Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUSPENSION | |||
| 05/12/2012 | 84618 | ||
| Low bang noise in passenger side front end. worse turning right or left. sounded like major break, but nothing could be seen visually. had car towed to mechanic. had to replace upper strut mounts on both front and right struts. passenger side upper strut mount was broken completely, and driver side upper strut mount was cracked. upper strut mounts both made of a plastic based material. service manager stated the shock could have broken through, and hit hood of car if we had not serviced it immediately. replacement part made of same material. had to have an alignment done. very expensive to fix, and i am now concerned the car could be dangerous to drive. | |||
| 01/26/2002 | 1 | 05/28/2001 | |
| Eight months after i bought a 2001 saturn l300 i started having tire problems. it started out with the front right tire rubbing when i turned the wheel while backing up. i only had 6400 miles on the tires. loud noises were coming from the tires at 12964 mileage. my saturn service dept. reset the fea to new specs and installed a camber caster kit and 4 new tires. this was the 2nd set of tires for my 2001 saturn l300. at 17224 mileage the rubbing on the right front tire was back. this time the service dept. re-secured the right front wheel house. then on nov 24, 2003 (25277 mileage) the loud noise was back. at this time the tech found the tires starting to slightly cup. he re-inspected and found all 4 tires out of specs and it was necessary to realign all. i took the car (27115 mileage) back in on jan 16, 2004 and the tires were making loud noises. this time the tech confirmed that the tires were cupping and out of round. they replaced all 4 tires and reset to new factory specs. also, did a wheel alignment. this was the 3nd set of tires. on dec 20, 2004 i had a rattle on the right front. at this time they replaced the right front link bar(38871 mileage). march 29, 2005 the car was back in the service dept. with loud tire noise(42667 mileage). the tires had high and low spots. i was told i needed to replace the tires again. i took the car back in for new tires on june 22, 2005. at this time after calling saturn customer service and the dealer manager, i agreed to buy 2 tires and saturn buy 2 tires. saturn paid to realign the tires. at this time i was told by a tech that saturn had a manufacturing problem with the 2001 l300 series. it had to do with the tires cupping and making loud noises. he said that as long as the car drove and turned with no problems that saturn did not consider the cupping, loud noises and replacing tires early a problem. he said if i could take the car to a nascar garage, it could be fixed and saturn could find out how to fix the l300 series. *nm | |||
| 05/13/2002 | 6000 | 4 | 06/28/2001 |
| Consumer has a concern that the vehicle has three and a half sets of tires replaced after the front end had been replaced by the dealer. the problem with tires wearing out excessively are still recurring. please provide any further information. *la | |||
| 06/22/2001 | 4 | 03/29/2001 | |
| Consumer states steering wheel shakes and vibrates continuously while driving at highway speeds. the problem was first looked at with no success at fixing it. after the second attempt to have the vehicle repaired, consumer was informed that the shaking and vibrating was common and that manufacturer was aware of the problem. the dealer claim the fuel injector sensor had failed. consumer states that vehicle now runs badly then before. *tt | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT | |||
| 193 | 2 | 11/02/2000 | |
| Consumer notice vibration coming from front end of vehicle while traveling. 2 good year tires had to replaced due to separation. dealer service couldn't correct problem. consumer suggested recall. *ak. *cb | |||
| 1 | |||
| Vehicle has an alignment failure , that causes the front tire to wear excessively. dealership installed an alignment kit to repair the problem.*ak | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT - SPRINGS - COIL SPRINGS | |||
| 06/01/2007 | 125000 | 1 | 08/13/2005 |
| Front left spring in mcpherson stut suspension. spring snapped at bottom. mechanic said he had seen this on another saturn. repair cost is $972.00. clean break with rust. mechanic suggested manufacturing flaw. *tr | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT - SPRINGS - TORSION BAR | |||
| 02/26/2004 | 57329 | 2 | 11/18/2000 |
| Defect in steering/ brought to dealer/ replaced gear assembly, and front torsion bar links. *jb | |||
| SUSPENSION - REAR | |||
| 06/06/2004 | 31000 | 1 | 06/16/2001 |
| Rear tires failed well within their expected mileage and had to be replaced, along with a rear-end alignment. this should be a recall issue for all 2001 saturn l300 owners. make: saturn model: l-series year: 2001 service bulletin number: 00t72a nhtsa item number: 633545 summary description: subject regarding service manual update for chassis service manuals regarding alignment specifications and service procedure for installation of spacers between rear suspension support and vehicle body when performing wheel alignment. *ak | |||
| 09/22/2003 | 06/02/2001 | ||
| 2001 saturn, purchased june 2001, had to replace rear tires twice due to alignment problems. currently i have about 41000 miles on the l300. the tires were firestone affinity. also the drivers seat has shifted to the right, dealer will not repair under warranty. the deck lid is misaligned and after several attempts, it is still not right. | |||