2005 Pontiac Sunfire problems
Owners have filed 94 complaints with NHTSA about the 2005 Pontiac Sunfire. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 67% of complaints. Next are engine (5%) and cruise control (4%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 94 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 67% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 0 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 61,000 miles 85 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 | 3 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 21 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 14 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 24 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 14 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 6 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 85 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 61,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 62,000 miles (58 complaints with mileage).
None of these complaints report a crash, fire, injury or death. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 100% 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 2005 ranks 10th most-complained-about out of 11 model years of the Pontiac Sunfire with enough data (52 complaints in that window).
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.
Fatal flaw. The vehicle I am speaking of is a pontiac sunfire possibly 2005 model year. I had rented it from a rental company and used it for about a month. During the use there were a couple of incidents where I would remove the key from the ignition thinking the car was off but come back an hour later to find out that the engine was still running. I didn't really care about this but I was watching on news and found out that an entire family of 6 had died because of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The rear turn lights on our 2003 pontiac sunfire continue to fail leaving us without turn signals. We have taken the vehicle back to the dealer, including under a safety recall, but the fix (put "grease" on the bulb) has not ended the problem.
While driving with cruise control on in a remote area of utah (between milford and minersville) I ran over a cattle guard running across the road. Immediately, my gas pedal dropped to the floor and attempted to gain maximum speed. Several steps on the brake pedal finally disengaged the cruise control. If this had happened in a high volume traffic area, or in the nearby s-turns going through the canyon, this could have caused a very serious accident or worse.
I have a 2005 pontiac sunfire 4 door, VIN [xxx] . I have been generally happy with the car. Starting in early december of 2010, my entire intrument panel cluster stopped working. It started with the fuel gauge showing out of the range of the gauge and then the temperature gauge started malfunctioning and reading artificially high. I brought it to scherer chevrolet, buick, GMC in kitchener, [xxx] where I work.
At first the speedometer would freeze and not work. Sometimes it would; however, I did not know if it was accurate. Then the fuel gauge and other gauges would randomly go on and off. This car was intended for my 16 year old daughter, but I cannot let her drive it due to safety issues. I have read all the complaints on this car and mine is just like theirs. When is GM going to do something about this?