1997 Pontiac Montana
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
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Vehicles › Pontiac › Montana › 1997
These records cover every 1997 Pontiac Montana. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
Recalls
1 recall names the 1997 Pontiac Montana. Newest first.
On certain minivans equipped with second-row bucket seats or captain's chairs and a power sliding door on the passenger side of the vehicle, a passenger using the interior handle to open the power sliding door could be injured.
Risk and remedy
Risk
If a passenger uses the interior handle to open the power sliding door and holds onto the handle while it IS being opened by the motor, the passenger's arm may be pushed into the seat back or armrest and a wrist or lower arm injury may result.
Remedy
Dealers will replace the power sliding door interior handle on the passenger-side. if the vehicle IS equipped with a power or manual sliding door on the driver-side, the interior handle will also be replaced for appearance reasons. note: before the vehicle IS serviced, gm advises owners to not use the interior door handle to open the door. the driver can open and close the door from switches at the driver's position or by using the remote key fob. the driver should tell passengers to use the switch located in front of the door to open or close it. the driver should use the override switch to prevent operation of the power door by children or by others who are not familiar with its use. the owner notification letter mailing will be conducted in phases with the first phase beginning on may 31, 2005. the second phase mailing began on july 18, 2005. the recall began on may 31, 2005. phase 2 began on july 18, 2005. phase 3 (final phase) began on august 24, 2005, to all remaining customers. owners should contact chevrolet at 1-800-630-2438; pontiac at 1-800-620-7668; or oldsmobile at 1-800-630-6537.
Owner complaints
18 complaints1 involved a crash1 involved a fire2 injuries
What owners report most
Latest complaints
- Structure · Tires › Temporary/emergency spare tire
I recently saw that toyota voluntarily recalled some of their vehicles due to failures of the cable that holds their spare tires in place. I had this exact same failure occur to me on a 1997 pontiac montana van. the actual failure occurred on 1/21/08. I was parked in a parking lot when the spare…
I recently saw that toyota voluntarily recalled some of their vehicles due to failures of the cable that holds their spare tires in place. I had this exact same failure occur to me on a 1997 pontiac montana van. the actual failure occurred on 1/21/08. I was parked in a parking lot when the spare tire suddenly separated from the vehicle and fell onto the ground. the metal cable on the spare tire winch had failed due to corrosion and allowed the tire to fall. had this happened even 20 minutes earlier, when I was driving on the expressway, the tire would have been bouncing around on the highway, in moving traffic. I was concerned that this was likely a generic gm problem and the chance of someone getting seriously injured, or worse, was very high if a spare tire was bouncing loose on the highway. On 2/6/08, I personally reported this information to the dealer from which I had purchased the vehicle new. I was told they would report the information to general motors. on 2/25/08, I emailed my contact at the dealer to see if they had gotten any response from gm. I never got a response to that email. on 3/4/08, I called pontiac customer service and reiterated my concern with the deficient gm design. I was assigned reference number 71-608132149. I spoke to a couple of customer service types, the last being a supervisor supposedly. he informed me he did not intend to take this matter (my concern) any further in the gm organization, that he would personally take responsibility for any injuries resulting from failed spare tire winches on pontiacs. The fact of the matter IS, gm has the same problem as toyota. Toyota has recalled their vehicles to correct the problem. To the best of my knowledge, gm has done nothing. I never got a recall notice. This issue IS out there and someone could very likely be seriously injured or worse if gm does not address it. *Tr
- Engine and engine cooling › Cooling system
Antifreeze leak; lead to replacement of lower intake manifold gasket (very costly) about 4 years ago. needs replacing again. dealership warns of excessive engine damage due to antifreeze in the motor oil. *nm
- Electrical system › Wiring › Front underhood
Pontiac transport montana was parked in a parking lot for 1/2 hour or so and became ingulfed in flames. Fire marshall thinks it was from battery/ electric. destroyed our car and 5 others. no humans hurt...thank god it was parked and my son was not driving it.
