Hood Latch Problems of Saturn ION

My daughter has a 2004 Saturn Ion coupe. She is a new driver and has told me an several occasions that the hood on her vehicle keeps opening by accident. I asked if it was opening all the or just part of the way. She said just popping up part of the way and she has to open it from the front and close it completely. I asked her to let me know the next time it happened and she did. I took a look and saw it had released and was only being held shut by the secondary safety latch. When I looked at the location of the hood release I noted it was located very close to the floor on the driver's left. When I tested it, the release activate very easily. The position of the release is right next to the driver's foot and is likely being activated when the foot moves around or when the driver is getting out of the car. In fact, I drove her car last week and had the hood accidentally release 3 times. One time I noticed when I was on the expressway traveling at highway speeds. This condition could easily lead to a hood blowing up and off while driving if the secondary safety latch fails. This could cause a catastrophic incident. I called Saturn customer service, explained my concern, and was basically treated as if I was crazy. I asked for my concern to be sent to the product design and safety group for review and asked for a follow up call. They told me "that's the way the car is designed and no one would be getting back with me. ".

See all problems of the 2004 Saturn ION 🔎.

2003 Ion has had blower fan, clutch switch, cylinder cable hood latch, brake light bulb, wiper module all replaced with in months apart from each other. The rotors were warped and the tail lamp failed.

See all problems of the 2003 Saturn ION 🔎.

2003 Saturn Ion 1. During cold weather the passenger side window frosts. The controls are set for defrost, air on and blower medium high. Even with the blower on high there is very little air coming from the passenger side defrost outlet. A CO-worker has a similar problem with his Ion. The dealer said the system is operating as designed. 2. The hood latch freezes and the hood cant be opened to add window washer fluid. Sometimes you can get the hood open but you cant relatch the hood completely without pushing the hood release handle down. A CO-worker has a similar problem with his Ion. 3. Some the edges on interior plastic parts on the are very sharp. The worst is the compartment door to the left drivers leg. This popped open and had a sharp rough edge. As I exited the car I cut my leg. I fixed this myself by filling the edge.

Hood latch broke. This is the cable which enables consumer to open the hood from the inside.