20 problems related to lose power steering have been reported for the 2004 Saturn ION. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
In parking lot on leaving a store there was no power steering making it very hard to drive. Next I went to a gas station and filled my tank. When I left the steering was okay. . . . The dash symbol for power steering was not longer showing. I lost power steering once before and the dealer fixed it. (invoice included) the first incident was repaired at mileage 83,868. The current on happened at mileage 99,199. There was no accident involved either time. I hope this will not happen on a curvy road which is near our home. Had the steering gone out on that at 35 to 40 mph I'm not sure I could have successfully coped with the situation. Surely once the dash light power steering comes on once it means that the vehicle should be serviced.
I bought this car as a first car for my daughter that is a new driver. I has been off the road more than on the road for recalls. The first ignition recall could have injured or killed my daughter. . As we were awaiting parts, we were following directions of no weight on key ring and only key in ignition. The incident still happened causing loss of power steering and loss of speed. As a new driver this incident scarred her and she did not feel comfortable driving the car. I put the car up for sale. Then another recall, the eps which also causes the car to lose power steering and causes speed loss. So, back to garber and we just drove the car back home on January 2, 2015. Seemed to start out fine, then loss of speed and the car only drove at 35 mph with a lot of effort. I paid $3500 for this car for my daughter. . Still paying on the loan and now I cannot get it to run correctly or sell it. . I am stuck with a non-running vehicle that I have to insure as well. This total is costing me over $300 a month while the car sits. I don't know if my dealer did the recall correctly. I have had issues with my impala as well with recalls being done correctly. One including my airbag recall and a seat belt issue that I paid out of pocket 100. 00 after several issues. I feel gm should reimburse me for this vehicle as I cannot sell it or drive it. It is not fair that I purchased this from a dealer only pay for a non working vehicle.
I have a 2004 Ion while driving my car I lost power steering. Thankfully I was able to pull over and restart and only a few miles from home. I always have my daughter with me and suppose I am not as fortunate next time. Something needs to be done to compensate for this and lessen the deaths gm has caused by allowing problems they knew of to remain unfixed. My Ion has a recall for power steering loss which says ot can happen at any time or speed. This is very scatter. So here I am with a car I am afraid to put myself. In let alone my child. I had an ignition switch recall which was fixed. I am requesting a loaner car until the part is ready to fix mine.
Lost power steering after power steering warning light came on. This was 3rd incident in 10 days. Turned off car, restarted and power steering returned. This has happened without warning 3 times. Loss of power steering makes turning difficult. Very scary.
This has happened intermittently before, but this time I lost the power steering rounding a bend. Took it to my mechanic and I needed the entire thing replaced for 800. 00, quoted 1200. 00 at a dealer. I called gm and despite the gm website stating recall of "Saturn Ion all model years 2004-2007" for loss of power steering posted on 3/31/14, I was told mine wasn't included because I have a 2004 Saturn Ion 2. What does that mean? doesn't "all model years" pertain to the Ion 1, 2, and 3?????.
As I was driving on a straight-away, all of the sudden I heard 3 dings in my car - so I checked the dashboard (I was expecting to see fuel or maybe oil life), it read pwr str. Then I noticed that it was extremely difficult to steer my car. . . I had lost my power steering completely. The amount of strength it took just to turn the wheel was immense. This took more effort than driving an older car that does not have power steering. Luckily, I was just arriving at my destination. Also luckily, the issue goes away once I turn the car off and re-start it. This has happened 3 times since the first time - once while on a highway, once while parking my car, and another while driving through town.
While driving this 04 Saturn Ion I lost power steering while going around a curve. I almost hit the guard rail. If the car is shut off then restarted the problem goes away until it happens again. When this happens the "power steering" warning light appears on the dash. Some times this can happen several times a day and there are times when it does not happen for weeks. It can happen in any weather or temp. It kind of takes you by surprise, one second its working fine then all of a sudden the power steering is gone.
I was driving in an alley at approximately 10 mph when I suddenly lost my power steering (I was alerted with a message). Upon restarting the car, the power steering returned. Since this initial incident, my car has lost the power steering on multiple occasions, in multiple scenarios and at multiple different speeds. It has failed on the freeway multiple times, forcing me to pull over on the shoulder and compromise my safety. I would estimate the power steering has failed no less than 20 times since may 17th (it is now August 7th). This defect is not only unacceptable, it is extremely unsafe.
When I was going south on I-95 in georgia I heard a warning tone from my Saturn and saw a warning on my dash that was for the power steering. Immediatly I could tell I had lost my power steering because changing lanes felt sluggish and a bit difficult. (not physically difficult but more difficult than usual) the light stays on and I have no power steering untill I shut off the car and restart it. Then it is like nothing has happend. At slower speeds this could cause an accident due to the amount of force that is required to turn. The biggest problem is not for me but for my wife who cannot physically control the car when this happens. This is definatley a dangerous problem that needs to be taken care of.
I lost my power steering and the pwr str warning light came on while driving on the interstate. When I safely exited, I read the owner's manual and it said this requires immediate service. I went directly to a firestone dealer but they were near closing and could not put it on diagnostics and asked me to return in the morning. However, when they started the car, the warning light was off and the power steering ability returned. I researched this online and it seems this is the same problem that prompted gm to recall other gm vehicles in March 2010, but not the Saturns. While the problem may be temporarily resolved by replacing 2 fuses, the ultimate solution is to replace the steering column motor which is a rather expensive item. I believe the Saturns should have been included in that recall gm issued.
