1992 Pontiac Bonneville
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
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Vehicles › Pontiac › Bonneville › 1992
These records cover every 1992 Pontiac Bonneville. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
Recalls
3 recalls name the 1992 Pontiac Bonneville. Newest first.
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles manufactured from august 1991 through july 1995. the transmission oil cooler line can separate when the vehicle IS operated in low temperatures in combination with high transmission loads.
Risk and remedy
Risk
Vehicle fires can occur due to the spillage of transmission fluid.
Remedy
Dealers will replace the transmission oil cooler lines.
When applied, the parking brake lever assembly may release one or more teeth, reducing the cable load to the rear brakes.
Risk and remedy
Risk
Depending on the extent of the lever release and roadlevel. The parking brake may not hold the vehicle, allowing it to roll, whichcould result in an accident. Vehicle does not comply with fmvss 105.
Remedy
Replace parking brake lever assembly.
Transaxle shift control cable may disengage from shift control cable bracket, causing loss of gear indicator reference, and shift selector operation.
Risk and remedy
Risk
The disengaged cable could falsely indicate transmissiongear position, and the vehicle might be left in reverse or drive when the drivermoved the gear selector to park or the opposite direction. A vehicle left on anincline without parking brakes when the gear selector IS placed in park couldmove. Either case results in unexpected vehicle movement without prior warningand could cause a vehicle accident.
Remedy
Install a transaxle shift control cable retaining clip on the shift control cable bracket on top of transaxle.
Owner complaints
113 complaints13 involved a crash5 involved a fire12 injuries
What owners report most
Latest complaints
- Service brakes
There r no brakes put brakes on will go all the way too floor u got to use emergency brake very dangers heard there IS a recall on brake booster
- Electrical system
TL* the contact owns a 1992 pontiac bonneville. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was restarted and functioned properly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection but they were unable to reproduce the failure. The vehicle was not…
TL* the contact owns a 1992 pontiac bonneville. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was restarted and functioned properly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection but they were unable to reproduce the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000. The vin was unavailable. *tr
- Electrical system · Seats
While working in the drivers side floor area of the vehicle my shirt/belt activated the drivers side power seat control. The seat advanced forward to the end of the seats travel and pinning me under the drivers side under dashboard area of the car. My left upper arm and left wrist were entrapped in…
While working in the drivers side floor area of the vehicle my shirt/belt activated the drivers side power seat control. The seat advanced forward to the end of the seats travel and pinning me under the drivers side under dashboard area of the car. My left upper arm and left wrist were entrapped in around the brake pedal, my right arm was entrapped by in the gas pedal area, the throttle punctured my right wrist. I was unable to summons help, and after about 2 hours was near exhaustion, and to free myself I was forced to self cause injures to my left elbow, left upper arm, and right arm to free myself from under the drivers side under dash area of the car. I sustain several cuts on my arms, chest, and back. Emergency room examinations and tests showed possible rib fractures, deep bruising of the chest, back, and left upper arm and left elbow, intercostal chest wall muscles. I feel the cause of this event was the location of the power seat switch in the front of the seat towards the outer side of the drivers seat. Any service activities on the drivers side floor area IS at high risk of entrapping the individual of entrapment by the power drivers seat.
- Engine and engine cooling › Engine
TL* the contact owns a 1992 pontiac bonneville. The contact was attempting to accelerate from a stop when the contact noticed that the motor carriage had fractured from underneath the vehicle without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed and there were no prior warnings of the failure. The current and failure mileages were 128,000.
- Tires
Tire failure. *tr
- Tires
Belt separation. *tr
- Steering › Column
Tl*the contact owns a 1992 pontiac bonneville. while attempting to shut off the vehicle, the key would not function. the vehicle was towed to the dealer and they replaced the steering column. after the repair, the vehicle would not start. currently, the vehicle IS back at the dealer. there were no recalls for this failure. the current and failure mileages were 190,000.
