Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEERING | |||
| 10/05/2012 | 1 | ||
| My car leaks in the roof when its rains and has stained my interior roof. my power steering went out and on the display it was pwr steering. my outside trim near windows is warped. my sunroof doesnt work it wont open. *tr | |||
| 10/05/2012 | |||
| My car leaks in the roof when its rains and has stained my interior roof. my power steering went out and on the display it was pwr steering. my outside trim near windows is warped. my sunroof doesnt work it wont open. | |||
| 09/21/2012 | 51700 | 3 | |
| Driving on the way to work this morning, the power steering went out three times! twice on a regular highway and once on the interstate. going 45 mph suddenly bell sounded and pwr steer light came on and immediately the power steering went off. i was able to get the car to the side of the road, but would not have been able to turn it, because the steering becomes, not quite manual, surely much harder than the manual mode i well remember. when i cut off the motor and restarted, the steering returned to normal. on the interstate, i was going 62 mph when the steering went out. pulled over to an exit lane, stopped and restarted and everything worked again. very dangerous! i don't know how many cars have been stopped on the road, and a car coming failed to see that they were stopped and slammed into them... i just bought this car in april. in checking online before buying, i saw the complaints about the key sticking, but didn't see anything about the steering at all. i'm a widow, still working, and repairs would be very difficult. especially when this should be a recall, and done for free, since it was/is defective and possibly injurious. again, i feel very vulnerable and in danger when this is going on, and it's happening more and more every day over the last two weeks (sept 11th was the first time). *tr | |||
| 09/21/2012 | 51700 | ||
| Driving on the way to work this morning, the power steering went out three times! twice on a regular highway and once on the interstate. going 45 mph suddenly bell sounded and pwr steer light came on and immediately the power steering went off. i was able to get the car to the side of the road, but would not have been able to turn it, because the steering becomes, not quite manual, surely much harder than the manual mode i well remember. when i cut off the motor and restarted, the steering returned to normal. on the interstate, i was going 62 mph when the steering went out. pulled over to an exit lane, stopped and restarted and everything worked again. very dangerous! i don't know how many cars have been stopped on the road, and a car coming failed to see that they were stopped and slammed into them... i just bought this car in april. in checking online before buying, i saw the complaints about the key sticking, but didn't see anything about the steering at all. i'm a widow, still working, and repairs would be very difficult. especially when this should be a recall, and done for free, since it was/is defective and possibly injurious. again, i feel very vulnerable and in danger when this is going on, and it's happening more and more every day over the last two weeks (sept 11th was the first time). | |||
| 09/16/2012 | 116356 | 1 | |
| Driving at 55 mph on a straight section of highway 703, the power steering warning came on and i lost the power steering. i pulled over with no power steering, turned off the vehicle then restarted the error cleared and i had power steering again. i can't trust that this won't happen again at a much more dangerous place and at a slower speed which would make the vehicle much harder to control. *tr | |||
| 09/16/2012 | 116356 | ||
| Driving at 55 mph on a straight section of highway 703, the power steering warning came on and i lost the power steering. i pulled over with no power steering, turned off the vehicle then restarted the error cleared and i had power steering again. i can't trust that this won't happen again at a much more dangerous place and at a slower speed which would make the vehicle much harder to control. | |||
| 10/12/2011 | 89000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2005 saturn ion. the contact was driving 40 mph when she heard a dinging sound and the power steering warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver and the contact was able to pull over. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer. the manufacturer was not contacted. the failure mileage was 89,000 and the current mileage was 92,000. kmj | |||
| 10/12/2011 | 89000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2005 saturn ion. the contact stated while driving 40 mph she hearing ding sound and the pwr str warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. the vehicle steering wheel started losing power. she was able to pull over. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer. the manufacture was not contacted. the failure mileage was 89,000 and the current mileage was 92,000.jp | |||
| 03/19/2012 | 59859 | ||
| Driving down freeway and warning light came on and lost power steering. very very difficult to steer. luckily husband was driving because wife could not have muscled. | |||
