NHTSA Complaint #10181877 — 2004 PONTIAC VIBE

ON THE MORNING OF FEB. 5, 2007, IT TOOK ABOUT 3 ATTEMPTS TO START THE CAR. I ATTRIBUTED IT TO THE COLD WEATHER SINCE IT WAS AN EXTREMELY COLD MORNING (30 F). I DROVE TO WORK. WHEN IT WAS TIME TO LEAVE WORK THE CAR WOULD NOT START. AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS, I CALLED AAA. A TECHNICIAN CHECKED THE BATTERY AND FOUND IT TO BE IN PERFECT CONDITION, WHICH WAS EXPECTED SINCE IT WAS A NEW BATTERY. THE CAR COULD NOT BE JUMPED. I HAD TO WAIT FOR A FLAT BED TRUCK TO COME PICK ME UP. AFTER RESEARCHING THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S WEBSITE, I FOUND THAT GM HAD KNOWLEDGE THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE STARTER ASSEMBLY RELATING TO THIS VEHICLE BACK IN JANUARY 2004. THE NOTED STATEMENT WAS "HARD TO START, SLOW CRANKING CONDITION IN AMBIENT TEMPERATURE BELOW 20 DEGREES"F. THIS IS A DEFECT THAT WAS NEVER CORRECTED AND CAUSED ME TO BE STRANDED IN AN UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT UNTIL 8:30 PM. THE MANUFACTURER'S WARRANTY HAS EXPIRED, BUT THIS ELECTRICAL SYSTEM DEFECT EXISTED SINCE THE CAR ROLLED OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE. THE FUNCTIONING OF THE STARTER ASSEMBLY SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN INTERMITTENT AT BEST. TOTAL FAILURE OF THIS STARTER ASSEMBLY OCCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE DEFECT NOT BEING CORRECTED. I BELIEVE THAT THE MANUFACTURER, GM, SHOULD REPLACE THE STARTER ASSEMBLY WITH A WORKING MODEL. *JB