I bought my 1996 Bonneville new in that year. Around 20,000 miles the transmission failed and was replaced by the dealer under warranty. At 145,000 miles I noticed the transmission slipping and a smell of burnt fluid. Took the car into the dealer. They flushed and replaced the trans fluid stating the fluid was burnt (meaning not useful any more). I had the fluid changed a couple of times during the life of the car as I also insure all maintenance is done. That flushing lasted about 1,000 miles before the trans began slipping again and this time the check engine light came on. The result was my 3rd transmission at a cost to me of $2,500. I realize I have a lot of miles on the car/engine/trans but with proper maintenance, as I've done, I would expect a longer life from the transmission!

- Frederick, MD, USA

Transmission failed completely while driving. Car made loud whining/grinding noises, jerked and was difficult to control. Other cars swerved to avoid hitting me. Once stopped and in park I tried to proceed. The dash showed the car in gear, the engine would rev but car would not engage any drive or reverse gears. Had car brought home and towed to dealer the next day. It has twice previously gone into neutral briefly while driving but there was never a "check engine" light.

- Saginaw, MI, USA

Automatic transmission malfunctioned, causing the transmission to slip and the vehicle to die, almost causing an accident. Dealer replaced transmission 4 times. Dealer cannot determine pborlem.

- Vancouver, WA, USA

The engine light came on the dash. I took the car for a diagnostic computer check which showed it was a transmission problem. I took it to multistate transmission - 3850 hemphill St. - fort worth, tx 76110 phone #(817)921-6155. They did a computer check on it which showed it was slipping at about 35/40 mph. They took off the pan, saw sludge looking stuff in it and burned transmission fluid. They had to go into the transmission to find the problem. They had to rebuild the torque converter, replace a large number of parts, including a sprag kit, chain rocker joint, band reverse maji, sprocket stuff, etc.

- Fort Worth, TX, USA

There is a "drum" inside of this transmission that was originally made from a poor quality steel (soft)that started to disintegrate and sent small particles of metal throughout the transmission, that in turn, locked the 2,3 solenoids, resulting in transmission failure. GM has since changed the drum material to a case hardened one to eliminate the problems this is causing.however, at this present time both GM and the dealership refuse to even assist in the expense of this repair, even though the transmission was serviced at the authorized dealership and 800 miles before required.

- Raleigh, NC, USA