Major transmission repair required at 79,000 miles.35r 456 clutch damaged due to broken wave plate causing no reverse and limited operation. This repair $2338.29. Failed during driving on highway.
2009 Saturn Aura transmission complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 65, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving my daughter to school, I made a left turn into the school parking lot at a low rate of speed and steering went out. Power steering light illuminated and dash reads service ESC. Very difficult to steer. Turned car off and went to crank again...steering restored, indicator went off.
Vehicle was traveling approximately 65-70 miles per hour on the highway when the tachometer went from 2300 RPM to 5000 RPM and would do this repeatedly from time to time a service code stating service ESC would appear each time it occurred it would happen after driving for a number of hours 4 hours or more at the speeds stated previously, have taken it to a mechanic but was unable to get the car to repeat the malfunction no codes appeared and no charge for the trouble shooting.
The plastic casing on the shifter cable has broken and the sprag on the at transmission is bad.... Or so I have been told. It is in the driveway now with the abc, brake, traction control and ESC lights lit as well as error codes p0449 & p2101. I have temp repaired the shifter cable and it will shift through the gears but will not go into gear. I was driving down I-635 when it stopped going into gear.
Transmission (6t40) suddenly failed while driving. Stopped shifting above 2nd gear (25 MPH). Once I pulled out of the highway and parked, I could not reverse. Left me stranded. Gm has a recall for similar 6t70 transmission, but refuses to cover mine even though 6t40 has same problems as 6t70.
Experienced complete loss of reverse gear and forward gears are slipping, and or not engaging so that engine rpms are well above normal before lunging into higher gear and/or not shifting at all. Difficult to reach speeds above 35 MPH. Problem first occurred two days prior and after sitting overnight, seemed to return to normal operation. After parking in angle parking spot with nose forward, the car would not reverse out of parking spot. I had assistance towing aura out of parking spot, and was able to drive forward at low speed to transmission shop. Diagnosis was failure of upper and reverse gears required transmission rebuild with suspected failure of wave plate. Obtained information on gm special coverage adjustment #14404 - transmission clutch wave plate (mar 3, 2015) which extended warranty to 10 yrs/120,000 mi. My 09 saturn aura is within 10 yr period having purchased in january 2010, and has approx 95k miles. I contacted gm customer assistance and was told that my saturn aura is not covered based on the fact that according to my VIN, I have a mh8 6-spd transmission, and the warranty applies only to "other" 6-spd transmissions . . . Even though the transmission failure is for the exact same issue identified in the special coverage adjustment, or specifically that the 6 speed fwd automatic transmission may experience a cracked or fractured wave plate, resulting in a loss of 3rd, 5th, and reverse gears.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. While attempting to start the vehicle, it failed to start. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the tabs for the transmission were fractured and needed to be replaced. The mechanic informed the contact to call the manufacturer. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 12v460000 (power train). The approximate failure mileage was 89,000.
Tranmission went out and had to be replaced due to transmission clutch wave plate breakage. I experienced these conditions: 1) in 3rd gear causing the vehicle to unexpectedly slow down in city driving, increasing the risk of a rear end collision because an oncoming driver would have no warning regarding the sudden deceleration of your vehicle by >=10 MPH in a matter of seconds when you are actually accelerating in 3rd gear, the shift flare sets in, and you lose forward momentum. 2) in 5th gear when the transmission down shifts while you attempt to legally pass another vehicle in highway traffic. Once in fifth gear and passing another vehicle, the shift flare in place of the shift to 6th will cause your vehicle to slow significantly with no warning to other drivers. This increases the possibility of a high-speed rear end collision because drivers following behind you in the passing lane are expecting you to pass and move right, but if the vehicle flare shifts on its way to 6th gear, likely will be unable to complete your pass.
I bought 2009 saturn aura brand new and it only has 50,000 miles and now I have transmission issues . Called the 800 number to saturn and they gave me a voucher so I could take it to a chevrolet dealer so I did the car checked out and it came up with a code po601 trans electro control module they said I need a transmission valve body work and flush . April 2009 they came out with a tsb sept 7 2009 and in may they came out with another tsb pip-4327a. In august of 2009 I had bought my saturn and I guess it had transmission problems if I would of known this ! I wouldn't of bought the saturn . I bought my first 1991 saturn sl2 and it gave me 200,000 miles. I think there should be a factory warranty on my saturn.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. While attempting to shift into the park position, the vehicle failed to shift. The contact called an unknown dealer who confirmed that the VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 12v460000 (power train). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000. The VIN was not available.
