Received a "pwr str" (power steering) warning while backing up a driveway. Power steering did not return to normal operation. Power steering is electric in this vehicle - so no belts or fluids are used. Also received a "trac off" (traction system - off) warning at the same time. No blown fuses were found. Car is at gm service for repair.
2006 Saturn Ion steering complaints
Page 8 of 19: complaints 191 to 220 of 544, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 staurn ion. The contact stated that the power steering warning light illuminated on the instrumental panel and the steering wheel became very difficult to maneuver. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired by a dealer. The manufacturer had not been notified. The failure and current mileages were approximately 92,000.
I own a 2006 saturn ion 2 4d sedan. I am the sole owner of my vehicle. Vehicle was purchased new and currently has approximately 130,000 miles. Traveling home on a busy highway, I heard my notification sound go off and my message indicator read "pwr str" and my steering wheel immediately began to stall. Trying not to panic, I assumed that the steering wheel would still be operational but I noticed it was becoming increasingly difficult to maneuver. I managed to exit the busy interstate and once I got to the stop light I noticed I could no longer move the wheel. I turned my car off and turned it back on and it seemed to work so I was able to get home. Unacceptable!! This was extremely dangerous to happen on a busy interstate or anywhere for that matter. I am scared to death to drive this car in fear that this will happen again. What if I was not able to get off the highway? This was a terrible experience and something should be done about this!!!!!
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion ii. The contact stated that the power steering would fail intermittently while driving. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection of the failure or repairs. The failure and the current mileage was approximately 126,000.
We were driving to pick up a friend of mine, and while parked outside the establishment where I was picking this friend up from I noticed that the steering wheel was becoming increasingly harder to turn, to the point where I was almost unable to turn it, so I shut the car off and turned it back on and everything seemed fine after. I drove to another place in town and was parked there for about an hour and half, maybe two hours, when I turned on the car all seemed well until I rolled the front passenger window down and it would not roll back up so I drove to a gas station a few blocks away to see if I could correct the problem and as soon as I pulled into the parking slot and put the car in park, it just shut itself off and would not turn back on and the display on the dash had a read out that said "pwr str". After an hour wait at 3am at a gas station across town from where I live I was lucky that I had a kind enough friend to come jump start my car. When we did finally get the car to start the power steering did not work at all and I had to use the manual steering on the drive home. Once I got the car safely home and parked it would not start again and it has the same readout that says "pwr str" on the dash. I have not drove the car since for safety reasons as well as not wanting to get stuck somewhere else in town other than home. Please issue a recall for this part as it seems to already be an overwhelming problem with a lot of other owners and has already been recalled on two other models of vehicles.
My power steering goes out in my saturn ion 2006 while on an overpass on the freeway doing about 60 MPH. I have to exit the freeway and I turned the car off. I waited a few minutes and tried to drive in the parking lot I was in and it seemed ok. I pulled out to get back on the side street, and my dash screen blinks telling me "power steering" again. I was a mile from home and had to pull over 3 times before I made it home. Now it happens almost daily. Not safe at all! Please fix this problem at no cost to me or replace my car.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. The contact stated that the steering wheel seized while driving 30 MPH. The contact stopped and shut the vehicle off when the failure occurred. Upon restart, the vehicle would operate as normal momentarily before the failure recurred. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 120,500.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. While driving approximately 65 MPH the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The power steering light illuminated on the instrument panel. After restarting the vehicle, the power steering regained functionality. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer for diagnostics. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 77,000.
The power steering would go out intermittently at various speeds. It would stay off till the vehicle was restarted. The frequency progressed and I contacted a gm dealer who fixed the car under an extended warranty. Doing some online research, I discovered this is a frequent problem with this model and was encourage to report it to this site since a recall investigation was underway.
Driving down the road and power steering will go out. I pull the car over and shut it off and wait a few minutes and restart it and the steering works again for a little while. Usually about 10 to 15 minutes. I went from my home in lake orion, mi to milford mi the other day which is under 30 miles and it went out on me 6 times. Please help with this. I see that several other people have had these same issues. I am also afraid that if the roads are slick here and it goes out like that while I'm driving I could get into a crash.
