2003 Pontiac Montana problems
The 2003 Pontiac Montana has 117 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (14%) concerns fuel system. Next are electrical system (13%) and air bags (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 117 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Fuel system 14% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 19 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 56 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 56,000 miles 86 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 | 27 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 7 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 9 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 17 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 13 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 2 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 5 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Of the 86 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 56,000 miles. For fuel system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 78,000 miles (12 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 19 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 56 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 96% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 10 model years of the Pontiac Montana with enough data (74 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 5 safety recall campaigns.
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.
I rented a 2003 pontiac montana van from alamo car rental in may, 2003. While driving home from arizona with four of my family members on a clear day, with good road condition, and within speed limit; the left rear tire had a blow out and resulted in a roll-over. The tire brand was general. Eventhough the police informed alamo that the police needed to retain the van to investigate the cause of the blow-out, alamo insisted on retrieving the van.
Van crashed with damage to the front when it ran off the road and went into a culvert/ditch and air bags did not deploy resulting in paralyzation of the wife of the owner after van had been apparently donated to Charity Cars as junk vehicle or salvage vehicle. Vehicle was apparently repaired by towing company and offered for sale at at a used car dealership in Zanesville, Ohio. The passenger side lower dashboard had a white wire hanging down which may have been connected to a defective replacement airbag.
During a vehicle collision/roll over at 55 MPH front air bags did not deploy. Consumer sustained minor face injuries.
1) water in headlight 2) hard to start 3) turns itself off while driving it! 4) squeaky brakes 5) 1/2 gallon of water dumps out of dash onto passenger floor board
There has been a noticeable accumulation of water in the headlights of my 2003 pontiac montana. Only a matter of time before bulb shorts out. There has been some deterioration of illumination ability due to the water, particularly in the last year.