- Wheels › Lugs/nuts/bolts/studs
1992 pontiac bonneville. Consumer was driving 65 mph on the highway when the left side tire blew off. *Mc according to the police officers examination of the left front brake rotor assembly, it showed 1 stud remaining with the other 4 sheared off at the rotor. The threads on the remaining stud…
1992 pontiac bonneville. Consumer was driving 65 mph on the highway when the left side tire blew off. *Mc according to the police officers examination of the left front brake rotor assembly, it showed 1 stud remaining with the other 4 sheared off at the rotor. The threads on the remaining stud appeared to be intact indicating the lug nut backed off or was missing. The threads showed no damage to indicate the wheel had been loose for any length of time. (Ohio traffic crash report)*jb a vehicle questionaire was mailed to customer to obtain additional information pertaining to the complaint. (Ohio traffic crash report) *tr
- Electrical system
Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle stalled suddenly without warning while driving at any speed. the dealership and an independent mechanic replaced the electronic coil and electronic control module six times. each time the parts fail within six months of being installed. *ak
- Structure › Body › Hood
For the last couple years my clearcoat has been peeling off like a bad sunburn. It looks horrible. It's happening on the entire hood and on both front fenders. I have a 92 pontiac bonneville. The rest of the car looks brand new. I have always maintained my car. I was just told recently that I could file a complaint because even though the age of the car , the coating should not be coming off like this.
- Fuel system, gasoline
Loss of fuel on right hand turn, chronic when fuel IS around 1/3 level, caused by incorrect fuel strainer position. there IS a service bulletin about this problem. it IS widespread among 92 gm h-body owners. should be a recall. this condition can cause a major problem when merging onto a…
Loss of fuel on right hand turn, chronic when fuel IS around 1/3 level, caused by incorrect fuel strainer position. there IS a service bulletin about this problem. it IS widespread among 92 gm h-body owners. should be a recall. this condition can cause a major problem when merging onto a freeway. loss of power can cause another vehicle to hit merging car. the date listed IS my personal first experience while driving. happened before in other 92 gm h-body cars, my mother's and my brother's. *nm
- Electrical system · Exterior lighting › Headlights › Switch
Car electrical system goes on and off whenever a/c IS on.very dim lights inside and out when headlights are on.*ak
- Engine and engine cooling › Engine
Car IS cutting off, everything cuts off, and brakes do not work when car shuts off. *Ak *jb *****dimsii ivoq entry posted after 12/12/02 cut-over to artemis******723212.
- Electrical system › Wiring › Interior/under dash
While traveling on the highway without prior warning there was smoke and flames coming from the dashboard. the dealership IS aware of the problem. nlm
- Equipment › Appliance › Air conditioner · Service brakes, hydraulic › Antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip
Failure of ABS system created a loss of fath in ABS as a means of stopping. Donot trust that it will work spent 2X'S orig . Cost to fix. Air conditioner lost freon due to leaks in the coil built in the dash. This caused oil to plug the fins thus blocking air flow. It was stated that gm used a…
Failure of ABS system created a loss of fath in ABS as a means of stopping. Donot trust that it will work spent 2X'S orig . Cost to fix. Air conditioner lost freon due to leaks in the coil built in the dash. This caused oil to plug the fins thus blocking air flow. It was stated that gm used a crimping process instead of sodering the fins when they built this type of receiver.if you do not fix , you will not get full air for the defrosters to work. *Ak
