2005 Pontiac Sunfire

AT FIRST MY SPEEDOMETER WOULD JUST STICK OCCASIONALLY, BUT NOW IT NEVER WORKS AT ALL. IT IS ALWAYS EITHER AT 0 OR STUCK ON SOME RANDOM NUMBER. I HAVE BEEN LOOKING ONLINE AND MANY OTHER PEOPLE WITH 2005 SUNFIRE'S HAVE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM AND IT IS INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING. I HAVE YET TO FIND SOMEONE WHO WAS WILLING TO LOOK AT MY CAR AND ATTEMPT TO PULL THE DASH APART TO FIX IT. *TR

ONLY ROUTINE DRIVING PRECEDED THIS INCIDENT. THE TACHOMETER AND SPEEDOMETER ON MY 2005 PONTIAC SUNFIRE BEGAN TO ACT ERRATIC PRIOR TO 33,000 MILES. AT ~34,500 MILES THE TACHOMETER COMPLETELY FAILED IN A POSITION WHICH PREVENTED THE SPEEDOMETER FROM FUNCTIONING (THE SPEEDOMETER NEEDLE WAS HELD DOWN BY THE TACHOMETER NEEDLE). THIS WAS A TREMENDOUS SAFETY CONCERN ESPECIALLY SINCE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER WAS DRIVING THE VEHICLE. THIS APPEARS TO BE AN ALL TOO COMMON PROBLEM FOR SEVERAL LATE MODEL GM VEHICLES AND SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A SAFETY CONCERN SINCE IT PREVENTS THE PROPER OPERATION OF THE VEHICLE AND CAN DISTRACT THE DRIVER. I CAN'T IMAGINE THAT A SPEEDOMETER FAILURE WOULD NOT REPRESENT A SAFETY DEFECT AND WARRANT ACTION. I HAVE HAD THE INSTRUMENT PANEL REPLACED AT THE DEALER. I CONTACTED PONTIAC CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THEY APPEAR TO ONLY LOG COMPLAINTS. I WAS INFORMED THAT RECALLS OF THIS NATURE WERE BASED ON CONSUMER COMPLAINTS REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY OF THE SPECIFIC PART THEY KNOW THEY HAVE REPLACED. THAT IS CRAZY ' IF THEY KNOW THAT A LARGE NUMBER OF A CERTAIN PART IS FAILING THEY SHOULD REPLACE IT WITHOUT WAITING FOR THE ISSUE TO MANIFEST ITSELF IN AN ACCIDENT. IN ADDITION, THE DRIVER SIDE ELECTRIC WINDOW IS ALSO NOT FUNCTIONING PROPERLY - WHICH ALSO APPEARS TO BE OCCURRING IN SEVERAL GM MODELS. THIS IS ALSO A SAFETY CONCERN BECAUSE IT COULD PREVENT THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE FROM EXITING IT IN AN EMERGENCY. GM IS AWARE THAT THIS IS A WORKMANSHIP/MATERIAL QUALITY ISSUE. *TR

THE GAS GAUGE AND THE TACHOMETER ON MY CAR BOTH ARE NOT WORKING PROPERLY. WHEN I FILL UP THE CAR, THE GAS GAUGE DOESN'T RESET AND OFTEN FALLS OVER INTO THE SPEEDOMETER. THE TACK HASN'T WORKED IN OVER A YEAR. WARRANTY EXPIRED ON THE CAR. MECHANICS SAID I'D HAVE TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE PANEL, GIVING MY CAR AN INCORRECT READ ON THE MILEAGE. *TR

TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2005 PONTIAC SUNFIRE. WHILE DRIVING 35 MPH, THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY BEGAN TO DECELERATE AND THE AIR CONDITIONER BEGAN BLOWING WARM AIR FOLLOWED BY A BURNING SMELL. PRIOR TO THE FAILURE, WHENEVER THE CONTACT WOULD DRIVE THE VEHICLE WITH THE AIR CONDITIONER ACTIVATED AT ANY SPEED, SHE COULD HEAR A RATTLING SOUND COMING FROM THE AIR CONDITIONER UNIT. THE VEHICLE HAS NOT BEEN DIAGNOSED BY THE DEALER. UPDATED 09/17/08. *LJ THE CONSUMER WAS TOLD IF SHE TURNED THE VEHICLE OFF, IT WOULD NOT START AGAIN. UPDATED 09/24/08. B*JB

SPEEDOMETER FAILURE- ONE DAY, I WAS DRIVING TO WORK ON A RESIDENTIAL ROAD ABOUT 35 MPH AND NOTICED THAT MY SPEEDOMETER WAS REGISTERING 80 MPH. THIS CAME TO A GREAT SHOCK TO ME. I ATTEMPTED TO SHUT OFF THE IGNITION TO SEE IF THE SPEEDOMETER WOULD RESET AND IT DIDN'T. ALSO, THE SPEEDOMETER WOULD NOT RETURN TO 0 MPH- IT ONLY DROPPED TO ABOUT 65MPH. I SEARCHED 2005 PONTIAC SUNFIRE SPEEDOMETER AND 2005 CHEVROLET CAVALIER SPEEDOMETER IN GOOGLE AND HAVE FOUND MANY BLOG POSTINGS ON AUTOMOTIVE WEBSITES ABOUT THE SAME ISSUE WITH AN INACCURATE SPEEDOMETER AND/OR GAUGE CLUSTER MALFUNCTION. THIS ISSUE ALSO SEEMS TO EXTEND BEYOND THE SUNFIRE/CAVALIER MODELS TO OTHER GM VEHICLES BACK TO 1993. MY CAR HAS APPROXIMATELY 50,000 MILES ON IT AND WHILE I HAVE BEEN OUT OF THE WARRANTY BASED ON THE MILEAGE FOR SOME TIME, IF I HAD NOT EXCEEDED THE MILEAGE RESTRICTION, I WOULD HAVE JUST PASSED THE 3 YEAR MARK ON DEC. 12, 2007. IT SEEMS THAT MANY OTHER SUNFIRE/CAVALIER AND GM PRODUCT OWNERS EXPERIENCING THE SAME ISSUE FIRST EXPERIENCED THE ISSUE JUST OUTSIDE OF THE 3 YEAR WARRANTY PERIOD. THERE ARE CURRENTLY LAW SUITS PENDING AGAINST GM TO PAY FOR SPEEDOMETER REPAIRS. ONE POSTER ON THE CAR BLOG SAID THAT WHEN HE SAW HIS SPEEDOMETER READ 65 MPH ON A RESIDENTIAL STREET HE QUICKLY HIT HIS BRAKES AND IF ANYONE HAD BEEN BEHIND HIM, IT WOULD HAVE CAUSED A CRASH. FOR THIS REASON, I BELIEVE THAT THIS DEFECTIVE SPEEDOMETER ISSUE COULD CAUSE A SAFETY HAZARD. *TR