2008 Pontiac Grand Prix problems
NHTSA has received 200 complaints about the 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix, and 22% of them involve electrical system. Next are lighting (16%) and engine (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 200 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 22% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 14 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 15 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 88,000 miles 159 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 8 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 15 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 15 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 27 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 34 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 18 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 24 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 5 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Of the 159 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 88,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 91,000 miles (32 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 14 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 15 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2008 ranks 14th most-complained-about out of 19 model years of the Pontiac Grand Prix with enough data (88 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
My father-in-law was driving my grand prix and my mother-in-law was in the passenger seat. My father-in-law lost consciousness at the wheel and they went left of center and ran another vehicle off the road. My mother-in-law grabbed the wheel to avoid a collision and they went off the road to the right and went airborne and crashed into a tree. My father-in-law died in the crash and my mother-in-law was life-flighted. The car had extensive damage and was totaled. The airbags never deployed.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 pontiac grand prix. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 MPH, another vehicle crashed head on into the vehicle and the driver and passenger frontal air bags failed to deploy causing the contact face to hit the steering wheel. The contact suffered injuries to the face and knee, the front passenger suffered injuries to the legs and face, and the rear passenger suffered injuries to the legs and face. The vehicle was destroyed. A police report was filed.
I was in an accident going about 35 miles per hour when I hit a bronco I knocked his tires off complete total of my vehicle the hood was destroyed I have pictures of my car the air bags did not go off and I hit my head pretty hard on the steering wheel I'm glad it was just me as my kids would have been injured but my concern is with the airbags not deploying even the cop on scene said they should have deployed.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 pontiac grand prix. While driving 55 MPH after purchasing the vehicle, the paint began peeling. The dealer stated that the failure was caused by exposure to acid rain and they offered to re-paint the vehicle. The contact also felt a hard vibration when depressing the brake pedal and accelerating to 55-65 MPH. The failure mileage was 400 and current mileage was 800.
When driving the 2008 grand prix gxp (5.3 with a 4sp automatic overdrive) at low speed the car started shuttering and slipping in gear. Made it home slowly and pulled over and checked to ensure transmission fluid full. Call dealer to file warranty claim and tried to drive to dealer and car went 1/4 mile at 10-15 MPH and car transmission went completely out. No gears in reverse, drive or manual mode. Car had to be towed to dealer.