- Fuel system, gasoline
While driving vehicle was losing fuel from gas tank, consumer took vehicle to a repair facility, and discovered that the top of fuel tank was corroded.*ak. The repair shop replaced the fuel pump, fuel tank sender, gas tank, and gas tank strap, all due to a gas leak. *Slc
- Power train › Automatic transmission
Transmission mount bolts have fallen out at least 3 times even though replaced with the correct bolts and correct loc-tite. When they fall out the drivetrain drops onto my steering assembly causing it to pull one direction or another or sometimes it feels like it wants to go left and right at the…
Transmission mount bolts have fallen out at least 3 times even though replaced with the correct bolts and correct loc-tite. When they fall out the drivetrain drops onto my steering assembly causing it to pull one direction or another or sometimes it feels like it wants to go left and right at the same time. Now my steering IS messy even with tranny mount bolts installed the steering ass seems to have been 'stretched' causing it to pull both left and right at the same time or sometimes really hard to the right (tires seam to wear evenly -though it IS hard to believe). Tire shop first thought it was ball joints but decided no bad ball joints. Also many times when I put the car up on ramps or a jack to change to my summer wheels or change oil the e-brake doesn't want to hold. I push the pedal to the floor and comes back up almost all the way. Only once or twice in the 12 months that I have owned the car has the e-brake held. Sometimes it will hold for a second or two but then it releases or 'slips'. These problems bother me especially after seeing the corrosion recall for other gm cars for problems like my drivetrain mount bolt holes corrosion problems.*ak
- Wheels › Lugs/nuts/bolts/studs
Right front wheel came off vehicle at slow speed, could have resulted in injuries, I recoved 3 wheel studs from the road with lug nuts still intact.*ak
- Power train › Automatic transmission › Control module (tcm/pcm/tecm) · Service brakes, hydraulic › Antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip
Using traction control on ABS brakes burned open. Traction control was too light for areas getting lots of snow. Had no traction control at all. Experiencing a temporary loss of braking power due to lost of traction control. *ak
- Vehicle speed control
While stopped the cruise control engaged and forced the vehicle forward into the back bumper of the car in front. *mjs
- Electrical system › Alternator/generator/regulator
Voltage falls and motor quits in heat. battery IS dead. replacing alt & batt does not help. voltage gets lower as heat builds until battery dies. engine falters and quits. has happened 8 times since the warranty expired (didn't happen before). ssei does not have a voltmeter and we have not…
Voltage falls and motor quits in heat. battery IS dead. replacing alt & batt does not help. voltage gets lower as heat builds until battery dies. engine falters and quits. has happened 8 times since the warranty expired (didn't happen before). ssei does not have a voltmeter and we have not seen the battery light come on in any of the events (thought it IS weak and hard to see so we can't be sure). dealer knows nothing. we have not found a service bulletin on the problem. I installed the 130 ampere option alternator (for cars with electrically heated windshields) the last time and have been monitoring the voltage. the voltage drops steadily as heat builds, but seems to stop at about 13 volts (i didn't add voltmeter before going to the larger alternator so I don't know how low voltage went in earlier events .. Though I did experiement with semi-dead bettery and the alternator disconneted and the engine quits at about 10 volts). I see other complaints on this problem on your web site and I've talked to several other ssei owners with the same problem. all have replaced alternator and/or battery to no avail.
