Investigations
| NHTSA ID | Manufacturer | Date open | Date close | Subject | Recall campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | ||||||
| DP05001 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 02/10/2005 | 02/22/2005 | INOPERATIVE TAIL LAMPS | ||
| On january 25, 2005, a safety defect petition was received by the office of defects investigation (odi), requesting an investigation of inoperative tail lamps on my 2000-2002 saturn l-series vehicles.the petitioner alleges a defect in the design and assembly of the tail lamp assembly circuit board and light socket contact.the petitioner identified 47 vehicle owner questionnaire's (voq's) associated with the alleged defect, and odi concurs that 40 of those voq's satisfy the scope of this investigation.odi has found an additional 10 voq's related to the allegation.odi has granted the petition and opened a preliminary evaluation (pe05-010). | ||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||
| 10/17/2004 | 70000 | 1 | 07/02/2000 |
| I noticed my brake lights and tail lights were not working all the time...upon further inspection it appears that the brake lights do not work when the headlights and/or tail lights are on. there is definitely a wiring problem... i have had several electrical problems with this vehicle, which is only 4 years old... the door locks and electric windows have been broken, and the intermittent wiper setting does not work properly.*ak | |||
| 12/14/2002 | 44000 | 1 | 06/02/2000 |
| 1. car has 44,000 miles on it. coolant system is leaking. estimated $500 to fix it. car is 2.5 yrs old. 2. when windshield washer is used, it shorts out and wiper system stops working completely. dealer's service dept recommends $400 wiper motor replacement even though they can not replicate the issue. i went thru three fuses in one day. very dangerous situation as it is winter and i live in new england | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - IGNITION - SWITCH | |||
| 06/09/2006 | 39114 | 6 | |
| I have a 2000 saturn l series station wagon, vin 1g8ju82f1yy661150. several times in the last 9 months (i estimate 6 times) the key would not turn in the ignition. it would slide in and out ok, but would not turn. it acted like it was the wrong key for this car. the problem was not tension on the steering wheel or transmission not in park. no amount of key jiggling freed the lock. i found the problem listed in a google search. the recommendation was a tap with a hammer on the key while it was in the ignition switch. it turned out to need a significant smack. i was afraid the key would be damaged, but there was nothing to lose at that point. that worked the first few times the lockup occurred. saturn service advised me not to do that, instead have a new key cut from the key number. they thought my key may be worn and no longer activate the tumblers correctly. we did that and there were no incidents for three months. when the problem occurred again nothing worked to free it until i did the hammer trick. the dealer says there is no recall on this issue, and recommends i bring it in for troubleshooting. as the problem is intermittent and they do not know what the root cause is, i expect them to do what other customers have reported; which is to replace the entire ignition lock system for about $350. without knowing the root cause and having a reasonable expectation that the new part does not have the same root problem, i am reluctant to do that. i have the dash covers removed so when the problem occurs again i can take the ignition switch apart and get a better idea of what is going on. *nm | |||