35r waved plate broke and damaged transmission internal components. Also damaged teams case. Indepenant shop suggested I take thi car to gm dealer as this is happening on other vehicles with 6 speed electronic controlled transmissions. Gm dealer told me there was a service action against this transmission with a 6 cylinder engine, but my car has a 4 cylinder engine and gm could not offer any assistance.. Gm customer service representative suggested I contact the federal safety agency with my concern of defective transmission in vehicle. My car has 41883 miles at time of transmission replacement. When waved plate shattered, I was driving on I-94 west bound at 55 MPH, causing the vehicle into lump mode as I braked for traffic. I was fortunate that I was not hit by the pick up truck behind me as he changed lanes to pass.. Car was repaired at gordon chevrolet in garden city, mi 48135. Customer number 2440373, invoice number 21573.
Yielding onto a highway, vehicle suddenly felt like it had no forward momentum when applying gas but corrected itself. Next, traveling on a highway, the transmission felt like it was in neutral. Once pulled over and restarted, there was no 3rd, 5th or reverse gear. Vehicle had to be towed. Massively expensive transmission rebuild.
Car gear shift cable has snapped causing the ability to put car in park and turn off car without it being in park and allowing the car to roll. This is a recall for 2009 saturn aura but not for one with my VIN even though it is that problem is the exact thing that is recalled.
With only 92500 miles use, vehicle 6 speed transmission started making a hard sound when shifting from 4th gear to 5th gear, especially when moving at highway speeds and accelerating. Dealer inspected and found that 35r piston and wave plate are defective. Recommending transmission overhaul to correct. This is the same defect noted in previous the federal safety agency actions for this vehicle although dealer claims VIN number is not covered by current actions.
Tl* the contact owned a 2009 saturn aura. The contact stated that the steering wheel was extremely tight and the power steering failed several times without warning. In addition, the shift lever failed to function properly. When the vehicle was placed in park, it rolled and the contact had to quickly apply the emergency brake to stop the vehicle. While driving 30 MPH, a fire erupted under the hood. The contact was able to pull the vehicle into a fuel station. The fire department extinguished the flames. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was destroyed and towed. The vehicle was not diagnosed by a dealer. The manufacturer was not notified of the failures. The failure mileage was 140,000.
Need double check my car
For two days when starting it made a weird noise but it sounded like the fan to the A/C might be going. Then my warning gauges started appearing warning of my air bag and oil. The next time I went to start the car the car would not start at all and the lights inside the car flashed and the car made a strange noise.
One evening I got in my car and it refused to start. After a few minutes of troubleshooting I tried starting in neutral which worked. Since that night the vehicle does not go into park. The gear position indicator does not match the current gear. The only way to park the car is to set the gear shift to park and set the parking brake. You can then take the key out. To start it again you have turn the key on and move the selector neutral. This is a hazard because you need to remember to set the parking brake when you turn the car off or it will roll away. Even if you set the car in park while the engine is running the car will reverse or roll away if you don't apply the brake or set the parking brake.
Cracked wave plate requiring a rebuild of the transmission. Lost all gears except for 1st while driving on city street.gm refused to cover the repair completely even though they do for some 2009 saturn auras that have the exact same problem.
I was on my way home from work, during rush hour, on march 22, 2016 and noticed that I was having difficulty accelerating past 40 MPH. The vehicle felt as if it was not shifting gears. I thought about going directly to the dealer for service but could not accelerate past 25 MPH at that point. I was able to make it home safely and had the car towed to the dealer the very next day. The dealer called to inform me that there were several issues with the most expensive being a transmission tear down with repair or replacement. This should be covered under service bulletin #14404. I am very disappointed with the number of recalls I have had on my vehicle. It has just been paid off and now I feel it is turning into a money pit and a death trap. I have received service bulletin #15356 but not #14404 which seems to apply to my issue. Prior to this date, I had not experienced any known transmission issues.
