NHTSA Complaint #10245483 — 2004 PONTIAC VIBE

FRONT PASSENGER SIDE POWER WINDOW MADE LOUD POPPING NOISE GOING UP OR DOWN UNTIL WINDOW CAME OFF TRACK. DRIVER SIDE SOON BEGAN MAKING THE SAME NOISE BUT DIDN'T COME OFF THE TRACK. TOOK VEHICLE TO DEALER TO HAVE RECALL REPAIR GM RECALL NO. 07273, DEALER REPLACED THE BOLTS PER THE RECALL AND STATED THAT THE PROBLEM WAS NOT RELATED TO THE RECALL AND WOULD REQUIRE REPLACEMENT OF THE WINDOW REGULATOR ON BOTH WINDOWS AS WELL AS A NEW WINDOW AND MOTOR FOR THE PASSENGER SIDE. UPON FURTHER RESEARCH I DETERMINED THAT THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM IS INTERFERENCE BETWEEN THE DOOR CHECK AND THE WINDOW--AND FOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS A SIMILAR PROBLEM--YOU CAN CONFIRM THIS BY OPENING THE DOOR FULLY AND ROLLING THE WINDOW UP AND DOWN--IF THE PROBLEM GOES AWAY WHILE THE DOOR IS FULLY OPENED, THEN THE CAUSE IS THE DOOR CHECK INTERFERENCE. TO REMEDY THE PROBLEM, I MODIFIED THE DOOR CHECK BY REMOVING ABOUT 1/8 INCH OF MATERIAL FROM THE T-SHAPED PART OF THE DOOR CHECK THAT WAS CAUSING THE INTERFERENCE--THIS FIXED THE PROBLEM ON THE DRIVER SIDE. REPLACING THE DOOR CHECK MAY ALSO FIX THE PROBLEM--BUT MAYBE ONLY TEMPORARILY UNLESS THE DESIGN OF THE DOOR CHECK IS CHANGED TO PREVENT INTERFERENCE. UNFORTUNATELY, BECAUSE THE PASSENGER SIDE WINDOW HAD ALREADY COME OFF THE TRACK, THE REGULATOR WAS ALSO DAMAGED AND THE CLIPS THAT MOUNT THE GLASS TO THE REGULATOR WILL ALSO NEED TO BE REPLACED AT THE VERY MINIMUM. *TR