Automatic Transmission problems of the 2007 Saturn Aura

I experienced the same issue as a lot of other owners, the gear shift would not go into park so therefore my car started to roll away. After several attempts I was still not able to get it in park so I left it in neutral and put on the emergency brake. To start my vehicle I have to have my car in neutral or else it will not start. I researched the issue and saw that this was an apparent issue that several owners have seen so I called gm to get some information. The lady that answered the phone had a heavy accent and it was very difficult to understand her but she started a case and told me to take my car to the local authorized Saturn repair facility. The service technician investigated the issue and determined that this problem was indeed the exact issues that the recall was to address, the gm service representative was notified and they refused to authorize the dealer to proceed with the repair. Her reason was that the car had too many miles and that the cable broke because of normal wear and tear. The dealer informed me that it would be close to $600 to repair my car and at the point, I informed them not to do the repair due to lack of funds on my part. I am still driving this car with this problem, I just have to remember to always engage my emergency brake after shutting of my car. I'm so glad that our government agreed to bail out gm and then have them outsource their call center and refuse to honor their recalls, great move. Updated 6/13/13 invoice received. Updated 06/17/13.

Came home and attempted to park in driveway. Upon attempting to park, car would not shift all the way into park initially. I attempted to put the car into park. After several attempts car seemed to be in park. At this point I exited the vehicle. Upon returning to my drive way I found the car had drifted into my garage causing damage to my bumper and my right passenger side. Car will not start unless its in neutral. Gear shift will move to park but the car is not in park. Similar complaints on NHTSA. Spoke with gm and they're not taking any action until a recall is issued. So I have to pay for damages not caused by driving, but by gm's defect as well as pay gm to have car fixed since the car still will not stay in park causing a driving hazard.

When attempting to place my vehicle in park it didn't recognized the gear. The vehicle would roll out of gear at time. Other times it was difficult selecting other gears. Finally the car would not start because it recognized the car in drive instead in park. Therefore I was unable to restart vehicle. Updated 1/30/13 according to the invoice, the shifter cable was broken. They replaced the shifter cable and repaired a leak at the heater hose. Updated 01/31/13.

I put my car into park and shut it off, I went to get in this morning and the car would not start as if it was in drive still, I shifted it back and fourth and then finally got it to start, I put it in reverse to back up but it accelerated forward. I received a letter from gm about this issue about 4 months ago but it did not outline the severity of the problem, after talking to gm they will be towing my vehicle 60 miles away to the nearest dealer that can work on this problem. But the issue is that if I would have known the entire issue I would have wanted it fixed sooner as this is a scary thing to go through especially since it stopped about 4 feet from going over the bank. But the letter from gm said not to do anything unless you start having problems, well the big problem wasn't the issue the big problem was what could happen after the issue, I wish they would have informed us of some of the problems they made it like it was hard to select gears, not like you would drive when trying to reverse or being in park.

Transmission shifter cable failed. Car at first would not shift into reverse, and later wouldn't go into park and could not be started. I am reporting this because this has happened with other 2007 Saturn Auras, and there have been several accidents involving problems with failure of the transmission shifter cable. Despite an active investigation NHTSA action number : ea11015, and articles in the news stating gm is offering free repairs for customers who experience this problem, gm said they had no information regarding this problem and would not cover the repair.

2007 Saturn Aura - pulled into parking space following multiple short trips during the same day, braked to a stop, & turned off ignition. Automatic door locks did not engage to open position, car began rolling forward in spite of shifter being in the park position. The only noticeable problem with the car prior to this event started about 1 month prior when it appeared that the brakes were responding a little slower than usual when slowing down or stopping. . The car then would not start, the car rolled while the shifter was in the park position. While this auto was up on a jack stand it was able to be started momentarily, the front tires were spinning rapidly in spite of the car being in the park position. Emergency brake had to be applied to prevent car from rolling forward. Car was towed to service garage, the shift cable and bracket were found to be broken and had to be replaced. The car has approximately 50,000 miles on it with no known history of damage .