While driving the car under normal conditions I suddenly lost power steering nearly causing an accident.
I was driving with my daughter in my 2004 Saturn Ion and the power steering light came appeared. I lost power steering immediately. It took all my strength to turn my vehicle around and make it home safely. I immediately researched the problem and found numerous complaints online. I contacted customer service and they said that there was a special policy in place for the problem to be repaired but because my vehicle was over 100,000 miles (118,000) it would be an out of pocket expense.
The contact owns a 2004 Saturn Ion. While driving at 25 mph, the contact stated that the vehicle suddenly lost all power steering . The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was approximately 128,000. The current mileage was approximately 130,000.
While driving on the freeway at 60 mph, my 2004 Saturn Ion iii lost its power steering. The car chimed at me and displayed a "pwr str" message. The car instantly became much more difficult to control, especially in turns and at lower speeds. I was able to make it to work. When I restarted my car later in the day, the power steering was working again. Based on a brief online search, this problem appears to be common with the Saturn Ions. It is my understanding that the Ion has the same power steering motor/module as the chevy cobalt. A recall has recently been announced for the cobalt's power steering issue.
The contact owns a 2004 Saturn Ion 3. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 mph, the power steering light illuminated and then the vehicle lost power steering. She was able to drive the vehicle home and notified a local repair facility. The next morning, when she tried to drive the vehicle to the repair shop, the power steering functioned normally and the mechanic could not find anything wrong with the vehicle after inspecting it. A few months later, the same failure occurred and the power steering light illuminated and she lost power steering and control of the steering wheel. When she turned the vehicle off and restarted it the problem seemed to correct itself. She took the vehicle to a dealer who stated that she needed a power steering motor. The vehicle was not repaired when the complaint was filed. She had not called the manufacturer to-date. The current mileage was 19,318. The failure mileage was approximately 19,250.
I have a 2004 Saturn Ion that has power steering issues. What happens is a tone will sound and a power steering warning will appear on the message window and then I lose the power steering. It then becomes very hard to control the car. This has happened on the freeway, in town and at stop lights. It is building in frequency going from once every few months to every few days. I have had to put my four ways on and block traffic because the only way to get the power steering back is to turn the car off and then wait at least 30 seconds and turn the car back on.
We were driving on the highway at 70mph when the car stalled out and we lost power steering ability. We started the car again while it was in motion and it caught but it happened again a few more miles down the road. Since our Saturn dealership was no longer in business, we had a trusted mechanic take care of it not knowing there were issues. I researched three recall notifications from Saturn. One involved the left turn signal which we had to have fixed twice with a harness and bulb replacement in on 2/5/05 and again on 10/24/05. Another was a faulty ignition switch replacement also on 10/24/05. And then the third was the faulty electric power steering which as you know we had repaired on 10/4/12. I contacted gm about a reimbursement and they said no because we were past 10 years or 100,000 miles, and that the reimbursement form must be received by 8/31/11. My question to gm is, how can you put a limit on something that was faulty from the beginning? the new ignition and injectors in March 2010 ($758. 94) and the new starter in August 2011 ($324) after having related problems/repairs due to the recall in oct 2005 show that something just wasn't right in the manufacturing of this model. And the power steering motor replacement ($177) in oct 2012 should also be reimbursed because gm already admitted it was a problem with the model year so regardless of whether we had 10,000 miles or 160,000 miles, it was faulty. Now we learn that they knew these were problems all along and did not take ownership of them. What really bothers me is that I inquired about all of this with them in December 2012 - this is supposed to be "a new gm" different from the company back in 2001? if they were different why did they refuse to reimburse me the $2,177 we spent in repairs, or admit that there was a recall? is it because we did not die in an accident?.
The contact owns a 2004 Saturn Ion. While driving 65 mph he noticed that the vehicle suddenly lost all power steering. A local mechanic stated that the steering chip needed to be replaced. There were no prior warnings. The current and failure mileages were 77042. Updated 02/1710 the steering controller was replaced, however the problem continued. The consumer stated he would have to pay an additional $1000 to replace the main computer. Updated 02/19/10.
While driving around a curve on a rural highway the power steering light came on and I lost my power steering. I was able to keep the car in the right lane and pulled over on the road and shut the car off. When I turned the car back on it was fine. Power steering worked. One week later the same thing happened. I took the car to the Saturn dealer and was told that the entire steering column had to be replaced at the tune of $900. 00. This car is 3 1/2 years old and had 36,000 miles on it!! I complained to Saturn and am awaiting to hear from their "district specialist". Luckily I was able to keep the car under control and nobody was hurt but how can this not be considered a safety issue. Try going around a curve or turning a corner when your power steering goes out.
Intermittently power steering warning light would appear on dash and power steering would stop working. This happened once one day and twice the second day when I called for an appointment with the service department of the dealer. The car is 4 years old and is no longer under warranty. The dealer replaced the electric power steering assembly at a cost of approximately $1200. When I was told that this just "sometimes happens" by the dealership, I could not understand why it was not considered a serious defect and recalled. I decided to look on the internet and found that it happens to Saturn Ions as well as other general motors vehicles. In my opinion, a 4 year old car should not just suddenly lose power steering. This could have resulted in tragedy. Suppose a driver has to swerve to avoid an obstacle and the power steering fails at that moment. This is something which I believe gm is aware of and is choosing not to warn people about. I intend to make my voice heard in as many forums as possible. This is a very serious problem and I sincerely hope it can be addressed before even one person loses their life.