1994 Pontiac Sunbird problems
Owners have filed 51 complaints with NHTSA about the 1994 Pontiac Sunbird. Brakes is the most reported problem area, at 29% of complaints. After that come seats (10%) and engine (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 51 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 29% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 10 and 0
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%.
What the data shows
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 10 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 90% 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 1994 ranks 2nd most-complained-about out of 4 model years of the Pontiac Sunbird with enough data (29 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.
The driver's seat belt locked up in head-on collison, then it unlocked & the driver went against the steering wheel. Passenger seat failed to stay locked in place upon impact. Passenger went forward into dashboard. Driver & passenger were injured/hospitalized.
ABS, when brakes are applied, they grab and let go, experienced complete loss of effectiveness, pedal goes to floor, impact 12:00 position, loss of control.
2.0l engine with automatic transmission--tramission (after 2+ hours of driving at hwy speeds) fails to disengage from electronic torque converter/over-drive during slowing to a stop and stalls engine. I have complained to GMC dealer--even spent 400 dollars for tune-up since dealer could not duplicate stall. A check with local 'shade-tree' mechanic yeilded the following--- common place for the electronic torque converter (on 2.0 l mituishbishi automatic used in chevy; buick; and ponitac) not to disengage.