- Seat belts
Dt contact states his passenger safety belt in his vehicle IS locked, originally designed a child safety feature. the seat belt buckle in the middle row, center and right side seat IS coming apart. *nm
- Air bags · Seat belts
Driving down a two lane freeway, vearing to the right and I rearended a car. The seatbelts did not lock and the airbags did not work..the vehicle was inspected and everything was said to be working fine..the van IS fully loaded and all the elctronics are working perfectly, as far as I knew.*ak
- Suspension
Intermittently vehicle had difficulty making a left turn, or was unable to make a left turn while in motion . Consumer received a recall notice concerning this problem back in october 23, 2003. but was not able locate that information in nhtsa data base. *Ak
- Engine and engine cooling · Exterior lighting · Power train · Suspension · Visibility › Power window devices and controls
Lens cover over the headlights fell out of both headlights on seperate occcasions. I had to buy the whole headlight assembly. I was driving down the road and they just fell out and broke on the road. we currently have a problem with it overheating have replace thermostat and water pump still…
Lens cover over the headlights fell out of both headlights on seperate occcasions. I had to buy the whole headlight assembly. I was driving down the road and they just fell out and broke on the road. we currently have a problem with it overheating have replace thermostat and water pump still having same problem. not fixed yet. the power sliding door alarms that it IS open for no apparent reason. the door has not opened and closed by the power for several months. it has to be mannaully opened. we have also replaced the both air shocks in the rear of the van. can't get the radiator cap from radiator haven't been able to remove since it was bought.
- Engine and engine cooling · Structure
A/c heat - air conditioning / heat unit in rear of van failed in 2001. Have not attempted to have it repaired to date. A/c and heat IS ok front. body - passenger automatic sliding door. Rattled almost from the day we bought the car. It also at times would not closed (in park). It would close…
A/c heat - air conditioning / heat unit in rear of van failed in 2001. Have not attempted to have it repaired to date. A/c and heat IS ok front. body - passenger automatic sliding door. Rattled almost from the day we bought the car. It also at times would not closed (in park). It would close automatically until it touched the car body then would re-open. They replaced the power sliding door unlatch actuator under a recall. engine - starting at 48,000 miles the check engine light would start to blink when driving, immediately the van would start to run very roughly and have poor acceleration. Light would then stop blinking and stay "on". Then over a period of about an hour running time would turn off. This would happen every other month or so for a day. Eventually -we were told it was the fuel injectors (at 56,000 miles). We replaced those 2000 miles ago and the same problem just appeared again today (july 31, 2003) august update: had coolant loss - it was the gasket which had to be replaced at about $750.. Most of it labor to get to the darned thing.
- Exterior lighting › Headlights
The headlight on drivers side fell out while driving. the passenger side headlight fell out after the trunk was closed. *ak
- Equipment
The most important problem that I have had with this car IS that when making right hand turns, going approx 5-10 miles an hour, the car will shut itself off completely. in order to return driving, the car must be put into park and then restarted. this has occurred many times. the car has been…
The most important problem that I have had with this car IS that when making right hand turns, going approx 5-10 miles an hour, the car will shut itself off completely. in order to return driving, the car must be put into park and then restarted. this has occurred many times. the car has been taken to several different professionals and no one has an explanation. there have been several smaller problems as well, many of which I have seen reported in this web page. thud in gas tank, leaking coolant, driver auto window malfunction, as well as the power steering. I have a two year old little girl and bought this car hearing that it was a safe vehicle, fortuneately for us we have not had any accidents, however, I would not call this car safe at all.*ak
- Exterior lighting › Headlights
We have had lens covers fall off both front headlights. what should normally be a very low cost fix has resulted in repair/labor costs of over $300 for us as you cannot replace just the lens cover. as I was told, the "glue" whoch holds the lens cover on breaks down and results in the lens cover…
We have had lens covers fall off both front headlights. what should normally be a very low cost fix has resulted in repair/labor costs of over $300 for us as you cannot replace just the lens cover. as I was told, the "glue" whoch holds the lens cover on breaks down and results in the lens cover falling off. the entire headlight assembly has to be replaced (last year parts alone were $130...this year around 90 for the other headlight). this IS an awful design! if I were able to replace just the lens cover (only needs to be glued back in place!), I wouldn't complain, but we are not looking at having to replace these "glued together" items at a cost of another $300+ within the next 5 years when this glue fails.*ak
- Engine and engine cooling › Cooling system
I have a 1997 pontiac montana minivan. I have been told that I have the dreaded intake manifold leak. It appears that this IS a huge problem with the 3.4 liter engine. *jb
- Engine and engine cooling › Exhaust system › Manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe
Intake manifold gasket leak. mr. *ak
- Engine and engine cooling › Engine
Blown head gasket after only 50,000 miles. not to mention I had a blown manifold gasket 6 months before this!. *nlm
- Engine and engine cooling
Consumer states the vehicle leaks fuel from the engine. *Ts
- Visibility › Glass, side/rear
Consumer states, the driver side sliding door handle when IS close manual may catch your finger and have a serious accident. Dealer has been notified. Please provide further information. ts
- Engine and engine cooling › Exhaust system › Manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe
Intake manifold gasket IS damaged yet no parts available throughout us. IS this a known fact to gm? IS this a recall item. My van now overheats and cannot be repaired due to lack of parts.*ak
- Unknown or other
A remote control was used to open and close sliding door, remote control just stopped working. consumer has to manually open and close door. *ak
Defect investigations
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened these reviews into vehicles including this one.
