My father helped me purchase a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix just over a month ago. Originally I noticed a hesitation that would happen twice just for fractions of a second. After the second time this happened I noticed that my tac would drop to 0 then the "trac off" light would come on. On March 9th I was driving through an intersection when the car started hesitation. I was surprised when the car did not pick back up, I am not sure if the engine had completely stopped but my power steering was gone and pushing the gas pedal did nothing. I had to milk the car up to a spot where I had to force the car to turn. I turned the ignition off for maybe a minute then started it back up. My 3 year old was in the back seat crying that she had to potty so I turned around in hopes that the car would make it up to a gas station. When I pulled out the "trac off' light came on and the tac dropped but the car ran fine. I have drove the car another 60miles since and have not even the trac and tac issues since right after the incident. I bought this car because I was scared to have my daughter riding in my old one but now I am more worried about this car. I have spent a lot of time and have found hundreds upon hundreds of post about people having this same issue.

- Cuba, MO, USA

Driving to work December 1, 2011, I noticed a burning smell and then a fire through the dash. I immediately pulled over and removed dash panel and threw snow into dash trying to put out the fire. Within a number of minutes the engine fire was out of control and the car was completely engulfed in flames. This resulted in a complete loss of the vehicle. It is believed the underhood fire was a result of the issue of GM safety recall #09047. The safety recall work was performed by a dealership on May 18,2009. I do not believe this "fix" has prevented the underhood fires on many of these recalled vehicles.

- Avilla, IN, USA

I was driving my car in a Suburban area at approx 20 mph when I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood. I immediately turned onto a side street and within 15 seconds of noticing the smoke there were flames shooting out from under my hood and the drivers side wheel well. I threw the car into park and got out. A passerby was already calling 911 and within less than a minute of my exiting the vehicle the entire front end was on fire. The fire department arrived and put out the fire and stated that there was so much damage to the front end of the car that they were unable to give a definite cause, but suspected electrical. The entire car is totaled, the fire was so hot it melted the driver window and the windshield and destroyed it within minutes. No electrical issues were noticed immediately prior to this incident, only change noted was that the passenger window rolled up a bit more slowly than normal.

- Manhattan, KS, USA

Our 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix, which has roughly 125,000 miles on it, stalls and dies at various speeds. It is not supercharged, but it does have the 3.8 liter series II engine. The vehicle will shudder momentarily and, if the car's going fast enough, the momentum of the torque convert spinning manages to restart the engine in default, allowing it to keep running. However, the tcs "trac off" light comes on and the tachometer drops to 0 until the car is shut off and restarted. Sometimes, the car will stall at low speed and, minus the shudder, everything else occurs as described above, except that the car simply dies. The ses light has lit up a few times, but there is no clear reason for it to do so, since, once restarted, the engine runs just fine. Occasionally, however, idle is a little rough; the engine sometimes drops to almost 400 RPM when sitting with the engine running, then slowly climbs back up to about 600-750 RPM. More alarming personally, however, is the fact that roughly 11 days ago, the car completely died twice on the same day, in a 15-second period. While coming home from work on the freeway, the car completely died (the oil pressure light came on and everything). Having pulled onto the shoulder and restarted, I did not travel more than 100 feet before it happened again, this time on the freeway off-ramp. I restarted again, and it drove home normally. Lately, the car is sometimes next to impossible to start. Depending on the circumstances, one of two things will happen; either the engine will turn over but not run; or the engine will not turn over, and the starter solenoid will simply "click" behind the firewall. The battery was replaced less than a month ago, and no serious electrical faults have occurred since it was replaced, aside from the above problems.

- Columbus, OH, USA

I was pulled over by police for no rear lights. Upon investigation, found multi-function switch bad/jammed. Hazard light button stuck in up position. If pushed to the side and held, lights operate as advertised for some period of time, but will at some point stop working without my knowledge. Multi-function switch is dealer only part. Price is $500 + labor for installation.

