Owners have filed 3,410 complaints on the Pontiac Grand Am, covering 1995–2005. The system named most often is Electrical System (818 reports). Worst years by volume: 1999, 2000, 2001; cleanest: 2005, 1998, 2004. 267 reports describe a crash, 91 a fire, 30 a death. On average the car was 5.1 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Pontiac Grand Am
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 3,410 Grand Am complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 818 Read
The contact owns a 2005 pontiac grand am. While driving approximately 20 mph, the vehicle shut off and caused the power steering and the power brakes to fail. As a result, the contact crashed into the guardrail and the air bags failed to deploy. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The contact…
The contact owns a 2005 pontiac grand am. While driving approximately 10 mph, the vehicle stalled and crashed into a curb. A police report was not filed and there were no injuries reported. The vehicle was previously repaired under NHTSA campaign number: 14V400000 (electrical system) however, the failure recurred on…
The contact owns a 2004 pontiac grand am. The contact stated that while approaching a stop light at 10 mph, the vehicle stalled. As a result, the contact crashed into the rear of another vehicle. A police report was filed and no injuries were sustained. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was…
Service Brakes 455 Read
The consumer request assistance in getting a copy of the accident report. The vehicle inspection report, and written monetary settlement fm gm, his daughter was injured in the 2003 pontiac am. *bf the consumer is requesting correspondence from gm. Updated the consumers daughter was in a single accident on the…
While driving, applied brakes and vehicle would not stop. Front brakes locked up, resulting in hitting another vehicle. Dealer contacted. *ak this vehicle was a rented vehicle in which 2 accidents occurred within a 16 hour period, both accidents were caused by the faulty ABS, consumer was injured in one of the…
Brakes locked up, resulting in an accident. Cause unknown. Dealer notified
Engine And Engine Cooling 396 Read
Going through an intersection, the car shuts off and the car following runs into the the back of us
Loss of power, service engine light and smell of smoldering material. Don't know what failure is, found melted trunk liner and personal jacket
The engine caught fire while driving on the interstate. Mr scc
Exterior Lighting 361 Read
In many occasions I had a couple of incidents, one because of a yellow pole and another because of an object in the freeway. And the air bag wouldn't deployed. I paid for the repairs and I am still driving this car. After reading the letter I received I have come to one understanding that is that the car isn't safe.…
The contact owns a 2004 pontiac grand am se. She stated that the hazard lights would intermittently and rapidly turn on and off. The contact stated there was a burning wire smell when the failure occurred. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for repairs or diagnostic testing. Neither the dealer nor the…
The turn signal flasher failed and as a result the vehicle was rear ended while attempting to make a left turn. *ak
Air Bags 231 Read
The contact owns a 2005 pontiac grand am. While driving 15 mph, the air bags deployed without cause, which caused a crash into an unknown object. In addition, the crash bent the front passenger rim. The air bag warning light illuminated after the deployment. The road conditions were dry. As of january 3, 2008, the…
The contact owned a 2005 pontiac grand am. While driving 35 mph, the driver swerved to avoid an object in the road. As a result, the vehicle rolled over three times and crashed into a tree. The air bags failed to deploy. The driver was killed. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was…
The contact owns a 2005 pontiac grand am. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA campaign number: 14V400000 (electrical system). While idling at a stop sign, the contact's vehicle was struck head on by another vehicle. The frontal air bags failed to deploy. There were no reported injuries. A police…
Steering 204 Read
The contact owns a 2005 pontiac grand am. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 35 mph, the entire instrument panel illuminated intermittently. In addition, the steering wheel failed to respond and the vehicle crashed into a concrete wall. The contact and her child sustained injuries to the arms,…
Driving my 2004 pontiac grand am home form grocery shopping and tried to get into left hand turn only lane, but car wouldn`t slow down and I didn`t want to rear end the person ahead as there was a lot of traffic that day so I veered to the right to get into a parking lot to pull my emergency brakes, but was broad…
The contact owned a 2004 pontiac grand am. While the contact's daughter was driving and attempting to turn, the power steering failed without warning. The vehicle became difficult to steer and caused the driver to crash into a snowplow. The vehicle was destroyed and towed. A police report was filed. The air bags did…
Suspension 177 Read
A 2004 pontiac grand am, driving eastbound on dirt road. Driver came around a curve on dirt road and had sudden loss of control of vehicle. Driver described wheel being torn out of his hands with loss of control. Vehicle then rolled onto its side. While vehicle was up on its side, it was noted that driver's side rear…
While vehicle was in reverse it crashed into a cement wall. This caused the bumper to bend. *ak it was later determined that the knuckle the bolts onto the shock absorder failed
No summary listed for above vehicle
Visibility 139 Read
The contact owns a 2001 pontiac grand am. Intermittently, the driver side front window would not operate at all. The master switch assembly was replaced. Approximately 8 months later, the vehicle was involved in a crash, in which the impact was on the driver's side door. Three months later, the window began to work…
The contact stated that the aluminum underneath the hood was pitted very badly which caused dust to come from the area. The contact expressed concerned about the health hazards this could cause. The dealership has been made aware of the problem. *ak updated 7/18/2006 - the window on the passenger side hesitated while…
2005 pontiac grand am se the drivers side window becomes detached from the window regulator. The glass is attached with a plastic glued to the glass the plastic becomes brittle and breaks causing the window to drop, the biggest problem is trying to drive in a down poor without drivers side window bad timing for window…
Grand Am years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Air Bags | 14 | 1 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 20 | 5 | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 21 | 4 | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 22 | 2 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 16 | 3 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 39 | 10 | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | 50 | 9 | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 8 | 4 | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | 22 | 10 | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | 22 | 12 | |
| 1995 | Air Bags | 33 | 31 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 1,223 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.8 |
| Worst single series | 18 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.1 years |
A model average of 2.8 hides a worst series at 18. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Grand Am?
By complaint volume, 1999, 2000, 2001 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Grand Am years are the cleanest?
2005, 1998, 2004 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Pontiac Grand Am have?
3,410 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1995–2005. Of those, 267 describe a crash and 91 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.