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Wagons Pontiac Vibe Pontiac Vibe Maintenance & Repair Pontiac Vibe Electrical/Lighting Issues
72 messages, Last post on Aug 23, 2009 at 6:47 PM
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on very early Matrixes, and Toyota came up with a fix and issued a recall to affected owners. It was a problem where in cold areas the lights on some cars would turn themselves on in the middle of the night and kill the battery, which sounds exactly like what you are saying? Did Pontiac not recall the Vibes? You may want to check with your dealer. I am surprised you have not experienced this problem before now?
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Replying to: nippononly (Dec 06, 2004 8:55 am) I bought this '03 Vibe new at the end of the 2003 model year. This is the first winter that it has not been in the garage, thus it hasn't experiences temperatures so low. I love this car. My Vibe replaced a 2000 VW Passat, which I had a lot of trouble with, both electrically and mechanically. In two years of ownership, this will be the first time it has acted up. I am worried about this mysterious headlight problem. When I set up the appointment, the dealer was very skeptical, and basically said they would have to verify the problem themselves--yeah like some technician is going to sit with the car over-night to watch the headlights illuminate.
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Replying to: vibo (Dec 06, 2004 7:01 pm) |
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I have zero confidence in Pontiac. First - The service tech was using a flashlight to make the thing go on/off and claims it works right. Second - The service manager tells me the trix doesn't have DRL, and uses a different headlight than the Vibe. AND this is the first complaint he's heard of. He did spend about 30 minutes driving around the parking lot - but it seems that at noon, on a clear day, there is enough ambient light to make me a liar. Most of my morning commute is with the headlights ON. My two parts for the under storage bin came in, some consolation... they had a TSB for that!...also, there's a PENDING programming update for the rotten egg thing. So this is the thanks I get for venturing into American cars. The Vibe may be built with "perceived" Japanese quality, but I think I am learning to stick with the original manufacturer/designer/Engineering just so updates happens - Joint Venture or not. As in real life, information is key, and someone forgot to tell Pontiac to CHANGE THE PART. About sensor/relay nomenclature - I had a toyota muffler replaced on my old corolla and the item was listed as "tail pipe assembly". Since they warranty the muffler for life, I had the same argument every few years, that the muffler = "tail pipe assembly". So maybe the sensor is part of the "relay assembly"...then again, maybe not. Wax on, wax off... |
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well, Toyota fixed the problem on Toyotas within a few months of launch, say by the end of Summer '02, but I don't know when or if Pontiac ever did the same. For Toyota it was actually a recall of all affected Matrixes (there weren't a huge number). Again it is possible that if your Pontiac dealer is not willing or able to diagnose and eliminate this problem, you could maybe approach a Toyota dealer and ask if you could pay for the repair that was performed on the Matrixes that had this problem. Even though it appears Pontiac dealers are making much of the differences between the two vehicles, the fact is that until the updates to both models for the '05 model year, they were identical except for some cosmetics. Both would have the same DRL, the same twilight sensor and relay, etc. If nothing else, you could perhaps get the Toyota dealer to llok up their recall info on those early Matrixes and print it out for you to show the Pontiac dealer. |
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| We didn't get a recall notice for the headlights turning themselves on in the middle of cold nights. Ours was bought in August 2002, so I hope we weren't missed. I don't think we have ever left it outside overnight when the temperature was less than 20 degrees. | |
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in that case it must have been a Toyota TSB rather than a recall, but I know they did so because when I took mine in for its very first service, the guy mentioned it and the fact that he would check to see if mine was among the affected cars. The affected VINs were REALLY early production cars, mine wasn't one of them (mine was built in May or June 2002 I forget which). If you bought in August, herzog, you would almost certainly have not been affected by that. They had already addressed the problem by then.
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Replying to: nippononly (Dec 07, 2004 12:33 pm) The good news is that Pontiac dealership did find a TSB and ordered the new "switch", and they will replace it Tuesday. Thanks all of you on this forum for your help. It makes a difference when you go in to the dealership with some information backing your claim. In this instance, headlights turning on at night. I know there are many on the "Vibe" sponsored forums complaining about dead batteries in the cold. They may want to look into the headlight problem as well, not just battery problems. Thanks again!
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Replying to: vibo (Dec 11, 2004 11:21 am)
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Replying to: tiera (Nov 28, 2005 5:38 pm)
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