt in place. The failures that have occurred are due to the plastic rim falling off of the pulley (due to deterioration or fatigue), loosening the belt and thus no longer turning the power steering pump. The new component is now designed as one piece and is all metal.
I was driving my 2006 suzuki grand vitara 2.7l SUV on a highway when the power steering belt tensioner pulley lost it's outer ring without warning. The loss of this ring caused the belt to slip, resulting in a complete loss of steering, not just power steering, but of steering altogether because the belt slippage was causing intermittent pumping of the power steering pump, causing fluid cavitation and making the wheel impossible to turn. By sheer luck I managed to get the car off of the highway without crashing. Suzuki knows about the issue with the 2006 and 2007 grand vitara power steering pump tensioner pulleys and has even released a revised part that uses a metal outer ring on the pulley instead of the original plastic one. The part was $180 after tax, and took an hour of labor to install. There needs to be a recall on this defect before somebody gets killed.
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.
Started my car and there was a loud odd noise coming from under the hood, after a little investigation, I found that the power steering tensioner (which on early 06 models such as mine was made from plastic) had cracked causing a loud noise as well as an end to my power steering. The car is without power steering. I called the local dealership and they are not going to fix it as it doesn't fall under warranty, however, upon further investigation this same issue has happened to multiple early model 06 suzuki grand vitara owners. Suzuki fixed the problem with later 06 models and on newer models by changing the tension pulley from plastic to steel.
2006 suzuki grand vitara with several problems. Consumer states that the problems are: steering shaft, engine making a knocking noise, engine light illumination, gasoline odor from engine and seat warmer not working. *kb the engine noise was due to the camshaft timing belt which needed to be re-torqued. The purge valve was replaced due to the engine light being on.
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 suzuki grand vitara. While driving approximately 10mph he noticed that the steering column was shifting from left to right. The dealer tightened the steering bolts. Two months later while making a turn, the steering column fell on the floor causing her to lose control of the vehicle. The police report is available. A formal complaint was filed with the manufacturer. The failure mileage and the current mileage was 6,000. Updated 01/29/08 *bf the consumer complained of pain in her neck and back. Updated
2006 suzuki grand vitara 6,500 miles steering column. Brought to dealer for steering column being loose. Told us they did not know why it got loose but they tightened up. Thought problem was fixed. About two months later while driving steering column collapsed onto lap causing driver to lose control of car.
I purchased a suzuki grand vitara in july of 2006. Shortly after purchase, 4 weeks at the most, the check engine light came on. I called the dealer faulkner suzuki (harrisburg, pa) and took the car in for service. I was told that it was an oxygen sensor malfunction. They changed the sensors. But this did not fix the problem. Thereafter, approximately every 4 to 8 weeks, the check engine light came on - to which the service department at faulkner responded by changing the oxygen sensors and replacing the associated computer. Also of note, their was a problem with the wheels on the car (which impaired steering at highway speeds) to which the service department responded with having me purchase new tires - the car was 8 months old at this point (this did not fully resolve that problem, although it did improve somewhat). During all this, the car was emitting a smoke smell/exhaust into the cabin of the vehicle. The service department could not figure out what was causing this (I was told that the technicians could not detect the smoke smell/exhaust). With all of this in mind, I am writing to express concerns about the businesses practices of suzuki. When the problems with the car began, I asked to have my trade in vehicle returned to me or to have a replacement vehicle (as I felt unsafe driving the car I purchased) neither request was honored. I had not expected to have any problems with a new car, no one does. So when a problem arose, my expectation was that it would be immediately resolved, this was not the case. Overall, in my opinion, this matter was poorly handled - it took over a year and legal involvement before suzuki would buyback their faulty vehicle. As a consumer, I feel that this company showed little concern for my safety, time, or money. I implore you to investigate this matter and work to ensure that any future suzuki customers receive better service and a better (safe) product.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history