| 03/20/2012 | |||
| With less than 60,000 miles on the car, the power steering light displayed on dash and power steering was no longer working. once parking and restarting the car, the steering seemed to be working as we drove around the neighborhood and then yet again less than .5 mile later traveling between 10-15mph in the neighborhood, the power steering light again displayed along the dash and was nonexistent once again. | |||
| 11/24/2011 | 53008 | ||
| I had been driving approx. 2 hours of a 11 hour trip when i saw a message replace the odometer about the power steering. i left i95 using exit 98 and pulled over in a gas station. the manual stated that the power steering was electric, so no steering fluid to check. i restarted the car and magically the problem was fixed and my trip odomoeter was magically set to zero. i drove around the frontage road and everything seermed fine so i continued on my way. 22 miles later the same thing happened. i took the next exit, shut the car off, restarted it and magically again it was fixed with no reset of the trip odometer. again i continued on my trip only to have it happen again 23 miles later, at which point i repeated the stopping/restarting procedure and turned around headed for home. while driving home it happened two more times, then once more in the driveway when i was backing up. so a total of 6 times within a 5 hour period and no prior history (since i've owned it) of this problem. i purchased this car used from a dealer may 28 2011 with approx. 46500 miles. the only other problem i've had is the key not wanting to come out of the ignition after i've turned the car off; after i put the gear shift into reverse then back into park, the key will come out; sometimes i can hear a clicking sound when the ignition switch fixes itself and then the key will come out, also. | |||
| 11/03/2011 | |||
| Electric power steering problems. pwr str message. | |||
| 02/18/2011 | 88100 | ||
| 2005 saturn ion .88 k miles.sudden loss of power steering.fuses replaced.resets itself with restart but recurs frequently.very hard to steer and dangerous when occurs unexpectedly. gm customer service called but they deny a general recall.not helpful. the vin is 1g8ag52f65z159908 | |||
| 05/01/2010 | 37000 | ||
| I own a 2005 saturn ion 2 with approximately 37,000 miles, 2 weeks ago the power steering went out, almost resulting in a head on collision as the warning didnt come on until after the fact and i was in the process of turning a corner. initially the power steering is intact when you first start the vehicle, however it fails after being driven for a short distance, perhaps less than a mile. there have been several gm models recalled for this very same problem, cobalts and pontiacs, perhaps the same problem exist for some of the saturn models, like mine and they should be added to the list? this is a newer model with low mileage that has been well maintained, i have been quoted $800 to $1000 for the repair of the problem, i have also been informed that if i pay for the repair now and this vehicle is added to the list of recalls for the power steering that gm is not obligated to reimbursement for the expence, therefore hesitant to proceed as gm states its safe to drive there vehicle with power steering failure. | |||
| 05/04/2010 | 54698 | 1 | |
| 2005 saturn ion 3 quad. vin# [xxx] , mileage 54,698 very unexpected power steering failure. this was the first time it has happened and i bought the car 1 month before saturn shutdown. thus i haven't owned the car even a year. information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr | |||
| 02/05/2010 | 95300 | 1 | |
| The power steering fails and the vehicle becomes very difficult to turn. *dt | |||
| 10/26/2009 | 71000 | 1 | |
| Power steering failing, very hard to turn. *tr | |||
| 12/05/2009 | 26100 | 1 | |
| Power steering went out. at the repair shop now. the whole component needs replaced (you can't order separate parts) i will have the repair shop save the old part. it will cost close to 900.00 to have it fixed. the dealership was the same price. the car is only 4 years old with 26,000 miles on it. *tr | |||
| 06/18/2009 | 25000 | 8 | |
| While driving my 2005 saturn ion3 the power steering went dead. i had to fight the control of the vehicle with manual steering. very hard to do. this happened while driving about 8 times. the dealer said there has not been a recall to have the electrical power steering control box replaced but they agree it is a safety hazard. it cost me $2200.00 to have it replaced. very scary when making a turn and the power steering goes to manual. stopping and starting the vehicle resets it only to have it go out again in heavy traffic. *tr | |||
| 05/15/2009 | 29853 | 1 | |
| On my 2005 saturn ion 3, the power steering went out while driving. i turned the car off after pulling over and restarted and it came back. i read that others have had the same problem. why is there no recall on this. this is a dangerous situation to lose power steering at high speed. power steering is electrical. on most web sites discussing this, it seems to be a regular problem with saturn owners. *tr | |||