Tl* the contact owns a 2005 saturn ion. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 MPH, the power steering warning light illuminated as the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where it was diagnosed that the power steering motor needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 69,000. The VIN was not available.
2005 Saturn Ion steering complaints
Page 4 of 10: complaints 71 to 100 of 265, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I was turning at an intersection and power steering went out. As the power steering went out a warning came across the dash. I just bought the car on february 14, 2013 used.
The power steering failed while driving the car and a message appeared on the driver's information panel; I had to apply a lot of force on the steering wheel in order to control the car. This is happening now everytime I drive the car and it happens randomly while driving.
My car leaks in the roof when its rains and has stained my interior roof. My power steering went out and on the display it was pwr steering. My outside trim near windows is warped. My sunroof doesnt work it wont open.
Driving on the way to work this morning, the power steering went out three times! Twice on a regular highway and once on the interstate. Going 45 MPH suddenly bell sounded and pwr steer light came on and immediately the power steering went off. I was able to get the car to the side of the road, but would not have been able to turn it, because the steering becomes, not quite manual, surely much harder than the manual mode I well remember. When I cut off the motor and restarted, the steering returned to normal. On the interstate, I was going 62 MPH when the steering went out. Pulled over to an exit lane, stopped and restarted and everything worked again. Very dangerous! I don't know how many cars have been stopped on the road, and a car coming failed to see that they were stopped and slammed into them... I just bought this car in april. In checking online before buying, I saw the complaints about the key sticking, but didn't see anything about the steering at all. I'm a widow, still working, and repairs would be very difficult. Especially when this should be a recall, and done for free, since it was/is defective and possibly injurious. Again, I feel very vulnerable and in danger when this is going on, and it's happening more and more every day over the last two weeks (sept 11th was the first time).
Driving at 55 MPH on a straight section of highway 703, the power steering warning came on and I lost the power steering. I pulled over with no power steering, turned off the vehicle then restarted the error cleared and I had power steering again. I can't trust that this won't happen again at a much more dangerous place and at a slower speed which would make the vehicle much harder to control.
The key gets stuck in the ignition, this has been a problem for 2 years, often have to leave the car with the key in (this is very unsafe). Today the key was stuck and would not turn, I could not turn the car off --- this is an extremely unsafe situation.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 saturn ion. The contact was driving 40 MPH when she heard a dinging sound and the power steering warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The steering wheel became difficult to maneuver and the contact was able to pull over. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 89,000 and the current mileage was 92,000.
As I was driving the power steering went completely out, I had to restart car in order to regain power steering. But it continued to go back out on me 2 mins after restarting car repeatedly.
Was driving my car out of my driveway and 2 blocks away the power steering failed as I was making a turn in a busy intersection. Luckily it was at an off time at night otherwise the outcome would have been a lot worse. Was able to pull off to the side of the road.
I was pulling out of my parking space and the power-steering function stopped working.
Power steering fails while driving intermittent failure.
Loss of power steering during highway speed. Pulled over and restarted car, power steering came back on then stopped again. Ever since this incident has occurred the power steering will randomly shut off. This could be a dangerous situation when it occurs during making turns or driving sharp curvy roads as it takes a lot of upper body strength to turn the wheel at lower speeds.
While driving on the highway a warning light came on and I completely lost my power assist steering. It was hard to turn the steering wheel. I pulled over and turned the key off and when I turned the key back on the steering assist worked again. Since the first incident it has happened multiple times. Saturn customer service was no help in getting this fixed.
The car was traveling straight when the power steering failed, and the information center displayed "pwr str" turned engine off, put in neutral, restarted engine, and power steering worked. Happened about 2 hours later as well.
Driving down freeway and warning light came on and lost power steering. Very very difficult to steer. Luckily husband was driving because wife could not have muscled.