- Arcanum, OH, USA

I have a Pontiac Grand Prix, 2001 which had a recall for engine compartmented fires, I first learned of the recall after the first fire that happened in July, 2010, which I put out myself, I then received a recall notice on my car. I had the recall work done in Nov or Dec of 2010. Today, my wife was driving my daughter to school this morning 1/26/2011, and the car caught fire again in front of the school and caused significant damage to the engine compartment & engine. The car is no longer drivable, everything in the engine compartment is destroyed.

- West Jordan, UT, USA

I have a Pontiac Grand Prix, 2001 which had a recall for engine compartmented fires, I first learned of the recall after the first fire that happened in July, 2010, which I put out myself, I then received a recall notice on my car. I had the recall work done in Nov or Dec of 2010. Today, my wife was driving my daughter to school this morning 1/26/2011, and the car caught fire again in front of the school and caused significant damage to the engine compartment & engine. The car is no longer drivable, everything in the engine compartment is destroyed.

- West Jordan, UT, USA

I have a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix that had a recall for an oil leak. They did the recall on 6-6-2009. Yesterday about 20 to 30 minutes after driving it the car erupted into flame primarily on the right drivers side of the engine. Looking at the internet it looks to be identical to others who had this problem. What should I do?

- Lake Ann, MI, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix. The contact stated that the paint on the hood of her vehicle abnormally chips. While driving approximately 50 mph, she noticed flames on the panel of the front driver's side window. She used a small bottle of water to douse the flames and smoke. Currently, all of the power windows are inoperative. The vehicle has not been inspected to determine the cause of the failures. The failure and current mileages were 70,000. Updated 06/09/09 updated 06/09/09.

- Raywick, KY, USA

Key stuck in ignition twice first time they replaced ignition switch second time they replace shift modular. Seems to be happening in 2000-2004 model according to my research on the web.

- Columbus, IN, USA

On my 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix, the all three brake lights are out because of a "multi function switch" failure. Lots of owners of Pontiac Grand Prix have this failure. Pontiac Grand Am have a recall -- but not the Grand Prix. Potential failure mode that causes crashes.

- Lawndale, CA, USA

The drive lights on these vehicles turn off when the heater/ac blower motor is turned on. The headlights will flash on and off and the blower motor does the same. I contacted Pontiac and the gal told me that I was out of luck and to take it to a dealer for repair. Other drivers repeatedly flash their lights back at us to let us know that the headlights are flashing on and off.

- Tucson, AZ, USA

I was sold a lemon car after loosing my vehicle in the flood. First night I drove it after turning ignition lights started flashing rpms dropped, found underneath front of the vehicle is loose as well as water was located in the drivers side tail light and a lot of condensation in surrounding headlights.

- Napa, CA, USA

2001 Pontiac Grand Prix has lost all lights -- interior dashboards and exterior -- at night on highways. This began in March 2003 and has continued randomly since for a total of two different occurrences to-date. It has been in the shop on two occasions, with equipment replacement but no resolution. Also, dashboard lights flicker on and off for approximately 5 seconds every time car is started.

- Janesville, WI, USA

2001 Pontiac Grand Prix has lost all lights -- interior and exterior -- at night on highways. This began in February/March 2002 and has continued randomly since for a total of seven different occurrences to-date. It has been in the shop on four occasions, with equipment replacement on three occasions but no resolution. Now we are being told that unless the problem is duplicated while in the shop, Pontiac can do nothing. Considering the fact it only happens after the shops are closed, getting the vehicle there while an occurrence is happening is very unlikely. The consumer stated while stopped at a light, all interior and exterior lights would go out for a few seconds, then flash in a sequence of four times, they would go out for a few seconds and come back on for a few seconds, the scenario continued through the evening. There was also a clicking sound coming from the dash area, as if there was a switch trying to connect. The consumer stated she experienced the lights going out and coming back on for a period of 10 years. The repair shop stated a headlamp lighting circuit breaker located in the dash on the right side needed replaced. The consumer stated the problem has since resurfaced. Updated 04/01/13

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Consumer states that the computer is sending out wrong codes. Could affect the engine. Took to dealer and they stated computer software needs updating.

- Offutt Airforce Base, NE, USA