My car was working fine after parking for 10 minutes I came back to start my car and it wouldn't start I called my mechanic and he told me that the wire for shifting of the gears was damaged the carb wouldn't go into park and would roll on its own.
2007 Saturn Aura transmission complaints
Page 5 of 7: complaints 101 to 130 of 184, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Put car in park and took foot off brake and car began to roll. Doors did not unlock automatically when put into park as they usually do. Now car will start, but not shift out of gear. It will also get "stuck" in park.
Parked car and was leaving vehicle with keys in hand. Vehicle started rolling backward. Got back into car, reinserted keys and made sure gear shift was in park position, which it was. Has happened numerous times since. No problem getting into other gears or feeling like transmission is slipping. I did look up on this site and saw there is a recall notice for similar problem with other auras, but my VIN is not included.
I was on my way to work, in rush hour traffic, when I accelerated after being at a stop light. Just as I started to accelerate when the light turned green I could tell the engine was racing but I was going no where. I managed to drift off the side of the road and had to call a tow truck. The car won't go forward or reverse. Dealer now putting in a new transmission at $3000. Very scary situation and now that I have gone online and seen how many other saturn auro's had to replace transmissions I don't understand why gm hasn't had a recall/reimbursement. They obviously know that there is a problem. I have had to take a loan out at the bank to pay for this. Thank god my 15 year old daughter hasn't started driving it yet.
Vehicle would not turn over, towed to mechanic, timing chain determined to be at fault checked policy 11340a which references other 3.6l vehicles with the same issue - the saturn aura xr is not listed here, but is displaying the same issues. Vehicles covered under that policy indicate an extended warranty demonstrating knowledge of the issue, but acceptance of the full scope.
While driving the car the check engine light came on and the transmission failed to operate. The engine power was also reduced to almost 0 and the car would not move. This happened while driving the car and I was fortunate that I was in a residential area at a lower rate of speed. The diagnosis by the repair shop was a failed wave plate in the transmission which seems to be a common issue for this transmission. This is a severe issue that could cause accidents based on when the transmission part were to fail.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 saturn aura. The contact stated that he attempted to shift from drive to reverse when there was a pop in the gear shifter. The contact stated that he shifted to reverse and then into park but the vehicle was still engaged in drive. The vehicle was towed to a dealer for inspection where they stated that the shift cable needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 141,000.
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 *cn invoice received. Updated 06/17/13....updated 10/19/15 *bf updated 11/03/15.
On friday, may 17th the vehicle was driven and drove normally on monday, may 20th the car will not go into reverse and will not go forward. It was towed to a mechanic as it was completely unable to be driven. Mechanic indicated that the transmission was not operating and trying to engage three gears at once. I called a local transmission shop and they indicated this is a common with the engine/transmission in this vehicle. Estimate is $2,800 to $3,000 to have the transmission rebuilt. The vehicle only has 92,000 miles. I can only imagine what would have happened if it had this suddenly while driving in traffic.
All of sudden the vehicle lost power. The traction light and check engine light came on. Then the vehicle read lost of engine power on the screen. This appears to be happening a lot with saturn vehicles with as view as 25,000 miles of them.
Transmission has started to slip around the same time the recall was released concerning gear shifter cable. I am highly concerned that this is related and now my power train warranty has expired.
I have a 2007 saturn aura xr with the 3.6l and 6 speed automatic and began to notice a bucking, when put into reverse, on january 16, 2013. I called my mechanic, who has serviced the saturn since 11/08, who asked that I bring it in to the shop. An evening later, I lost the transmission and had to have my car towed. It was determined the transmission failed and I made the decision to invest $3,000 to have it replaced. I've not learned what caused the transmission failure and am very dismayed that there was no forewarning. The car has been serviced on a regular basis; just had the transmission fluid changed as the saturn reached the 100k mark. After doing some research on the internet, I've noticed a trend with this car and that is quite a number of owners have had to replace transmissions sooner than expected.
Our transmission started slipping and jumping between 40 and 50mph and attempts to stall out. In reverse, the vehicle will barely move without the transmission slipping and making horrible noises also attempting to stall out. The vehicle has less than 50,000 miles! This is ludicrous! The danger is that the vehicle could stall out at any time while driving, therefore, placing the driver in an unsafe situation with the potential of being struck by oncoming traffic; rear ended, etc. I spent hours this morning researching this issue extensively, via numerous consumer forums, and discovered that this is an extremely common issue with this particular vehicle. Gm's response, in one forum, was to have the system software upgraded, thereby fixing the problem. This apparently did not solve the problem in almost all posted cases but is the apparent "go to" response. I believe if there are hundreds of consumers experiencing the same issue with the same vehicle, and that issue is potentially dangerous, the manufacturer (gm) is responsible to correct the issue at no charge to the consumer. I do not believe it is a coincidence that so many vehicles "randomly" have the same dangerous transmission failure issue. When contacting gm's customer assistance department this morning, I was instructed that the local dealer (which they tried to contact with me on hold to no avail) would provide the software update free of charge (that's the standard solution for first time complaints apparently). After that is completed, and if it doesn't solve the dangerous transmission issue, we're basically on our own to replace a faulty transmission. Something must be done about this issue before someone has to die or get seriously injured by a faulty transmission failing for action to be taken. Thank you.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 saturn aura. The contact stated that when starting the vehicle he would have to use excessive force to get the shifter into gear. In addition, while driving at various speeds the brake lights illuminated and would go out once the brakes were depressed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they advised him that the brake light switch failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure recurred seven months later. The manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000. The current mileage was approximately 90,000. The VIN was unavailable.
