Factory specifications, fluid capacities, torque values, EPA fuel economy and the federal safety record for the 1979 Bonneville.
The 1979 Pontiac Bonneville is documented with only two owner complaints, the majority concerning the electrical system, and it was subject to a single recall. Its complaint history spans later model years from 1990 to 2005, where the highest number of complaints reached 299 in 1998 and fell to 27 in 2005, indicating that the 1979 version experienced comparatively few issues. Consequently, it sits at the low‑end of the model’s reliability record, reflecting a relatively stable early‑era performance against the higher complaint volumes seen in later generations.
Owner-reported issues, recalls, investigations and service bulletins on record with NHTSA — an unfiltered look at what owners actually experience.
The 1979 Pontiac Bonneville sits at the very beginning of the data arc that begins in 1990, so it precedes the first recorded federal complaints and recalls. In the early 1990s the complaints count climbed from 44 in 1990 to a peak of 257 in 1995, while recalls remained low (1–3 per year). By 2000 the complaints surged again to 226 and the number of traffic‑safety bulletins (TSBs) exploded from 283 in 2000 to 495 in 2005, indicating a steep rise in safety‑related issues. The 1979 model’s only top complaint areas—Electrical System and Service Brakes/Hydraulic—appear in the data set only as single‑incident categories, with no recorded crash or fire complaints, suggesting a relatively clean safety record compared to later years. However, because the 1979 year is outside the federal record range, we cannot directly compare its complaint density to the post‑1990 trend; the data imply that the generation’s complaint rate worsened over time, so a 1979 vehicle may avoid many of the later‑year issues but still warrants a thorough electrical and brake inspection.
All 2 complaints on record, top 2 components.
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaint database.
Showing 1 of 1 campaigns on record for this vehicle.
THE HEADS MAY BREAK OFF THE FRONT OUTBOARD SEAT BELT ANCHOR BOLTS DURING NORMAL VEHICLE OPERATION EVEN UNDER NO LOAD CONDITIONS. THIS IS DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF BOLTS USED, HIGH INSTALLATION TORQUE AND ARRANGEMENT OF… Remedy: DEALER WILL REPLACE ALL ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT FRONT OUTBOARD SEAT BELT ANCHOR BOLTS ON THE AFFECTED VEHICLES AT NO COST TO OWNER.
The most common OBD-II codes for this vehicle's emissions system. These are standardized SAE J2012 definitions, not vehicle-specific fault reports.
Decode factory build data for a specific vehicle by VIN.
Cross-vehicle references for the kinds of data on this page.
NHTSA lists 1 recall campaign(s) for this model year. Check your specific vehicle by VIN.