2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara problems
The 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara has 37 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (32%) concerns cruise control. Next are electrical system (22%) and fuel system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 37 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Cruise control 32% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 1 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 2 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 50,000 miles 15 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 | 6 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 0 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 2 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 2 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 2 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 15 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 50,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 2 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 8th most-complained-about out of 9 model years of the Suzuki Grand Vitara with enough data (30 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 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.
Dt: consumer stated she was in an accident on 6-19-05. Someone hit her. The car turned upside down and landed on its top. The person who hit her was going approx. 70 MPH when she came across the lane of traffic and hit her. She was hit on the passenger side door. The air bags did not deploy. She feels that because the car flipped over, the air bags should have deployed. She has not notified the manufacturer or the dealer. The car was totaled.
1/13/04 - received recall letter regarding accelerator cable casing cap. 1/17/04 - had car repaired. 9/9/04 - headlights on at end of day when leaving work and battery dead. Jump-started car and took to dealer; notice smell of something burning. 9/21/04 - car finally fixed. Invoice states: drl lights stay on pulled inside and found light do not turn off but marker lights not on also noticed bcm flashing clock hooked up tech 2 and found code p1121 looked up code in book and run test had to remove bcm from dash to…
While driving, the driver was able to air coming inside of the vehicle when the all windows were closed. Also, the headlights will came on and went off by themselves. This is a hazard to the driver's visibility at night. This was a continuous problem.
When warming out, car sometimes surges and cuts out causing car to not be steered or to stop. It also sometimes will not start.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 suzuki grand vitara. The contact experienced difficulty starting the vehicle. He discovered that the battery cable was grounding out against the body of the vehicle, which caused the failure. The contact stated that the vehicle is unsafe due to the current recalls on the vehicle, although he has not experienced any of the failures noted in the recalls. The failure mileage was 70,000.