While driving the car turned all the way off and steering wheel locked had to put in neutral and turn off and back on. Also the brake lights are always on and when I press on the brake the light go off. This car is becoming so problematic the shift is also stuck a lot of the time where I can not even shift it out of park, I have to press down hard on brake to release the park. Hopefully complaints from many people will cause a recall this is not safe.
Car suddenly lost the ability to accelerate, followed by the transmission light coming on. Had to veer across lane to prevent blocking traffic. Was told by my mechanic that the "transmission went out" and would have to be replaced, though I still need to verify this with a transmission specialist. In looking for people with similar issues that evening, I found that there is an ongoing the federal safety agency investigation for this issue (ea11-015).
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 saturn aura. The contact stated that the gear shifter only operated while in reverse after the vehicle was started. The manufacturer was not notified. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 60,600.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 saturn aura. The contact stated that after placing the vehicle in park, the vehicle continued to roll away in reverse. The contact immediately applied the emergency brake. The vehicle was not inspected by a dealer or an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was contacted and advised him that there were no recalls for the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileages were approximately 120,000.
I was just informed by the dealer that the timing chain on my 2007 saturn aura needs to be replaced. The car has only about 72,000 miles on it. This seems highly suspicious.
The first time my car was parked, and my keys were in my purse, I was getting something out of my trunk. My car moved forward and hit the concrete pillar in the parking garage, my bumper was damaged on the left drivers side. This scared me. The second time my 77 year old mother was sitting in the car,the car was in park the keys were removed and in my purse, my car moved backward. My mother was freaked out,and she was trying to get out of the car when I returned to the car. The 3rd time was just last week, again my car was parked, my keys were in my pocket and my car moved forward and almost hit another car.
I was in the process of parking my vehicle at the grocery store with my 1 year old daughter. I went to put my car in park and it was very difficult to do so. I thought that something may have occluded the gear shift, so I took the car out of park and attempted to shift into the different gears and it eventually became impossible to shift any further and my car was stuck in drive. The vehicle was taken to our usual mechanic where it was diagnosed that the transmission gear shift cable was "all but separated". I researched a bit on the internet where around 400,000 other vehicles (pontiacs, chevrolet malibus, saturn auras) had the same issue that I was having and saw a bulletin issued for september 18, 2012 warning of this particular issue of the gear shift cable becoming separated and that individuals may think the car is in park when the vehicle may really be in a different gear and the vehicle may roll away. I called the general motors headquarters regarding this situation, they informed me that the vehicle would have to be diagnosed at a general motors dealership before anything regarding compensation could be discussed. Vehicle was towed to superior chevrolet in conway, ar where the same thing was said about the gear shift cable. Called gm headquarters again, the stated that there was no recall regarding my issue, and if I wanted to be reconsidered for compensation, the repair would have to be completed at the dealership. The car was repaired at the dealership costing $625 including the tow bill. Gm still maintained that the repair was not under a safety recall, I would not be compensated and for my troubles at $100 cash letter good at any gm dealership. Spoke with larry with the federal safety agency about this situation and I was asked to provide my statement. Updated 01/10/13*lj updated 1/11/2013
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 saturn aura. The contact stated that when the vehicle was turned off, parked and the key was removed from the ignition, he was still able to erroneously move the gear shifter from park. The contact stated that the vehicle had never rolled away because he constantly used the emergency parking brake. The contact was told by the auto parts store there was a the federal safety agency recall campaign id number: 12v4600000 (power train: automatic transmission: gear position indication (prndl) for the transmission shift cable, but when they spoke with the manufacturer, they were told their vehicle was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was unknown, but the current mileage was 55,000.
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 the federal safety agency. 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.
Vehicle started to lunge forward in a stopped position. Would not go into drive or other gears. No dash warnings appeared. 2 months over the 5 year warranty under the 100,000 miles.
Car fails to accelerate at normal rate and engine rev's very high while trying to accelerate - if you let of gas car almost immediately slows to a stop. Car starts jerking, won't reverse. Even when putting car into manual mode the car will not shift. Getting code p2723 with machine from auto part store.
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. *tr updated 1/30/13 *cn 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
Attempted to start car, would not start in park, shifted it to neutral car started, attempted to put car in reverse discovered I had no reverse. Was able to drive car home but when I attempted to put car in park and shut if off it would not allow me to do so. It appeared to be in park but car continued to roll finally was able to get it to stay in park turned car off and put on emergency brake on. When I tried to start it again car would not start.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 saturn aura. The contact stated that when the gears were shifted, the transmission would hesitate and jerk abnormally, causing the check engine light to illuminate. In addition, the vehicle would become resistant to acceleration when the failure was present. The vehicle was towed to the contact's home. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to have a diagnostic performed or for repairs. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 38,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 saturn aura. The contact stated that while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle began to jerk violently. The contact stated that after turning the vehicle off and restarting it the transmission failed. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or mechanic for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The failure mileage was 63,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 saturn aura. The contact was traveling 40 MPH when the vehicle became resistant to acceleration attempts. The check engine warning light illuminated during the failure. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the dealer confirmed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was contacted. The failure and current mileages were 54,000. The vehicle was repaired. Updated 10/25/2012
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