2008 Saturn Aura: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Jan 1, 2022 · Transmission · IN

The list goes on. Shifting issues started and we've been trying to figure it out among other issues.. Transmission shift cable. Power train transmission. Car randomly won't accelerate while driving. Dials not moving periodically. Coolant holds normally then randomly is emptied like their is a leak. Fill it up & it sucks it on like it won't hold it. Thirsty. Coolant leak but no service light. Car overheated for awhile but now doesn't. Wouod just shoot up to red zone. Got a call last night that it wasn't shifting right & sounded bad. Wks before randomly hard shifted. Our kid was stranded in the cold. Got to him & the car wouldn't shift from neutral. It rolled backwards on him & he threw on the parking brake thankfully!! Scary ordeal & thankful he is ok. When shifting gears, the shifter moved but sounds like it's not connected to anything & the gears don't shift. It stays in neutral. Car won't start. He also randomly has battery issues when his alternator & battery are good. Car just won't start randomly. It is available for inspection once we get it home.. I was led here thinking, it has to have recalls & we weren't notified then I saw recalls for this make & model, just not ours. No warning lights this time. Service engine has came on before them go off intermittently. We've had it connected at auto zone & fixed a few codes it through then service light went off. It's reduced engine power while driving & doesn't accelerate. Drives slow. Reduced power. All these previous issues now the shifting cable. :(

Filed Dec 13, 2018 · Electrical · MI

I took my vehicle in for an "electric power steering assist" recall. Drove it there, but had to tow it off because the shift cable broke. It will not shift into any gear, just stuck in drive. Also wont start now I assume because it wont go in park. The lock buttons/ windows dont work either

Filed Jan 24, 2017 · Transmission · 296,000 miles · MD

The vehicle will not shift into gears properly. When the gear is placed in park, the vehicle will roll in reverse, and, trying to place it in drive takes about 5 to 10 minutes. Once its in drive slot, the vehicle will not not go forward.

Filed Jul 21, 2016 · Transmission · 56,000 miles · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 saturn aura. The contact stated that the gear shifter was stuck in park. The vehicle was towed to a chevrolet dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission cable fractured. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The VIN was excluded from the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v224000 (power train). The failure mileage was approximately 56,000.

Filed May 27, 2016 · Transmission · 170,000 miles · WI

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 saturn aura. While in an intersection and attempting to drive, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was placed in park and would not shift out of the park position. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission shift cable fractured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was previously repaired under the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v224000 (power train), but the remedy failed to repair the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the shift cable fractured prior to the recall repair and after the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 170,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Mar 29, 2016 · Transmission · 52,000 miles · MI

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 saturn aura. While accelerating from a stop light, the transmission shifted abnormally. The vehicle would not shift into third, fifth, and sixth gears nor reverse. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the transmission malfunctioned and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired.the manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 52,000.

Filed Mar 9, 2015 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 75,000 miles · PA

My wife was driving to work on the highway. All of the sudden the check engine light came on. The car reduced engine power. A message came up on the display saying to service the traction control. I took the vehicle to a gm dealer. They said it was the throttle body position sensor. The exact same incident happened to an acquaintance the week before in her 2012 chevy malibu with the dealer determining the cause to also be the throttle body position sensor. The incident in my car almost caused my wife to be rear ended due to the dramatic speed change from going into limp mode all of the sudden at highway speed.

Filed Jul 15, 2014 · Transmission · 88,000 miles · NM

Vehicle will not shift out of park. Had it towed to the local chevrolet dealer and was told by them that the shift cable and bracket were broken and needed to be replace. The dealer says this vehicle is not covered under the current recall 14152. Called gm customer assistance but was referred back to dealer. This vehicle and the problem appears to be the listed in the recall.

Filed Jun 10, 2014 · Electrical · DE

During the winter of 2013 I started noticing my doors weren't always locking automatically when shifting from park into drive as they were supposed to. Then I had an incident in which I parked my car at a mall and couldn't restart (because it was stuck in gear) it but after trying to start the ignition and switching gears I was able to start it again after a few minutes. These events soon lead up to my shifter malfunctioning and the car getting stuck in drive while I was trying to park it on a city street. I was no longer able to shift gears and once turning the car off I could not restart it. After doing some research, I found out about the recall involving the shifter cable tab however, I was never notified by gm. In fact, when I contacted gm I was told that my VIN was not apart of this recall. Both the dealer and gm said I would have to pay for the replacement even though it was a known fact that there were a substantial amount of cars that had this same problem. Eventually the dealer told me that there was a "loophole" that would allow them to replace the part free of charge due to this recall. The fact that I wasn't notified and initially given a hard time by gm is very alarming.

Filed May 24, 2014 · Transmission · 138,000 miles · GA

2 years ago I complained to gm concerning the car moving when it was in park to no avail. On wed my grandson was approaching the stop sign in the auto would not shift. As he I tried to put the car into reverse it would not back up. I had him drive to the end of the cu-de-sac where we could turn around and brought the car home where it has sat.

Filed Mar 18, 2014 · Transmission · 95,000 miles · UT

I noticed that it wasn't shifting into gear like it normally does. And then it wouldn't go into reverse. I took it to a shop the next morning. I had trouble driving it there. The engine light had come on. They took it for a test drive but didn't make it very far because it wouldn't work for them either. They had to push the car. I bought this car in 2009 when it was only a year old. They told me the transmission was gone. I tried to drive it home but only got a few miles when I had to pull over and have it towed. This was and is very troubling with all the gm recalls. There a lot of people who have had this same problem. I still have another year on the car and I haven't been able to fix it. I need help with this.

Filed Jul 22, 2013 · Driver assistance, Transmission · OH

The vehicle does not go into park. When placed in park it rolls foward or backward and I must use the emergency brake to turn off the car and remove the key. It only allows me to start my car in neutral. It has shifted from drive to neutral as I am driving. There has been over 421, 000 of these recalled but I am being told mine is not on the list and I must pay for it all out of pocket from falicia, the district specialist for saturn. My biggest concern is who would the blame be on if my car were to roll into another car or building? I want and need to get this fixes asap but do not have any money for ot and do not believe I should have to pay for it when all the others were fixed for free due to it being a defect.