NHTSA — Unknown Or Other Problems

4.5

definitely annoying
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
24,833 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

1997 Saturn SL miscellaneous problems

miscellaneous problem

Find something helpful? Spread the word.
Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 1997 Saturn SL:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

1997 Saturn SL Owner Comments

problem #6

May 102016

SL

  • 149,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While driving (vehicle in motion) the vehicle shuts down completely. At times when the key is turned in the ignition switch nothing happens; no electrical power but battery is fine and everything else checks out ok except the ignition switch. It has all the characteristics of GM vehicles that experienced fatalities with faulty ignition switches. This has occurred on several occasions the last instance was on May 10, 2016.

- Silver Spring, MD, USA

problem #5

Jul 252004

SL

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
I have a 1997 Saturn SL2. It has apx 78K miles. My car has been going thru alot of oil. I took it in to the dealership and was told that the problem had something to do with the motor and was going to cost apx 4K to fix.

- Overland Park, KS, USA

problem #4

Jun 122001

(reported on)

SL

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
Consumer requesting that an on/off switch be added to the front passenger air bag.

- Hashings, MN, USA

problem #3

Feb 202000

SL

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I recently had a frightening experience in my Saturn, only to be humiliated by the service manager and owner of the torrance dealership. Sunday night- I left my friends house to go home. Up until now my Saturn always ran perfectly and I took it in to the Saturn dealership for regularly scheduled maintenance. As soon as I started driving the car down the street I heard a loud metal bang under my car. It was incredibly frightening - I thought I ran over a bomb. Then I wanted to pull over so I continued to drive to pull over to the side. The clutch went into first and then second, then the car started to drift, I put it back in first only to find it started pulling backwards all on its own. I was scarred out of my mind at this point. I could have hit or killed someone -- thank god it wasn't on a freeway - this was an accident waiting to happen. I immediately stopped the car and called aaa to have it towed to the Saturn of torrance dealer. My regular service dealer as well as the dealer I purchased the car from. Next morning, bora cummings, the service rep called me at 7:30 am to tell me that it was probably a clutch or gear problem and that it was "still covered under warranty" (the car is less than 3 yrs old and only has 27,690 mi on it) she then called me back 1 hour later and told me that her manager said, "it would probably not be covered as this is normal wear, but they would call me at 4 pm and let me know - she also said that she didn't think the car could be fixed today anyway as it takes quite a number of hours to do this. They never called. By 5 pm I was worried. I was at least going to need a rental for the next days work if the car wasn't going to be done. Bora told me she reserved a rental car and to come and get it. When I got to the station -- 5:45 pm I was told, lo and behold that my car was almost ready and if I could come back in half and hour I could have it. I asked if they knew what the problem was yet. No safety defect listed in summary

- Rolling Hills Estates, CA, USA

problem #2

Sep 171999

SL

  • miles
Fabric on instrument panel next to speakers burned out. Left car parked for a couple of days and back deck panel burned right through. Took vehicle to dealer, and dealer said that consumer is doing something to cause the fabric to burn. Consumer states sun is burning the fabric.

- Toms River, NJ, USA

Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...

problem #1

Dec 011997

SL

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
Engine service indicator failed.

- North Holl, CA, USA

Not what you are looking for?