With less than 60,000 miles on the car, the power steering light displayed on dash and power steering was no longer working. Once parking and restarting the car, the steering seemed to be working as we drove around the neighborhood and then yet again less than .5 mile later traveling between 10-15mph in the neighborhood, the power steering light again displayed along the dash and was nonexistent once again.
Just recently bought the car 3/18/2011, used and when driving car, I heard 3 rings and then where the odometer is it lite up pwr str. Pulled over the side of the road (turnpike), shut the car off and restarted and power steering was back. Only to drive 10 miles and it happened again. Feel that this is very dangerous since car is manual and I am woman who is 5'0 and weighs 135lbs, to steer and shift this car when the pwr str goes out so suddenly.
Saturn ion 2005 is loosing power steering. It comes back on if the car is turned off and back on again, but continues to loose power steering while driving.
Eps went out while sitting at a light. I drove the 5 miles home without power steering. Upon restarting the car, the eps resumed working.
At stop light, power steering flashed on dash. Drove about one mile, went back on, another mile and power steering went off for good.
While traveling on the interstate a power steering failure notice appeared on the dash and it became difficult to steer. Upon restarting the vehicle, the power steering function returned. The power steering has failed 8 additional times in the past month since 1/14/12. Fortunately we have not had an accident due to failure. I am a large athletic built 230 man, and I have difficulty steering upon failure. I fear an accident would occur if the steering failed and my 120 lb wife had to make a sudden change in direction.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 saturn ion. While driving approximately 30 MPH, the power steering warning indicator illuminated on the instrument panel for a few seconds and then there was a complete loss of powering steering. The contact was able to continue driving with difficulty in turning the steering wheel. The failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 22,558.
Power steering system goes on and off. Happens at all speeds and in turns. Multiple accidents have nearly occurred because of this. There has been an extended warranty up to 100,000 miles but if you're car is past it gm refuses to do anything about it. This is a safety issue because of a bad design! Not right I should have to pay to be safe because of a faulty design.
While driving down the road at normal speed 55 MPH we get a ding ding ding with a pwr steer light to come on and then we have no power steering. Luckily my husband was driving. After calling the saturn dealership it appears to be the power steering assist module. This is dangerous due to you not getting much of a warning.
Power steering keeps failing on and off during turns at all speeds.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 saturn ion. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH, the power steering warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The steering wheel seized and became difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer for a diagnostic test and the technician stated that the power steering motor would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. There was an open investigation under the federal safety agency action number: ea11014 (steering:electric power assist system), that may be related to the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 48,000.
The first time it went off was when we were entering a highway. The electric alarm went off and then I found the steering was not working. It was dangerous and very hard to pull over when cars behind are accelerating to get into the highway traffic. After a restart, everything seemed okay. Then on our way back home the same thing happened for 4 or 5 times. We had to drive in the right lane at a low speed to give ourselves enough space for safty.
The power steering on this car repeatedly fails. As soon as you start the car the power steering light comes on making it extremely difficult to maneuver the car.
I had been driving approx. 2 hours of a 11 hour trip when I saw a message replace the odometer about the power steering. I left i95 using exit 98 and pulled over in a gas station. The manual stated that the power steering was electric, so no steering fluid to check. I restarted the car and magically the problem was fixed and my trip odometer was magically set to zero. I drove around the frontage road and everything seemed fine so I continued on my way. 22 miles later the same thing happened. I took the next exit, shut the car off, restarted it and magically again it was fixed with no reset of the trip odometer. Again I continued on my trip only to have it happen again 23 miles later, at which point I repeated the stopping/restarting procedure and turned around headed for home. While driving home it happened two more times, then once more in the driveway when I was backing up. So a total of 6 times within a 5 hour period and no prior history (since I've owned it) of this problem. I purchased this car used from a dealer may 28 2011 with approx. 46500 miles. The only other problem I've had is the key not wanting to come out of the ignition after I've turned the car off; after I put the gear shift into reverse then back into park, the key will come out; sometimes I can hear a clicking sound when the ignition switch fixes itself and then the key will come out, also.
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