Pontiac Seat Belts: Buckle Assembly

Pontiac is recalling about 85,063 vehicles over a problem with the seat belts. In event of a sudden stop or collision, seat belt couldrelease, increasing the risk of injury to occupants.

Campaign
88V163000
Manufacturer
GENERAL MOTORS CORP.
Reported
18 October 1988
Vehicles
85,063
Built between
Dec 1986 – Jul 1988
Models
1
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
29 November 1988
Repaired
Not reported
Unrepaired
Not reported

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between December 1986 and July 1988. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 1988 Pontiac LemansBuilt December 1986 to July 1988

What the defect is

Seat belt buckles may not properly latch allowing the latch plate to be removed from the buckle without pressing the release button.

What could happen

In event of a sudden stop or collision, seat belt couldrelease, increasing the risk of injury to occupants.

What gets fixed

REPLACE SEAT BELT BUCKLES.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtDecember 1986 to July 1988
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA18 October 1988
  3. Owners notified29 November 1988

Your rights

A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.

That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 18 October 1988.

To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.

Official source

Recalling manufacturer
GENERAL MOTORS CORP.
Recall initiated by
MFR

Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Additional notes

System: seat belts.vehicle description: passenger cars.

Check your own vehicle

This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.

A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.

Same component

Same brand