Failed Transmission/Pontiac Vibe 78000 miles

[pottera3]

We have a 2004 Pontiac Vibe that has approximately 78,000 miles on it and a few weeks ago our transmission went out. We had the vehicle towed to the closet transmission repair and they found that the transmission had such severe damage that it could not be rebuilt. The cost $2500.00 on a car that we thought we could depend on. Our 2003 Honda Civic has twice as many miles on it without any costly repairs.

We called Pontiac Elhart to find out if Pontiac had a longer warranty on the transmission and they told us to bring the vehicle to them. When we told them that it was in the process of being fixed they basically told us there was nothing they could do for us because we did not bring the vehicle to them first.

We immediately had the process stopped, until we could find out more information. We contacted GM to register our complaint. After a few more conversations with GM and Elhart Pontiac, Holland Michigan, we were told to continue to move forward with having the car repaired and to bring the transmission out to Elhart.

Customer Service, at Elhart, found that a clip or a bearing had come loose and that is what caused the damage. This is not suppose to happen on vehicles with 78,000 miles on them.

We were then told that we would have a three way conversation with GM, Elhart and ourselves to talk about what they discovered and see if we were eligible for any assistance. This conversation never happened. We simply received a phone call saying that we were denied of any assistance.

This decision came from the District manager, whose name we were denied, and we are also being denied access to any and all of the records that General Motors was given. When we asked to speak with someone higher up, we were told that we could not speak with anyone and if we wanted to proceed we needed to write a letter.

So basically we bought a GM car and after we purchased it, General Motors could care less about our, the customers, satisfaction or standing behind their product. We simply feel that when you invest in a vehicle, you should be able to expect it to not incur such costly damages.

[randalljd]

What is the warranty--up to how many miles. It is bad but 78,000 is also a fair amount of miles--is it still covered?

Mine went out at 76,000 pc of junk

I have an '03 vibe w/ 82000 miles and my transmission went out. It cost me almost $3700 between the transmission and clutch. (I could have gotten a used one for about $700 less, but it was recommended that I not, since they seem to only make it 70 - 100K miles)

I took it to a trusted shop, and they told me that the rear bearing had absolutely no lubrication on it and it broke off. They said that while 82K is a lot of miles, this should not have happened this soon. I was also informed that this happens (not a lot, but) more than it should. Their educated opinion was that it was a manufacturers defect.

I was planning to call pontiac and hope I get treated better than you did. Hopefully if enough people call and complain, we can get some money back - that is just a ridiculous amount of money to put into a 5 year old vehicle!

I have a 2006 vibe, with 42K miles. the transmission is acting up on it. i had a mechanic run the codes on it today. apparently i have solenoid problems. AT 42K miles!!! how nuts is that!?!?

I have 80,000 miles on my '05 Vibe. When the mechanic did the diagnostic check to see why the check engine light was staying on, he said it indicated a problem with the solenoid in the transmission. This is begining to sound like a defect.