My son was driving and he attempted to turn the wheel to the right to change lanes and the steering wheel locked. He pulled on it a bit harder and it released which made spin out and his front wheel hit the curb which pushed his wheel up against the frame of the car. We had to have it towed to the mechanics where it still sits while parts are being ordered. Car brands may disappear from time to time, but the cars themselves stick around for years or even decades. And when discontinued models have problems that may affect safety they get the same attention from federal regulators as current models. Such is the case for the saturn ion, a compact-car model from a discontinued general motors division whose production ended a few years ago. The federal safety agency says it has intensified its investigation into complaints about alleged problems with the power-steering systems on ions from the 2004 to 2007 model years. The agency had previously opened a preliminary investigation of the complaints. The federal safety agency says there have been about 4,150 complaints from drivers alleging a sudden loss of power steering. The agency says in 16 cases the loss of power assist resulted in a crash, and in two cases the crashes resulted in driver injuries. The federal safety agency said it began upgraded the preliminary inquiry to an engineering analysis further assess the frequency, scope and safety consequences of a sudden loss of steering assist in the subject vehicles?? Investigations like these sometimes grow into safety recalls in which the cars manufacturer has to correct.
I was backing out of my driveway in the morning before heading to work and as I shifted the car into drive and started to accelerate the pwr str alert was displayed and I found it very difficult to move the steering wheel. I then shut off the car and turned it back on and the power steering was restored. I made it fine to work and had no problems after that. However, that friday, february 4th, I was on the highway on my way for a weekend trip to mi and once again the pwr str alert came on again. I pulled over to the shoulder as soon as I could so that I could attempt to restart my car to hopefully regain power steering. I restarted my car and I was able to gain power steering again. However, after about 15 mins on the road, I lost power steering again. It was very hard to maneuver the car and I was very afraid of what would happen if I had to swerve to avoid an accident. I found it especially harder to turn at slower speeds so making a right hand turn onto a side street was very hard. Then on sunday, february 5th, I was driving again and at first the power steering was working fine, but I found that within 20 mins of my trip the pwr str alert came on again and I had no power steering again. I find this to be a major issue and is very unsafe for any driver especially young ladies such as myself who have to use both arms pulling down on one side of the steering wheel just to make a slight turn around a bend. When I was getting off the highway and going down the off ramp I found that my front wheels were skipping on the pavement as I was making the turn and I was pulling really hard on the steering wheel just to be able to turn. I fear what would happen if it went out and there's snow. I hope that something is done about this issue to insure the safety of not only those driving the cars that are loosing their power steering, but also for the other drivers on the road.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. The contact stated that the power steering would fail sporadically with the illumination of the power steering warning light. The contact stated that he had to turn the vehicle on and off several times in order to get the power steering to resume normal function. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer for diagnosis or repairs. The failure mileage was 82,000 and the current mileage was 82,200.
Driving on interstate, power steering warning light came on, there was a warning chime, and then the power steering was gone and the car became very difficult to steer. I pulled it over, turned it off. When I turned it on the steering was working again, I drove about 10 more miles and it did the same thing. I took it in to my mechanic and was told that gm had a recall on this same exact steering motor used in the cobalt but had not issued a recall on the saturns. I paid over $1100.00 for this repair and I feel it should have been covered by the manufacturer. I am lucky that I did not get in a wreck as this manifested in the middle of rush hour traffic.
The first time it happened I was on my way to work, I heard the beep, then pwr str showed on the dash. At the same time turning the vehicle was very hard. I thought it was an isolated incident because that night on my way home it didn't happen at all. I spoke with my husband and he said the same thing happened to him. It has since then gotten to the point that after the car being driven for a few yards it happens. I live in a city and do mostly low speed driving. I also live in michigan and it is in the middle of winter. Although it is still possible to steer it without power steering, I have a very hard time turning the wheel. I am very scared it is going to cause me to wreck the car.
While driving down a residential street I hear a click and the cars warning sound, then the power steering message appears on the dashboard. I immediately notice that my power steering is no longer working. I pulled to the curb and shut the car off and upon turning it back on the light went away and the power steering was working again. Three days later, while driving to work, as I was in the middle of turning, again I heard a click the warning sound, the message, and the power steering went out again. This time I had to grip the wheel and work to get it to finish the turn safely. Pulled into a gas station, turned the car off, then back on. The power steering worked for the 10min drive to work. During the drive home the power steering shut off 4 times, each time it took less time from the restart of the car till the it failed again.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. The contact stated that the power steering light illuminated on the instrument panel and the power steering failed. The contact stated the vehicle had to be turned off and restarted in order to get the light to go off. The failure mileage was unknown, but the current mileage was 64,000.
