GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Anybody else have this problem? I'm thinking of possibly going to see if the warranty will cover it. This is happening on my right rear door trim.

No problems on either of ours.Hopefully you can get it taken care of under the warranty.

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WOW !!!! Somebody needs to stop shaving their armpits and let their hair grow On a serious note, that's exactly what first came to my mind You know, where you hang your arm out the door and the underside of your arm will rest right there on the door panel. Laugh about it but it's very true In my wife's G8GT she has an area on the door panel which is slightly stained "white" from here under arm deodorant "Sure". I believe it is white in color and on nice days while cruising with the windows down, guess where that deodorant ends up? Yep ............... the door panel I'd be curious in your case as to why this is wearing the way it has. Something must have always been in contact with this area in order for it to wear like this so quickly. I doubt if this will be a warranted issue. Fill us in on more details when you can.

No problems on mine either.. Doesn't look good.. Hope I don't have this problem..

My arm rests on the drivers side all the time. Nothing's peeling although it is shiny...

That's ugly and would certainly bother me. I hope they warranty it for you. Not happening to mine.

Well, nobody ever sits by that door and right now it is the only door this is happening. I'm a bit peeved that these panels are actually painted. I would guess the surface was contaminated prior to painting it.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I am now surprise that it looks like the door panels are factory painted. We know that the silver trim are painted, but to take an extra step and paint the plastic on the surface that will take all of the daily abuse of heat, water, oily skin and dirty hands, is bad planning on Toyota's part. Unless the Matrix and the Vibe have different color in the interior, and that Pontiac painted these door panels. If that is paint, they did such a good job of spray painting it, that it looks like solid color plastic. I coated all the interior plastic with Meguiar's Natural UV protection for plastic. I hope that it doesn't lift the paint off the plastic.

Yes, you may want to be careful what you clean your interior with.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I am now surprise that it looks like the door panels are factory painted. We know that the silver trim are painted, but to take an extra step and paint the plastic on the surface that will take all of the daily abuse of heat, water, oily skin and dirty hands, is bad planning on Toyota's part. Unless the Matrix and the Vibe have different color in the interior, and that Pontiac painted these door panels. If that is paint, they did such a good job of spray painting it, that it looks like solid color plastic. I coated all the interior plastic with Meguiar's Natural UV Vinyl and Rubber Protectant. I hope that it doesn't lift the paint off the plastic.

It almost looks like water damage.

ewwww..... that sucks.lolDid you notice it before it got that bad?

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »It almost looks like water damage.There was a tiny little spot last fall. It has grown since.

That sucks !Is the plastic interior of 2003-2008 generation also painted ?If so I wonder why we have not heard much about that phenomena yet. I mean with all those 2003 owners here...

They better cover it. Bumper to bumper should mean just that.

Didn't a former NUMI worker used to post here? I would like to hear his opinion on what would cause this type of damage.

Quote, originally posted by vit »Didn't a former NUMMI worker used to post here? I would like to hear his opinion on what would cause this type of damage.IMakeVibes

I just purchased a '10 with the exact same problem. Dealer says they can 'fix' it. It looks like sun exposure caused it to peel. Just on the rear right door. I will keep you posted on what they say or do.

Stupid thought: It makes me wonder if when they molded the panels, somehow the color tone was mistakingly "off" on the right rear doors vs. the other panels in the car. So, instead of forming a whole new quantity of right rear panels... they were sent to the paint dept. The only thing I've experienced close to this is on my wife's 2005 Malibu Maxx. On the exterior of the rear doors, there's a black-painted piece of metal that forms the rear edge of the window frame. The black paint chips off after 4 or 5 years. We bought it used, and I noticed it before signing on the dotted line. I walked over to another Malibu, noticed it had not started and promptly had them write into the purchase agreement that they would swap it out. Well, 2 years later, the swapped out one has begun the flaking degradation.

Quote, originally posted by stamenpower »I just purchased a '10 with the exact same problem. I'm currently out looking at 09-10 Vibes for our teenage son and test drove a 2010 2.4 base and noticed the drivers rear door had this EXACT problem. All other door were fine. This Vibe has 34273 miles on it and a ton of scratches all over it. Front to back, top to bottom. The previous owner must have don nothing but DRIVE it. This may become more of a common problem as time elapses

The used car dealer I purchased the car from repainted the door panel. Looks good, for now.

My passenger side rear window is slowly starting to have this problem, its not really visible at all though, only when its under direct sunlight.

Dropped the car off at dealership tis morning. Wanted to use the free oil change deal, have them look at a creaky drivers seat, the B-pillar that is coming off and the pealing interior paint.Will update later as I learn more. The loaner sucks... 05 Buick Century.

Parts are on order. Car will stay at the dealer's till Tuesday when the parts show up.Got me a different loaner - 2010 1.8l base Vibe - doesn't suck at all. Same motor as in my old 05 Corolla.

What parts ended up being replaced? I have paint peeling on my driver's side panel. I'd like the dealer to replace it under the warranty but would like to go in with as much knowledge as possible. I don't have much faith in the dealer in Moncton, New Brunswick.

