2002 PONTIAC SUNFIRE — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-22 77 complaints · 2 recalls
Most-reported system: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (14 complaints · 18.2%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 7
  • Fires 3
  • Injuries 5
  • Deaths 1
Compare with 2001 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution ELECTRICAL SYSTEM appears in 14 of 77 owner complaints (18.2%) in this vehicle snapshot. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 14 complaints, 18.2% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 14 · 18.2% SERVICE BRAKES: 12 complaints, 15.6% of reports SERVICE BRAKES 12 · 15.6% · 3 crash reports VISIBILITY: 9 complaints, 11.7% of reports VISIBILITY 9 · 11.7% · 1 fire reports ENGINE: 8 complaints, 10.4% of reports ENGINE 8 · 10.4% STEERING: 7 complaints, 9.1% of reports STEERING 7 · 9.1% · 1 crash reports 1 fire reports AIR BAGS: 5 complaints, 6.5% of reports AIR BAGS 5 · 6.5% · 2 crash reports FUEL SYSTEM: 4 complaints, 5.2% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 4 · 5.2% · 1 fire reports POWER TRAIN: 4 complaints, 5.2% of reports POWER TRAIN 4 · 5.2% · 1 crash reports SEAT BELTS: 2 complaints, 2.6% of reports SEAT BELTS 2 · 2.6% UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 46 complaints, 59.7% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 46 · 59.7% · 5 crash reports 2 fire reports 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 14 18.2% 0 crashes · 0 fires
SERVICE BRAKES 12 15.6% 3 crashes · 0 fires
VISIBILITY 9 11.7% 0 crashes · 1 fires
ENGINE 8 10.4% 0 crashes · 0 fires
STEERING 7 9.1% 1 crashes · 1 fires
AIR BAGS 5 6.5% 2 crashes · 0 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 4 5.2% 0 crashes · 1 fires
POWER TRAIN 4 5.2% 1 crashes · 0 fires
SEAT BELTS 2 2.6% 0 crashes · 0 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 46 59.7% 5 crashes · 2 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, NHTSA Safety Recalls, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Apr 2002; the first recall shown was reported in Mar 2007. 2002-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2002-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2003-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2003-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2003-Q3: 6 owner reports 6 2003-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2004-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2004-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2004-Q3: 4 owner reports 4 2005-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2005-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2005-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2005-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2006-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2007-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2007-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2008-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2008-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2009-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2009-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2011-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2011-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2013-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2013-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2014-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 2014-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2014-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2015-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2015-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2016-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 Owner reports Apr 2002 Oct 2016 Recall campaign 07E021000 ◆ Recall campaign 07E021000 Recall campaign 08E063000 ◆ Recall campaign 08E063000
  • Campaign 07E021000 was reported 1,152 days after the first earlier complaint mapped to its component.
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
2002-Q2 Owner reports 3
2002-Q3 Owner reports 3
2003-Q1 Owner reports 3
2003-Q2 Owner reports 2
2003-Q3 Owner reports 6
2003-Q4 Owner reports 2
2004-Q1 Owner reports 4
2004-Q2 Owner reports 3
2004-Q3 Owner reports 4
2005-Q1 Owner reports 4
2005-Q2 Owner reports 3
2005-Q3 Owner reports 1
2005-Q4 Owner reports 1
2006-Q1 Owner reports 3
2006-Q3 Owner reports 1
2006-Q4 Owner reports 1
2007-Q1 Owner reports 2
2007-Q2 Owner reports 1
2007-Q3 Owner reports 2
2007-Q4 Owner reports 4
2008-Q2 Owner reports 2
2008-Q4 Owner reports 3
2009-Q1 Owner reports 2
2009-Q2 Owner reports 1
2010-Q3 Owner reports 1
2010-Q4 Owner reports 1
2011-Q3 Owner reports 1
2011-Q4 Owner reports 1
2013-Q2 Owner reports 1
2013-Q3 Owner reports 1
2014-Q2 Owner reports 4
2014-Q3 Owner reports 2
2014-Q4 Owner reports 1
2015-Q3 Owner reports 1
2015-Q4 Owner reports 1
2016-Q4 Owner reports 1
Recall campaign 1 07E021000
Recall campaign 1 08E063000
NHTSA Safety Recalls Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Safety Recalls (2)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

  1. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 07E021000

    Report date
    Component:
    FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER
    Consequence:
    FUEL MAY LEAK, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN A FIRE.
    Remedy:
    DELPHI WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND REPLACE THE UPR FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL BEGAN ON APRIL 23, 2007. OWNERS CAN CONTACT DELPHI AT 877-411-8770.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  2. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 08E063000

    Report date
    Component:
    Not available in the source record
    Consequence:
    IF THE WELD FAILS, LOSS OF STEERING COULD RESULT, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN A VEHICLE CRASH.
    Remedy:
    DORMAN WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND REPLACE THE STEERING SHAFTS FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL BEGAN ON OCTOBER 16, 2008. OWNERS MAY CONTACT DORMAN TOLL FREE AT 1-800-523-2492.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot 2026-08-21
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 77 complaints · page 1 of 4

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot 2026-08-21
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources