Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES - DOORS - LATCH | |||||
| 030864035 | 10/01/2003 | 10003909 | Front side door lock cylinder is missing or does not sit flush to the outer door panel. *tt | 11/06/2003 | |
| LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES - HOOD - LATCH | |||||
| 040863002 | 03/01/2004 | 10006132 | Hood latch release cable frozen/seized. *tt | 04/21/2004 | |
| 040863003 | 03/01/2004 | 10006108 | Service manual update - hood opening procedure for inoperative hood latch. *tt | 04/16/2004 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | |||
| 08/10/2010 | 67000 | ||
| I have a 2003 saturn ion. the key jammed in the on position leaving the car running. to shut it off you have to raise the hood, pull a fuse, then go to the trunk and disconnect the battery. this is a major issue for me because the car is driven by a college, female. gas stations, convenience stores and small children left in car, etc... are a problem, because the car is running. i have replaced the shifter, and now the ignition ($463) plus tax for a lock cylinder ! | |||
| 03/12/2009 | 1 | ||
| There are no events leading up to the failure. from everything i've read from other saturn ion owners this is a frequent and seemingly random problem. at any given time if it is cold outside the car won't start. everything lights up, the engine turns over and catches, only to stall. upon repeated attempts to start the car there will be no response whatsoever. the engine does not turn over. after waiting several minutes it will eventually start. this problem has occurred 4 times in the last month; twice causing me to be late for particularly important engagements. upon reporting the problem to the saturn dealership where i bought the car i was told that they have many complaints of the same problem, but that their staff haven't been able to resolve it. this has been their general attitude towards several issues i've had with my car. i took it to another garage and they can't find a thing wrong with it. saturn seems to be turning a blind eye to a problem that is clearly the result of a poor design somewhere on their part. i have also had to replace control arm bushings when i was at about 80 000 km, and now need to replace struts. i am hesitant to do this though, as the general consensus among saturn ion owners is that bushings and struts are in perpetual need of replacement on these cars. after replacing the parts most people find that they have to make the same repairs again within 2 years. further problems i have with my car are: trunk will not open with key, replaced wires on both front turn signals and one headlight, key would not release from ignition, erratic transmission behavior (i was told that this is a common problem and that i just have to deal with it), seat belt guides broken (front, both sides), rear seat belt female component falls into crevice in seat, paint peeling from front bumper without being chipped prior, and a faulty cruise control switch. every single one of these problems has turned up again and again in the ion owners community. *tr | |||
| LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES - DOORS - LATCH | |||
| 06/16/2005 | 27000 | 1 | 03/01/2003 |
| At the time my saturn was involved in an accident it was under 30,000 miles and still under warrenty. i was driving on a busy highway and my accelerator got stuck. at the time i could not see what was holding down my accelerator. it was a piece of panel that came off partially that was holding the accelerator really hard and it was stuck making my pedal stuck almost all the way to the floor. i tried to slow the car down with both feet on the breaks and the emergency break to no avail. i didn't turn the ignition off because i had cars on all sides of me going 50-70 mph. it was when i came to a red light that i realized my car wasn't going to stop and i had no other choice but to hit an suv and my car kept trying to accelerate and push the suv out of the way. that is when i turned off the ignition. i had to turn off the ignition before another accident occurred. the suv was damaged. my car was damaged. i haven't been able to get my car fixed because i am waiting for saturn to acknowledge the manufacturing defect which caused the accident, so that they could lend me a rent-a-car while it is in the shop. but, i cannot get them to give me a call to make an appointment to get my car in the shop or supply a rent-a-car. a forensic investigator inspected my car on friday and agrees that i didn't cause the accident. he supplied the information to saturn and still three days later i can't even get a courtesy call. the accident was on june 16, 2005. i couldn't get them to call me to speak about what my options were until the week of july 1, 2005. then an investigator july 8, 2005. they have not made one effort to work with me about getting the car into the shop. they have not given me the time of day to make an appointment with a saturn shop location to get my car fixed and so that they could supply a rent-a-car. | |||
| 11/20/2004 | 15165 | 1 | 04/10/2003 |
| While driving. upon stopping the vehicle. the consumer got out to take the child out of the vehicle with the ignition running. the doors locked, and the consumer could not get her child out of the vehicle. consumer contacted the dealer. however, the problem still exist. *nm doors locked automatically upon exiting driver's side. additional service include, the a/c and heater funtion failed due to faulty connection from switch to resistor card, collapse of horn cover causing loss of airbag. ignition switch failed. the signal and running lamps were inoperative. *bf | |||
| 03/05/2004 | 2 | ||
| Front side door lock cylinder is missing or does not sit flush to the outer door panel. *ak | |||
| 05/20/2003 | 5 | 05/09/2003 | |
| Key always stuck in ignition, car doesn't start car door lock broken. *jb | |||
| LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES - HOOD - LATCH | |||
| 10/01/2004 | 1 | 06/21/2003 | |
| 2003 ion has had blower fan, clutch switch, cylinder cable hood latch, brake light bulb, wiper module all replaced with in months apart from each other. *ts the rotors were warped and the tail lamp failed. *jb | |||
| 24000 | 1 | ||
| Hood latch broke. this is the cable which enables consumer to open the hood from the inside. *ak | |||
| 01/24/2004 | 14000 | 2 | 08/08/2003 |
| 2003 saturn ion 1. during cold weather the passenger side window frosts. the controls are set for defrost, air on and blower medium high. even with the blower on high there is very little air coming from the passenger side defrost outlet. a co-worker has a similar problem with his ion. the dealer said the system is operating as designed. 2. the hood latch freezes and the hood cant be opened to add window washer fluid. sometimes you can get the hood open but you cant relatch the hood completely without pushing the hood release handle down. a co-worker has a similar problem with his ion. 3. some the edges on interior plastic parts on the are very sharp. the worst is the compartment door to the left drivers leg. this popped open and had a sharp rough edge. as i exited the car i cut my leg. i fixed this myself by filling the edge. *la | |||