Went to take daughter to school vehicle would not move in reverse or drive. Yesterday transmission bucked all day while driving. Looked on internet I'm not the only one with this problem on this same vehicle. I called the dealer they said no recall for this problem want me to pay $3000 or better to fix a problem that they know about. If gm knows about it why is there no recall on the faulty part? Please help me and the other dissatisfied customers that got screwed on these vehicles and launch a recall for another flaw by gm. They are making money on their mistakes and that is wrong.
The car would not start, would not even turn over. We though it was a starter problem but noticed when we shifted to neutral it would start right up. We also notice the shifting did not seem to lock into gear as it normally does. Then we noticed that if we put the car in park and were on even a slight hill the car would keep rolling. The doors normally unlock when the car is placed in park but that stopped happening. We checked to see if there was a recall for this problem and there was one issued in 2009 for the exact problem we were having. We took it to the nearest dealer who said our car wasn't included in the recall even though it stated in the recall the exact make, model and year.
After existing the freeway I stopped at a light. Once I tried to accelerate, the transmission started to slip. I was able to achieve 20-25mph before the engine would rev up to 6000-7000 RPM without accelerating significantly. Once I got home, I found I could no longer go in reverse either. Vehicle does not accelerate above 25mph normally or go in reverse. I took the car to a repair shop and they identified that the wave plate in the transmission was an issue. There is a 3-5-r wave plate fracture issue with gm automatic transmissions that this car seems to be affected by, but not covered by gm's service bulletin / extended warranty. Gm obviously has not identified all vehicles that have this issue. I am at 6.5 years and 90,000 miles and have a broken transmission.
When accelerating up to speed limit of 45 transmission shifted from third to fourth with a sharp thunk that shook the vehicle. I just had dealer service transmission {flush}. It hesitates when shifting into fourth gear a fraction of a second at slightly elevated engine speed {200-300} RPM then engages and shifts into fifth and sixth normal every time I drive it. The harsh shift only occurred once.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. The contact stated that the shift lever failed to switch into the park position without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the shift cable needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and stated that the VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 12v460000 (power train). The failure mileage was 63,470.
Car has had intermittent transmission issues for years, mainly stutters and slipping. At the dealership, we'd just get a shoulder shrug and were told it was not repeatable, despite our several visits for the same issue. Well it acted up more than normal as my wife was driving around town (bucked and raced with no power), barely making it home. She refused to drive it the next day, so I did. It drove to work fine. While running errands on the way home (2 miles, no highway, 35 MPH), it really hesitated from the green light and the engine would race as power to the wheels was lost (coasting slowly through the intersection). Then suddenly it would engage and act normal until it shifted to the next gear....and repeat. So, I found a wide spot in the road with no traffic and attempted to turn around, but the turning radius was not tight enough for the available space and I stopped at the edge of the road and put it into reverse. It was as if I put it into neutral. The engine raced and before I realized what was happening and catch it, the front end of the car had fallen off the edge of the road into the ditch with the car's rear end 90 degrees to one lane of traffic. The front end was embedded into the far bank of the ditch, but it was retrievable by the towtruck. The garage said it was the 35r clutch plates and needed an entirely new/rebuilt transmission to the tune of $4900 installed!!!!
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. While driving 40 MPH, the gear became stuck in second gear. The failure occurred sporadically. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was repaired under the federal safety agency campaign number: 12v460000 (power train); however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,500.
Transmission shifter cable failure exactly as per gm recall for the 2007/2008 saturn aura with the 4 speed transmission. My gm dealer says my vehicle is not covered due to it being a 2009 with the 6 speed transmission although the fault is exactly the same.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start and failed to shift into park. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission shift cable was defective. The contact was made aware of the federal safety agency campaign number: 12v460000 (power train); however, the VIN was not available. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 67,782. Updated 7/21/15*cn the consumer would like to be reimbursed for the repairs documented in the recall. Updated 11/9/2015
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. While driving at 65 MPH, the vehicle lost power. In addition, the accelerator pedal was depressed. The vehicle failed to accelerate but increased in rpms. In addition, the contact stated that while attempting to reverse, the gear shifter was shifted into reverse but the vehicle failed to move backwards. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the output shaft in the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 79,997.
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