Steering Problems of Saturn SL

The contact owns a 1996 Saturn Sl. While making a right turn at 20 mph, the steering wheel turned right and left independently. As a result, the contact crashed into the rear driver side of another vehicle and the air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained muscular pain that required medical attention. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact was made aware of NHTSA campaign number: 97v138000 (steering); however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was 166,000.

See all problems of the 1996 Saturn SL 🔎.

Spouse and I use car. The very first time the occurrence happened, was when parking car into driveway, I went to turn off car ignition and accidentally hit key ring, and the key fell out of the ignition, with the car in park, yet still running. On numerous occasions, while driving the car, the car is still running and the key easily Slips out of the ignition. Also, on more than one occasion, when trying to unlock the steering wheel, the key will not turn while in the steering ignition. We would have to move the steering wheel many times while simultaneously turning the key many times to unlock the ignition. One day soon, it might not turn. Yes, we know the advise is to use only a single key, not one on a multi-key ring. However, we both have used other cars for many years, and never had such difficulty or frequency of problems as this situation.

See all problems of the 2002 Saturn SL 🔎.

After a pop noise during negotiating a curve the steering wheel suddenly appeared tilted even while going straight while driving. Car was steered with increased loss of control for a few seconds and moved to curb. Steering was unusable thereafter and car was towed for repairs.

The contact owns a 2000 Saturn Sl. The contact stated that while traveling at unknown speeds, the key could be removed and the vehicle would continue to operate as normal. In addition, the contact stated that the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the entire ignition system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 80,000.

See all problems of the 2000 Saturn SL 🔎.

Request a defect investigation for possible recall of 1990-96 Saturn Sl. The writer's son was killed in and accident in which, per witness statements, her sons vehicle veered sharply left and hit a tree head on. The consumer believes some type of defect caused her son's accident.

While driving at highway speed, consumer lost control and couldn't steer the vehicle. Passenger'sir bag deployed. Dealer and manufacturer notified.

Had to replace transmission casing had a bad leak wiring harness from ignition caught on fire putting me and my families life at risk rattles real bad in rear portion of car heater quit working.

Had a few months, hot summer and key would not turn in ignition. Manual that came with car said this could happen and if it did to turn the wheel, jiggle the shift, etc. Would not have this trouble except in hot weather. On oct 29, 2010 I had lock cylinder & keys replaced at my expense by an authorized gm dealership. Now it is doing it again (6/26/2014) with only 44,000 actual miles on it. Only authorized dealership has ever worked on this vehicle. This has happened to my daughter who has a newer Saturn and to a Saturn of my granddaughters. I hate to have to spend another $310 at my expense to fix this known defect.

There is alot of play in steering, and theres avery loud poping noise when turning wheel.

See all problems of the 1997 Saturn SL 🔎.

Traveling about 5 mph there was total loss of steering, resulting in steering lock up diagnosis, the retaining clip omitted during assembly.