The contact owns a 2007 Saturn Aura. The contact stated that while parked with the engine shut off, the vehicle rolled backward approximately one car length. Prior to the failure, the contact had difficulties removing the gear shifter from park. After the failure, the contact found that the transmission was starting to jerk when shifting between gears. The contact took the vehicle to a personal mechanic and was told that a cable for the transmission could possibly be loose. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 80,000.

About 6 days ago I pulled into a park and turned my car off but it wouldn't start back up. I had onstar perform a diagnostic test and my transmission and engine was fine. Finally I was able to start the car in neutral, but I had to leave the car in park and use the emergency brake in order to turn the car off and remove the key. So from then on I was unable to place my car in park and I had to start it in neutral. Then last night at 2am my shifter cable broke completely, I am unable to put the car into any gear or start the car. I tried to have onstar tow me home but they can only tow to a dealership so I had to call aaa. I see that there are several complaints about this but nothing has been done to fix it. Please investigate this and force the dealer to do a recall on the 2007 Saturn Aura.

Shifter cable broke. Shifter lever was placed in park, but the transmission not in park which allowed the car to roll. Thankfully, car was parked on level area so car did not roll away and no one was hurt.

I have been having intermittent problems with my 2007 Saturn Aura where I put the car in park, shut off the engine and the whole control panel goes black and the door locks won't open. Then I can't restart the car. I found myself stranded for 3 hours on a dark deserted street a couple weeks ago in some pretty cold winter weather. I am a single 67 yr. Old woman and didn't know what to do. I called aaa and they never showed up so my son came out and was eventually able to start the car by pressing down hard on the brake, turning the ignition key and moving the shift gear into neutral. The car started. The car would work fine for awhile and then have the same problem. Yesterday I had this happen again but this time I couldn't press the brake down and it wouldn't start in neutral. Even with the car in park, it would roll. I also noticed that the "service traction" warning went on and it also kept displaying the "ice possible" warning even tho the pavement was dry. I had the car towed to a repair garage and they found the shifter cable snapped. I am presently having this replaced. This part was recalled in Auras for 2008 & 2009 but not 2007 even tho it is the exact same part. Being stranded and having the car rolling is very dangerous, especially in winter. I only have 34,000 miles on this car and have nothing but problems with since the third month I owned it. Mostly it was brake problems in the first 2 years - warped rotors and excessively worn pads. I still also have a problem getting my key out of the ignition when the weather is cold. The car starts, drives ok, but after I shut it off, I can't get the key out. Again, another problem and another safety issue. Who can afford to leave their key in the ignition and go to work??? this car is a lemon and yet beyond the time frame for the lemon law to be pursued. This car should be recalled before someone is seriously hurt.

Brake lights come on while driving day or night and when pedal is depressed lights do not come on. Must drive with foot depressing brake pedal in order for lights to remain off. This is serious as the driver behind thinks that I am riding the brakes and then when I do need to brake there are no brake lights.

Failure of neutral safety switch on the transmission shift lever.

While driving on entering onto the freeway while pressing accelerator down car not responding immediately.

While attempting to pass another car on the highway, the car did not immediately respond to the accelerator being press down, resulting in my car being nearly rear ended at over 50 mph. Similar near misses have happened several times since I purchased the car. When trying to pass other vehicles, merge onto a highway, or when pressing the accelerator to quickly gain speed after slowing down momentarily, there is frequently a one to two second lag between the press of the accelerator and the response of the car. I have mentioned it to my Saturn dealer who could not reproduce the issue. I have also seen the same complaint on numerous web sites (eg. Saturnfans. Com) and as far as I can determine it seems to be an issue with the drive-by-wire/6 speed automatic transmission combination. I've been told by both the dealer and my own research that a delay with this type of system isn't unusual, but I find that hard to believe as the problem is downright dangerous. I don't believe this is something a dealer can readily fix as it seems to be a design problem based on everything I have encountered in my research into finding other owners with similar issues.