- Service brakes, hydraulic › Antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip · Service brakes, hydraulic › Foundation components › Drum
I heard a popping sound twice with in one mile of each other as I was approaching stop lights. then heard a grinding sound as I drove on . took it to the dealer and they said the springs in the rear drums had broken and caused other damage to the drums and braking system. I questioned them about…
I heard a popping sound twice with in one mile of each other as I was approaching stop lights. then heard a grinding sound as I drove on . took it to the dealer and they said the springs in the rear drums had broken and caused other damage to the drums and braking system. I questioned them about a manfacture defect and was told that there was nothing that they would do . I paid $501.66 to get it fixed. Today 05/16/2000 I read in the paper that gm has settled a lawsuit in new jersy agreeing to pay for the same problems in other gm cars of this vintage but it does not metion the bonneville. even though I had the exact same problem with my car as the ones that were listed in the lawsuit. *ak
- Equipment › Appliance › Air conditioner
My car started making a horrible noise under the hood on the way home from work back in december. I live about 4 miles from work. I thought it was a fan belt or another kind of belt. I was going about 25-30mph. smoke started pouring from under the hood. I was scared that it was going to blaze…
My car started making a horrible noise under the hood on the way home from work back in december. I live about 4 miles from work. I thought it was a fan belt or another kind of belt. I was going about 25-30mph. smoke started pouring from under the hood. I was scared that it was going to blaze up. I kept going about a half a mile so I could pull into a store parking lot. by this time, the smoke was really coming from under the hood. the men inside the store came to my rescue. I jumped out of the car and they raised the hood and sae that the ac compressor had stopped working. the smoke was coming from the compressor and they informed me that the valves, gears,etc had burned up just in that short time. one man unhooked it so I could use my heater since it was december. believe it or not, our weather had been very warm for winter. I cointued to drive it over christmas break. I took it took a certified mechanic this week and was told that it had the wrong type of freon in it. my car has only 78,000 miles and I have never had any trouble with the ac until that day when it started smoking. it appears that after searching the internet, there have been several service bulletins about ac problems and freon. a car with such low miles shouldn't have ac problems and if so, the problem should be so bad. my car would have caught on fire if I had not stopped and got help. little did I know it was the ac. please let me know if there have been similar problems to mine. of course, this kind of problem probadly hasn't occured in many of the car,esp. With low miles. I would appreciate your help in this matter, my car has been garaged kept, serviced,, well kept,etc. any help or direction you can give me will be greatly appreciated. thank you very much, ms. Lynn k. Ouzts. *Ak
- Air bags › Frontal
Vehicle was hit almost head on part of the impact area was right at the airbag sensor under the hood of the car. The airbag did not deploy. The driver received minor bruises on the shoulder and chest from seatbelt. *ak
- Engine and engine cooling › Engine
Engine stalls with no warning, causing a loss of power brakes and power steering. This has happenedthree times. Vehicle has to sit for a while in order to start again. Dealer replaced the crankshaft position sensor. Problem resolved. *ak
Defect investigations
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened these reviews into vehicles including this one.
- Fuel line failure
There is no summary currently available
- Fuel line connector fails
There is no summary currently available
Service bulletins
Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.
- 10246631Expanded Availability for Remanufacture and Return (R&R) Electronic Control Modules
- 6089996Some vehicles equipped with hydra-matic 3T40, 4T60 or 4t60-e transxales may comment on a grinding and / or growling noise that IS noticeable when in park on incline.
- 4050700Unknown
- 619370Owners of some vehicles equipped with hydra-matic 3T40, 4T60, 4t60-e or 4t65-e transaxles may comment on a grinding and / or growling noise that IS noticeable when standing in park on a hill or slope with the engine running and the parking brake not applied.
- 603085Some customers may comment that there IS corrosion ( rust ) appearing on the left and /or right rocker panel(s).
- 602983Concerns of door handles on white painted vehicles truning yellow.
- 602751Some customers may comment that the vehicle
- 54065Comments on inoperative power door locks (front and/or rear doors).
- 53021Information based on engine idle surge, or mil (malfunction indicator lamp) illuminated with dtc (diagnostic trouble code) p0131, p0171 or 44 set.
- 52564Excessive vibration of electrochromic inside rearview mirror.
- 51497Cold start rattle noise (diagnosis/service procedure).
- 50571Cold start rattle noise.
- 50563Some vehicles may display a condition at 70 mph where the speedometer reads about 4 mph faster or slower than hud.
- 45881Grinding and/or growling noise in park on incline.*sd
- 45811Low illumination of console prndl indicator in lower or all gear positions.
- 39814Dim headlamps, slow windshield wipers, etc resulting from low/no generator output.
- 39633Fuel guage reads empty when fuel tank IS full.
- 39308Cold start rattle noise.
- 39079Heads up display and instrument cluster speed differences.
- 37848Faint buzzing noise from front of dash area.
Every Pontiac Bonneville model year
Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.