2003 Pontiac Vibe problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Air Bags (52) · Visibility:glass, Side/Rear (34) · Visibility:power Window Devices And Controls (23)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Pontiac Vibe model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
🛣️ Complaints by mileage
190 NHTSA complaints that reported an odometer reading.
Safety recalls (6)
Air Bags:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module 2020-01-23 · campaign 20V039000 · 554 vehicles
Defect: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe vehicles equipped with a front passenger air bag assembly replaced under a prior recall. The replacement air bag may not unfold as designed during inflation in high temperature conditions, possibly resulting in the air bag not inflating properly.
Risk: An air bag that does not inflate properly increases the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the passenger air bag module, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began February 19, 2020. Owners may contact Pontiac customer service at 1-800-762-2737. GM's number for this recall is N192278940.
Air Bags:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module 2018-12-12 · campaign 18V883000 · 168,993 vehicles
Defect: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2002-2005 Lexus SC and Toyota Sequoia, 2003-2005 Toyota Corolla and Tundra, and 2003-2007 Pontiac Vibe vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may explode due to propellant degradation.
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Toyota will notify the Toyota and Lexus owners. General Motors will notify the Pontiac Vibe owners. Depending on the vehicle model, dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, or replace the air bag assembly that includes an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began January 23, 2019. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371, Lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987 or Pontiac customer service at 1-800-762-2737. Toyota
Air Bags 2015-05-13 · campaign 15V285000 · 1,973,468 vehicles
Defect: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) notified the agency on May 13, 2015 that they are recalling certain model year 2004 Sequoia vehicles manufactured August 18, 2003, to August 19, 2004, and 2003-2004 Tundra vehicles manufactured March 18, 2003, to August 25, 2004. On June 16, 2015, Toyota expanded the recall to include an additional 1,270,468 vehicles, including model year 2002-2003 and 2005-2007 Sequoia, 2005-2006 Tundra, 2003-2007 Corolla, 2003-2007 Corolla Matrix, 2003-2007 Po
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 2003-2004 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15V-043 and 15V-285 are under a Do Not Drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the front passenger air bag. The recall began on July 13, 2015. Toyota owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Pontiac owners may call
Air Bags 2015-05-13 · campaign 15V286000 · 1,069,055 vehicles
Defect: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) notified the agency on May 13, 2015, that they are recalling 2005-2007 Lexus SC, Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Sequoia, and Pontiac Vibe, and 2005-2006 Toyota Tundra vehicles that were originally sold, or ever registered, in Florida, along the Gulf Coast, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa. On June 16, 2015 Toyota expanded the recall to cover an additional 769,055 vehicles, including certain model yea
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 2003-2004 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15V-043 and 15V-286 are under a Do Not Drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the passenger side front air bag, free of charge. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota began the recall on July 13, 2015. Po
Air Bags:frontal 2015-01-28 · campaign 15V043000 · 1,006,849 vehicles
Defect: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla vehicles manufactured December 28, 2001, to May 2, 2004, 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla Matrix vehicles manufactured January 6, 2002, to April 29, 2004, 2003-2004 Avalon vehicles manufactured June 5, 2002, to December 20, 2004, and 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe vehicles manufactured January 18, 2002, to April 27, 2004. Due to electrical noise, a component in the air bag control module may fail, causing
Risk: Inadvertent deployment of the air bags or the seat belt pretensioners increases the risk of an injury or crash.
Fix: Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the air bag control module, free of charge. The recall began on August 24, 2015. Toyota owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. GM issued an interim notification to owners on March 27, 2015. The recall began on August 24, 2015. Pontiac owners may call 1-800-620-7668. Note: This recall supersedes recalls 13V-029 and 14V-147. Vehicles that had a noise filter installed as
Air Bags 2013-01-30 · campaign 13V029000 · 887,709 vehicles
Defect: Toyota is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles and 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe vehicles. The supplemental restraint system (SRS) circuits are susceptible to internal shorting. The electrical short may create an abnormal current flow and increased heat which can damage the circuits. This could result in an inadvertent deployment of the front airbags and/or seat belt pretensioners.