When driving the power steering fails and a chime will sound to let you know you have lost power steering, the only temporary fix is to turn off the vehicle and turn it back on. If you are on a strait road and have a manual transmission you can put the car in neutral and turn the vehicle off then back on. If you happen to be in a turn while the steering goes out, or about to turn... Brake and pray... The dealership did replace the steering column at 20000 miles and it was under warranty, and I have had time to not worry about loosing steering ability for 3 years. Now my car has 90,000 miles and just out of warranty period, I have lost power steering 6 times in 20 miles. This is a real concern and I'm not the only one who has this problem. There needs to be a recall on these power steering motors on saturn ions and chevy cobalts before they cause any more serious accidents.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. While driving approximately 72 MPH, the contact noticed the power steering light illuminated and the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing or repairs. The approximate failure mileage was 108,000.
As I set my cruise control at 60mph, the power steering suddenly failed and the digital display pinged the pwr steering error message. After pulling over, shutting off and restarting the vehicle, the power steering had returned, but failed again about two miles further down the road. Vehicle maintains pattern of power steering control after ignition, which fails upon reaching highway speeds.
12/29/2011 - driving on freeway at around 55 MPH and my message screen showed "pwr str" and I lost my power steering. It became very difficult to steer. 01/01/2012 - driving on roadway at around 45 MPH and my message screen showed "pwr str" and I lost my power steering. It became very difficult to steer. With both times when I shut the car off and re-started the problem went away.
Luckily my brother in law was driving his mothers car at the time. They were coming back from the grocery store when the steering turned into a 1955 mack truck as he described it. When they returned we looked it up in the manual as being electric. When I restarted the car it was working ok, then I took it around the block and it went out again. I restarted the car again and it was ok again for about a half block when it went out again. This would have been a very dangerous situation if my 81 year old mother in law had been driving.
The power steering on the saturn ion continually goes out. It typically will come back on when the car restarts only to go out again while driving. Sometimes it goes out 2 minutes into a drive, other times it doesn't go out at all and other times it's after 30 minutes. It's quite annoying and dangerous.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. The contact stated that the power steering failed while driving 60 MPH. The power steering light illuminated while the failure occurred. The contact shifted to neutral and back into drive in order to get the steering wheel to return to normal function. The failure was experienced several times. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or repaired. The failure mileage was 80,000 and the current mileage was 83,080.
While driving my 2006 saturn ion I hear a click and a warning light comes on the console pwr str. Power steering is lost and very hard to steer. Almost had an accident while turning at that time. When you turn car off the steering is okay, but after a while the warning light comes back on and power steering is lost again. Very hard to turn and park the car. I have done research and this is a similar system used on the chevrolet cobalt and pontiac g5 that had recalls on them.
I was driving on the highway when my car lost power steering. A message on the center console said pwr str. I pulled over at the next rest area and turned off the car and restarted it, and the power steering was functioning correctly. About another 30 miles later the same thing has happened, and it has been intermittent since. Restarting the car seems to temporarily resolve the issue.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion 3. The contact stated that the power steering would fail intermittently. The contact would reset the vehicle by turning the vehicle off and back on. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 66,258 and the current mileage was 66,358.
Driving through wal mart parking lot I suddenly lost steering control. Pwr str was flashing a warning. Very scary managed to drive it the one mile home like that, parked it and immediately told my husband he went out checked out the car and it was fine. Have since done research and have found several such incidents have happened to people. The same problem in the chevy cobalt which was recalled, why is this vehicle not been recalled with such a dangerous problem?
I was at a stop light making a left turn, I thought my car cut off because it was very hard for me to turn. Information was flashing pwr str I drove home very carefully. Cut the car off and my boyfriend was gonna take it to o'reilys auto store. He called me to let me know that it was driving fine. Today 11-29-2011 2 days later it happened again, I was driving and all of the sudden I could barely steer the car. I brought my car home let it set for a little bit, got in the car and it drove with no problem.
My son was driving on the highway when the steering went out. He was able to get to the side safely, but very scary.
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