I've had the same problem. Just took it to the dealership. Looks to me like they need to turn it into another recal. On mine it's the front and back passanger side doors. I love this car but hate all the crap that I've had to deal with!

Dealership replaced the whole door panel under warranty.

good that they finallly stepped up.

Quote, originally posted by Bohner31 »I've had the same problem. Just took it to the dealership. Looks to me like they need to turn it into another recal. On mine it's the front and back passanger side doors. I love this car but hate all the crap that I've had to deal with!Sorry to hear that . We've yet to experience this issue on either of our Vibes, but I'm definitely keeping a close eye on all the door panels. Quote, originally posted by vit »Dealership replaced the whole door panel under warranty.Good to hear .

Are the windows tinted? If not, you may want to check into it. Maybe it would block some of the UV sun rays/heat and keep it from peeling again!

Quote, originally posted by 09vGT »Are the windows tinted? If not, you may want to check into it. Maybe it would block some of the UV sun rays/heat and keep it from peeling again!That's a very good point Ethan! My windows have been tinted since April of 2009 (less than a month after I bought the Vibe), so this could be why I haven't experienced this problem.

no tint and no peeling two years old and 25k miles. however, living in Portland it isn't like we get a lot of sun or hot temps and it never is parked out in the hot sun for more than a hour or so (which probably means it will peel just after the warranty expires ).

The beginning signs of the door panel cancer are showing on drivers side.

The driver's side rear door is peeling also on my 2010, that is the only one.

Looking back through posts in this thread, it seems to be almost all 2010 owners that are having this issue. Perhaps it's isolated to 2010 Vibes since neither one of our 09s is showing any signs of this after 2.5 years of ownership. Just a thought.

...no problem (yet) with such peeling here in Arizona with my 2009 Vibe, of course, it has had dark window tint since day one.

Still no problems here.

Just to follow up. I ended up bringing my car to the dealer and they insisted that the door panel be repainted rather than replaced. I got tired of arguing with them and let them do it. I'm not sure what is better: the peeling paint or the fact that they painted the whole panel and now it looks different that the other doors.

I now too have this problem on my 09, looks like small bubbles on my front passenger door...it's not from use because I rarely have passengers, and when I do the don't put their arms on the door.

Just noticed this problem on my driver's side rear door. It couldn't be due to passengers on mine either because there is never anyone in the back. Come to think of it, there is never anyone in the front either! My dog rides shotgun more than people do.

I join the club. I just noticed this about 10 minutes ago, which is when I came inside and looked on GenVibe and found this thread right away. It's only on the front passenger door. Hardly anyone has ridden over there since I've had the car (2 years, all but 8200 miles). The windows were tinted when I got the car. I'd say it's a material defect. I wonder if this is one of those "secret" known defects? I'm out of luck anyway, because my warranty is expired (and there is no warranty coverage for a Pontiac in Germany anyway).I guess I will see how bad it gets, and then decide if I want to live with it, or pay to have the door surface repainted.

Quit replying to this thread everyone!!! Everytime it comes up I have to go out and check.... Everything is fine.... (knock on wood) for now...

I keep forgetting to post this...

There's a very small area on my Vibe's driver's side front door panel right by the tweeter where the plastic is faded a bit. It's really not very noticeable, but it's definitely lighter colored then the rest of the door panel. I'm keeping a close eye on the rest of the door panels in both our Vibes. So far, it doesn't seem to be getting worse and it's not peeling or anything, it's just a bit faded so I'm not too worried about it for now .

Hi Carrie,

What you described is exactly how mine started. It's so bad now, that I'm going have to shell out the $$$ to get it fixed (my car is way out of warranty ... was already out of warranty when I first noticed this). On my front passenger door, I now have 4 or 5 large spots, a couple of which are peeling up and one of which is almost 5 inches long. I wish this was on the left rear door instead!

enfield577 wrote:Hi Carrie,

What you described is exactly how mine started. It's so bad now, that I'm going have to shell out the $$$ to get it fixed (my car is way out of warranty ... was already out of warranty when I first noticed this). On my front passenger door, I now have 4 or 5 large spots, a couple of which are peeling up and one of which is almost 5 inches long. I wish this was on the left rear door instead!

That sucks Geoff . So far, *knocks on wood* mine doesn't seem to be getting any bigger/worse, but I am definitely keeping an eye on it.

ParknVibe wrote:Unless the Matrix and the Vibe have different color in the interior, and that Pontiac painted these door panels.

I looked at a Matrix the other day that had paint peeling like that on the dash and door. Maybe it's the same issue as with cars having clearcoat pealing off due to contamination preventing a good bond?

My driver's side rear door has this. Just noticed it this weekend when I was vacuuming it out. Annoying but I can live with it in the rear since nobody's back there 99.9% of the time anyway.

Old post!

Noticed it not only on the Vibe, but the Matrix as well. Mine hasn't shown any signs, and I hope never does..

Awfully cheap interior compared to the competition, and some of the cars i've owned in the past.
(A 91 Lesabre I had long time ago had a plush fabric interior!) However, I didn't buy the Vibe for that reason, I bought it for its durability..

No problem so far on my 09 after 5 years of use.