- Rear axle trailing arm failure
On november 18, 2002, odi opened a preliminary evaluation (pe02-086) to evaluate allegations of rear axle trailing arm failures in the subject vehicles (u-van) which included two reporting crashes.on april 9, 2003, odi upgraded pe02-086 to an engineering analysis (ea03-005) to continue its examination of the issue.…
On november 18, 2002, odi opened a preliminary evaluation (pe02-086) to evaluate allegations of rear axle trailing arm failures in the subject vehicles (u-van) which included two reporting crashes.on april 9, 2003, odi upgraded pe02-086 to an engineering analysis (ea03-005) to continue its examination of the issue. The trailing arm design in these vehicles has been used in the u-van from my 1997 through the present.the gm analysis concluded that the subject trailing arms could crack or buckle if they were damaged during assembly, pre-delivery handling, or subjected to certain service related abuse conditions such as improper towing or jacking.analysis of odi and gm data has identified 19 incidents of rear axle trailing arm failures in the subject vehicles.there have been no new reports to odi or gm in the last 12 months and only one new complaint in the last 21 months. Due to the low complaint rate and the absence of a continuing trend in reported failures, a safety-related defect has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation IS closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by nhtsa that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will take further action if warranted by the circumstances. For additional information, see the attached closing report.
- Safety belt assembly failure
Odi identified 59 reports with the alleged defect.odi was able to contact 44 of the 59 consumers in order to determine the specific cause of the latch problems.of the 44 owners contacted, odi determined that four failures were due to an out-of-tolerance latch plate, and that 23 failures were due to a displaced buckle…
Odi identified 59 reports with the alleged defect.odi was able to contact 44 of the 59 consumers in order to determine the specific cause of the latch problems.of the 44 owners contacted, odi determined that four failures were due to an out-of-tolerance latch plate, and that 23 failures were due to a displaced buckle housing cover.the remaining 17 failures had indeterminable causes.of the 59 reports, there were three alleged minor injuries.no legal claims or lawsuits have been filed with regard to this alleged defect.based on the limited number of reports, and a declining report trend, this investigation IS closed.a safety-related defect has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appeared to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation IS closed.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by nhtsa that a safety-related defect does not exist.the agency will take further action if warranted by the circumstances. See additional summary report.
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.
- 10248444Vehicle Recalls
- 10246631Expanded Availability for Remanufacture and Return (R&R) Electronic Control Modules
- 10208027This Preliminary Information communicates to the dealer the process for downloading or updating operating software for the Tire Pressure Monitor, Active Fuel Injector tester, multi media tester, PICO Scope, GR8 starting/charging tester and Vehicle Data Recorder tools, giving website address and step by step instructions to complete the update.
- 10082506This technical bulletin provides a procedure to reprogram the media disc player with the latest calibrations to correct a condition of the rear entertainment system not operating as intended in colder ambient temperature areas due to calibration concerns.
- 10017152Power door lock inoperative.
- 10012745Information on error codes on radio display their cause and corrective action.
- 10010026Daytime running lamps (drl) disable official government vehicles only.
- 10009664Battery drain on vehicles equipped with power sliding doors.
- 10007833Water leaks at overhead console map.
- 10006594Power door locks inoperative.
- 10005444Second row seat belt will not retract passengers side. Sit bulletin 1403282.
- 10004765Release of new outer tie rod ends for service.
- 10001276Roof perforation.
- 10000746Roof perforation.
- 636509Issue regarding excessive road noise most prevalent in the sliding door areas, left, right or both.
- 636485Subject regarding wind noise while driving.
- 634674Concerns with wind noise at the base of the windshield.
- 634513Some customers may comment that there IS rust forming around the front or rear portion of the roof.
- 634510Some customers may comment that road noise can be heard coming from the area behind the front seats.
- 629818Customers may experience problems with leaking headlamps or lenses falling off.
- 629666Subject regarding recall 01013 and 01059 power sliding doors.
- 628126Information on wind noise from outside rearview mirrors.
- 626222Customers may complain of a water leak at the center of the windshield or from the overhead console. *Slc
- 623799Subject regarding proper functioning of the chest strap and the integral child seats.
- 621224On some vehicles the second row passenger seat belts may experience a condition where the second row passenger side seat belt will not release.
- 617646Brief information on vehicles exhibiting leaky headlights.
Every Pontiac Montana model year
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