Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (front, side and curtain air bags, sensors and inflators).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2000 Pontiac Montana owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 Pontiac Montana. The contact was driving approximately 45 MPH and crashed into a tree while attempting to avoid hitting an animal. There was damage to the front end of the vehicle and driver side door. The air bags failed to deploy with the significant impact. The contact sustained bruises on the body from the tightening of the seat belt. A police report was filed of the incident. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 131,042.
.a white truck turned left into traffic. Drove between two vehicles hitting them both about 35 MPH..1 was a Dodge the bumper and pieces were left in the intersection.the right front end of my 2000 Pontiac Montana was hit as the truck continued turning and headed north on ballenger hwy.no air bag deployement.daughter has a tbi. Daughter was driver. Coming home from college.no help.insurance denies an evaluation .daughter is failing. Was a college student worked full time. Told the impact was not enough damage. Plpd insurance farm bureau. Disability. To date.
Daughter 23yrs old. Began to cross into intersection with traffic. A white truck came turning left hitting the vehicle to her right and clipping the front right side of the Pontiac Montana. The vehicle to her right lost a piece of the bumper which was a Dodge they did not stop.she lost conciousness.found herself stopped.and traffic was passing by her no one stopped.pieces of the cars were left in the intersection. We have pictures.her air bag did not deploy.
I was stopped at a red light in front of a hospital's pedestrian walkway. A woman in a 1994 silverado truck rear ended me. She was traveling 35mph. Did not see stopped traffic. My steering wheel airbag did not deploy nor any other airbag. The second impact this year and no airbag deployment insurance,deems vehicle still safe. They came and looked at damage. Knowing daughter suffered a tbi in March for same defect they are not recognizing.
Addition to filed airbag accidents NHTSA-farm bureau-still insuring the unsafe vehicle. As I drive with a head injury. Other injurys and expected to care for adult child with tbi. Farm bureau stopped paying her pip benefits. NHTSA id-=my accident 11-11-2010 daughters 3-18-2010 seatbelts did not lock down. 2 tbi accidents same year. No air bags deployed. No one asked if seat belts locked.did not know to report.
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 Pontiac Montana. The contact started the vehicle and the air bag warning indicator illuminated continuously. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.
Daughter-in-law was driving our 2000 Montana van and rear-ended a pickup truck. Caused $3700 damage, bent in bumper, radiator, A/C condenser, hood and broke headlight. Airbags did not deploy in this instance.
SRS bag light steadily on and seat belt light man on dash chimes for no reason and blinks on/off. Took in to Pontiac 6/18/04, they fixed wiring harness that day (unclear on invoice) we just bought the vehicle in May 2004. A few weeks later we had the same problem and took it back in, just to hear that it was a cluster this time, they claim they're were toys under the seat and a plug was broken but the only toys in there were little hot wheels. So, they put in a new cluster and here we are three weeks later and I am still having the same problem with the seat belt man light and the SRS bag light on the dash. Pontiac will look at it again, they say, but I cannot see that one part after another needing to be replaced every two weeks and the outcome is always the same with the same item defaulting(seat belt guy light/SRS air bag light on dash stays on).
We were involved in an auto accident on July 5, 2001 in a head-on collision which killed my husband immediately and my son died two days later due to head injuries. I was injured with rib fractures/ low back spinal fractures and my left leg required surgery. I am unable to bear weight on my left leg for approximately six months. A car was going east on I-40 and I was going west. It crossed the median trying to miss a ladder that had fallen out of another vechicle and it hit us head-on. Airbags did not inflate upon impact. Front passenger did inflate after we were removed, and van caught on fire. My son might have been saved if the airbags had inflated since the car went down the side of my van. We all had our seatbelts on. My son was only seven years old.
Driving on the freeway going about 65 MPH, a car lost control and ran into center divider and I collided with that car. The passenger side belt did not hold my wife back into her seat. Air bags did go off. Her face was badly hurt twice, once buy the dash from stopping very sharply and the seatbelt not holding her back and the other by the air bag smacking her face when we collided.
NHTSA investigations
Air bag inflator
Airbag complaints in other Montana years
Frequently asked questions
How common are airbag problems on the 2000 Pontiac Montana?
NHTSA has 22 complaints about the air bags of the 2000 Pontiac Montana, 10% of the model year's 228 complaints. The component named most often is frontal (7 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2000 Pontiac Montana airbag problems?
No. NHTSA lists no air bags recall for the 2000 Pontiac Montana, though it has 5 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2000 Pontiac Montana airbag problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 104,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 12 crashes, 1 fire and 13 injuries and 2 deaths to air bags problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.