2005 Pontiac Vibe: problems, recalls and reliability
5 recalls and 301 owner complaints on record; the weakest area is air bags (57% of complaints).
Data updated weekly · latest recall Aug 2019
All counts are reports filed with NHTSA in the United States - US market only, not worldwide totals.
Common problems
Computed from 301 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for this exact model year.
“The contact owns a 2005 Pontiac Vibe. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V285000 (Air Bags); and would like to be removed from the recall distribution list. The local dealer and manufacturer were contacted.”Owner report · Air Bags · Sep 2024
“The contact owned a 2005 Pontiac Vibe. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V883000 (Air Bags) and would like to be removed from the recall distribution list. The local dealer and manufacturer were not contacted.”Owner report · Air Bags · Aug 2024
“The contact owns a 2005 Pontiac Vibe. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the doors locked independently. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring. The contact stated that on the last occasion, the doors locked independently while her daughter was inside the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or local dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 195,000.”Owner report · Latches/Locks/Linkages · Feb 2024
Show 7 more owner reports
“The contact owns a 2005 Pontiac Vibe. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was diagnosed at a local dealer with air bag coil wire failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V168000 (Air Bags). The approximate failure mileage was 199,850.”Owner report · Air Bags · Jun 2022
“The airbag in my vehicle are faulty and have not been replaced. The safety code for airbag is showing on the dashboard of my vehicle.. I was alerted to this when I drove my car to a repair garage for a smog inspection on 5/4/21. The auto manufacturer has not made any effort to correct the problem with the faulty airbags.”Owner report · Air Bags · May 2021
“I recently took my vibe in for an air bag recall. They replaced the passager side air bag module but did nothing with the drivers side. I've had an airbag warning light on for several months and I thought this would also be fixed. They informed me it wasn't part of the recall. What I don't understand if the passager side air bags are faulty can can cause bodily harm or even death why would the driverside air bag be any different. I feel it should have also been replaced. Please let me know why it wasn't or at least the warning light fixed.”Owner report · Air Bags · Jan 2021
“2005 pontiac vibe. Consumer stated that the dealership was an unsafe environment to have recall repairs completed. *ld the consumer stated the dealership did not enforce mask wearing indoors. *js”Owner report · Other/I Am Not Sure · Sep 2020
“I had a recall on the passenger side airbag of my car a few years ago. I had it replaced with the same, but newer part. I then received another notification and called in to get it fixed, but no parts were available. I received two or three more notices and called for the fix, but the part was still not available. Today, about a year or so later, I received another notice, made another call, and they were finally able to order a replacement part. However, they still don't know how long it will take to come in.”Owner report · Air Bags · Sep 2020
“2005 pontiac vive. Consumer writes in regards to air bag safety recall. *ld the consumer stated the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time completing the recall repair. The air bag light illuminated. The manufacturer was contacted but, did not offer any assistance. The consumer requested to be provided a rental until the part to repair the vehicle becomes available. *js”Owner report · Air Bags · Aug 2020
“Tl* the contact owns a 2005 pontiac vibe. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 19v627000 (air bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. An unknown dealer was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not available. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available. *bf *dl”Owner report · Air Bags · Jul 2020
When filing, owners marked a crash in 10 of these complaints and injuries in 9 - self-reported to NHTSA, not verified accident statistics.
Recalls - 5 campaigns
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 Pontiac Vibe and 2002-2007 Lexus SC vehicles. This is to address a safety defect in the passenger side frontal air bag inflator which may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the air bag. This recall addresses both the passenger side frontal air bags that were originally installed in the vehicles, as well as replacement air bags that may have been installed as replacement service parts. A replacement air bag may have been installed, as one example, if a vehicle had been in a crash necessitating the replacement of the passenger side frontal air bag.
Remedy: 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 1-800-762-2737. NOTE: This recall supersedes recall 14V-312 in its entirety.
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 year 2002-2004 Lexus SC, Toyota Sequoia, 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla Matrix, Toyota Corolla, Pontiac Vibe, and Toyota Tundra vehicles, as well the vehicles covered by the May 13, 2015 notification in the portions of Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas that were not previously included. The inflators in the front passenger air bags are susceptible to rupture in the event of a crash necessitating the deployment of the front passenger air bag.
Remedy: 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. Pontiac Vibe owners may contact GM at 1-800-762-2737. GM began the recall on June 29, 2015. NOTE: This recacll supersedes recall 14V-655 in its entirety. For vehicles located in the U.S. states not listed above, please see Toyota recall 15V-285 which covers all other U.S. states.
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.
Remedy: 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's numbers for these recalls are J0A (Zone A Toyota), J0B (Zone B Toyota), J0C (Zone C Toyota), JLI (Zone A Lexus), JLJ (Zone B Lexus), and JLK (Zone C Lexus). Note: This recall includes vehicles that have had their air bag previously replaced under an earlier air bag campaign.
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2003-2008 Corolla, 2005-2008 Corolla Matrix, and Pontiac Vibe vehicles equipped with a front passenger air bag assembly replaced under a prior recall. The air bag may not unfold as designed during inflation under high temperature conditions, possibly resulting in the air bag not inflating properly.
Remedy: Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the front passenger air bag assembly or sub-assembly, free of charge. Toyota owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371. Toyota's numbers for this recall are K1Q and K0Q. Pontiac owners may contact GM customer service at 1-800-762-2737. GM's number for this recall is N192273760.
GM IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2005-2008 PONTIAC VIBE VEHICLES. THE ENGINE CONTROL MODULE (ECM) FOR THE SUBJECT MODELS EQUIPPED WITH THE 1ZZ-FE (LV6) ENGINE AND TWO-WHEEL DRIVE MAY HAVE BEEN IMPROPERLY MANUFACTURED. THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT A CRACK MAY DEVELOP AT CERTAIN SOLDER POINTS OR ON VARISTORS ON THE CIRCUIT BOARD.
Remedy: DEALERS WILL INSPECT THE PRODUCTION NUMBER OF THE ECM AND REPLACE THE ECM IF NECESSARY. THIS SERVICE WILL BE PERFORMED FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON FEBRUARY 8, 2011. OWNERS MAY CONTACT GM AT 1-800-620-7668.
Trouble codes owners mention
OBD-II codes that appear in NHTSA complaints about this car.
Specifications
Factory options offered for the 2005 model year, decoded from the NHTSA vPIC database. Individual vehicles have one of each.
How other years compare
Check your exact Vibe by VIN
Recalls and equipment differ between individual vehicles. Decode your VIN to see what applies to yours.
Open VIN decoderFrequently asked questions
Is the 2005 Pontiac Vibe reliable?
NHTSA has 301 owner complaints and 5 recall campaigns on record for the 2005 Pontiac Vibe. The most complained-about area is air bags (57% of complaints).
At what mileage do 2005 Pontiac Vibe problems usually appear?
Half of the complaints that mention mileage were filed at 91,000 miles or less.
Does the 2005 Pontiac Vibe have open recalls?
5 recall campaigns have been issued, the latest concerning air bags. Check your specific vehicle by VIN - recall repairs are free at franchised dealers.
Source: NHTSA recall campaigns and owner complaints (public domain). Counts reflect reports on file and are not a defect rate.