Risk: Inadvertent deployment of the airbags or the seat belt pretensioners may increase the risk of injury and the possibility of a vehicle crash.
Fix: Toyota will re-notify their owners who have already had their vehicles repaired with a noise filter, but did not receive a new airbag control module, and General Motors will re-notify theirs. Dealers previously installed a supplemental harness containing an electrical filter between the airbag control module and its wire harness, free of charge. Dealers will replace the airbag control module, free of charge. The recall began on March 13, 2013. The manufacturer has not yet provided a schedule
Service bulletins (406)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Unknown Or Other 2025-07-18 · PIP5601C · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this pi communicates the requirement to provide a pico file to receive diagnostic assistance from tac.
Unknown Or Other 2025-02-20 · PIP5358D · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this preliminary information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that have an unusual noise and is difficult to identify, isolate or pinpoint. technician should get record a sound clip or take a video of the noise for assessment by engineering. technician will need to
Electrical System 2024-10-25 · PIP4723J · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this preliminary information communicates to the dealer the process for downloading or updating operating software for the tire pressure monitor, active fuel injector tester, multi media tester, pico scope, gr8 starting/charging tester and vehicle data recorder tools, giving website address and ste
Unknown Or Other 2024-09-12 · PIT5099H · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this preliminary information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that the heater-vent-air conditioning blows warm air. before calling general motors technical assistance center technician will need to have high and low pressures, outside temperature, humidity, and ven
Unknown Or Other 2024-09-12 · PIT5099H · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this preliminary information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that the heater-vent-air conditioning blows warm air. before calling general motors technical assistance center technician will need to have high and low pressures, outside temperature, humidity, and ven
Unknown Or Other 2024-09-06 · PIT3271P · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this preliminary information communication provides information to the technician about changing the tire and wheel size on vehicles. general motors will only support a tire calibration for tires that have been sized, tested and designed for the vehicle in question and its applications. technician s
Showing the 6 most recent of 406 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-09-14 · Unknown Or Other“vehicle wright capacity on manufacturing sticker lists total capacity weight as 8601 pounds or 390kg. converting 390kg to pounds is 860 pounds. …”
2024-01-30 · Air Bags“the 2003-2004 pontiac vibe was manufactured by toyota and is for all intent and purposes is a 2003 toyota matrix. the 2003-04 pontiac vibe should be included in the "do not drive" advisory issued by toyota 20 jan 30th 2024. only the body is different than the toyota matrix and everything internal is the same. please do not let this model fall thr…”
2022-11-05 · Seat Belts“ buckle came unlatched and latch will not lock at all driver and passenger…”
2022-06-02 · Structure:body · 💥 crash“the secondary safety hood latch failed causing the hood to fly up and shatter the windshield while also obstructing visibility on the road. the complete obstruction of the windshield presented a dangerous situation putting myself and others at risk of death of severe injury. in addition this caused glass shards to enter the driver/passenger compa…”
2021-04-24 · Air Bags · 27,000 mi“i have a2003 pontiac vibe which had atakata recall. in january 2020, i took the car to a gm dealer called"quality buick gmc of englewood" located at"406 grand ave englewood nj 07631 us" to do the recall repair. since the day of the repair the lid on top left side of the dashboard had poppedup and did not close fully. that is where the passenger's a…”
2020-07-08 · Unknown Or Other · 104,000 mi“drivers side window pops when going down air recirculation lower motor not operating properly does this all the time itseems like the window is going to shatter…”
2020-07-08 · Exterior Lighting“dash lights go out then come back on after a period of time…”
2020-07-08 · Electrical System“blower motor not closing or opening all the way makes noise goes away when recirculation is engauged comes right back when turned off…”
2020-01-03 · Unknown Or Other · 111,324 mi“reference gm recall no. 07273: window regulator bolts: recall repair done in 2008, recall work failed in 2016 and $311 was spent on window regulator assembly and labor. 2019/2020 the regulator is failing again. window is rattling, slow to move up and down, including loud scraping noises. this happens in all modes of movement and non-movement.…”
2019-12-12 · Seat Belts · 287,000 mi“buckle came unlatched and latch will not lock at all…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.