Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. While driving approximately 45 MPH, the contact attempted to make a right turn and suddenly the power steering failed to operate with the illumination of the warning indicator. A chime sounded inside the vehicle and the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and the engine was turned off. After waiting five minutes, the power steering began to function normally. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 68,878.
2006 Saturn Ion steering complaints
Page 9 of 19: complaints 221 to 250 of 544, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The power steering to my 2006 saturn ion went out while I was merging from an on-ramp to a major highway during rush hour going approximately 50mph. It turns off and alerts me each time I turn the car on.
I am experiencing a variety of problems with my 2006 saturn ion. The power steering stopped working, the speedometer stopped working (it remains at 0 regardless of my speed), also the odometer doesn't seem to work either - my mileage does not increment when I drive. My car registers a diagnostic code of p0502: vehicle speed sensor a circuit low input. I saw posts online in various forums from 2007 saturn ion owners who say that they received letters from gm in 2009 to have this problem fixed under warranty but why didn't I get a letter in 2009? Gm and the federal safety agency have apparently been aware of this and "watching" the problem for a couple of years now - it's gm's responsibility to fix this since they didn't forewarn me and encourage me to get this fixed back in 2009 when they knew enough to have 2007 saturn ion owners take their cars in to have this problem fixed.
At approximately 35,000 miles on approximately december 2, 2008, (this date is approximate as I don't have records of the first failure, gm would have records of the repair with exact date and mileage) while driving down the freeway at 70 MPH on a slushy day, power steering failed. We were able to take the next exit and happened to be near a saturn dealership. We stopped there immediately and the car was kept there while the steering column was replaced as warranty work. The car now has 105,000 miles on it this part with approximately 60,000 miles on it failed again and power steering was lost on october 21, 2010 while driving down a highway at 70 MPH with my daughter in the car. We were able to pull the car over to the side of the road, shut it off and restart it which caused the power steering to return. We completed the trip with no more occurrences, but in driving in town, the powersteering has continued to fail. I have started riding the bus and don't feel it is safe to drive more than a few blocks at a time. I had received a letter indicating that if there were power steering issues we should contact the dealer. We did so and the gm dealer told us that our car does not have warranty work available and that they are unaware of any issues with steering on the saturn ion. We have contacted gm as well, but they have not responded.
I was driving down the express way, and my power steering warning light flashed across my mileage, and I lost all power steering. Very difficult to steer car. I get to work turn my car off. And when I leave work, I start my car and I have fully functional powersteering again. But now when I drive in the course of 2miles my power steering flashes the warning light and I loose all power steering. I can turn my car off and restart it and I once again have power steering. When I drive in a course of 15 miles my power steering fails and shut completely off about 15-20 times. This is very very dangerous and very inconvenient. I have a small child and this is going to cause me to have a wreck. And seriously injure myself or her.
My power steering began going out. At first, I would turn the car off, turn it back on and the steering would return for a day before going out again. After a couple of weeks of this, the power steering would last for half that time. After two weeks, power steering was on for a minute after I turned the car over, then out the rest of the day. It's been like that ever since.
At start of ignition, the letters: pwr str, immediately flashes in oil life display. The steering wheel becomes stiff, thus resulting in really slow turns. It is not safe when turning onto streets where vehicles are traveling in the 45mph range due to increased neighborhood speeds set by city.
As I was driving the vehicle approaching a red light the power steering message appeared on the dash and the power steering went out. After turning the car off at the stop light and restarting it the message went away and the steering was fine for few minutes before the process was repeated and now the power steering does not work.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. The contact stated that while driving MPH and above, the power steering became very difficult. The failure recurred on an intermittent basis. The vehicle was not inspected by a dealer nor repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000. The VIN was unavailable.
The power steering on my 2006 saturn ion recently went out. I was driving at a low speed and suddenly the power steering light turned on and my steering locked up. I quickly drove it to a mechanic who said the power steering fuel was okay and that the problem was in the power steering system. I did research and found this is a common problem with this make of car and that no recall has been issued yet. I do not have the money to keep fixing all of these issues that are the manufacturer's fault. The problem has happened to thousands of cars and a recall must be issued. I am severely unsatisfied with saturn and the thousands of dollars I have put into this car to fix problems that never seem to be solved. This is a dangerous failure that could have cost me my life.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the contact noticed that the steering had become stiff and difficult. The contact stopped the vehicle and after restarting, the power steering functioned resumed normally. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostic where the mechanic advised that the steering column would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 105,000.
Driving down the freeway the chime sounded and the "pwr str" message displays in the message center. The power steering no longer works. After muscling the vehicle home I parked it and started it the next morning and the vehicle was back to normal. Had an identical experience on the freeway a week later. The dealership doesn't believe me because it's back to normal when I take it to them.
After being on the road in moderate city traffic on a clear day for approximately 5 minutes, I heard an audible alert then the visual alert "pwr str" appeared on the dashboard display, and I no longer had power steering. I continued my 35+ mile drive home, making one stop on the way. When I restarted the car after that stop, the power steering was once again working. The problem did not recur for several days, then happened again. For the past 25 days or so, the problem happens every time the car is running, sometimes happening after having traveled only 100 feet and sometimes not happening until well after that. This is a definite safety concern. In the event the steering failed while a corner was being negotiated, the outcome could be tragic.
Car was parked on a slight incline. Hand brake was on. Turned on ignition and engine started. Put right foot on brake and released hand brake. Placed car in reverse and began to lift foot off brake. Car began to roll backward, but when I applied pressure to the foot brake to slow the car I found that I had no power brakes and no power steering. It took a great deal of effort to stop the car from continuing to roll backwards. By now the engine had stopped running and several alert lamps were lit on the control panel. Over several days before this incident, I had noticed intermittent and momentary power steering failures when I was driving at slow speeds.
I was driving and going around a circle and all of sudden it was hard to steer,a chime and power steering light was on the dash,I pulled over into a parking lot. I turned engine off.opened the hood to check on serpentine belt if broken, but the belt was good. I started the engine and the power steering was working again,as if nothing happened.a week later it happened again,as I was driving straight,I pulled over turned engine off,restart again and the power steering working ok,I called the gm dealer service dept.and they said there is no recall or t.s.b. From gm.
While driving southbound on highway 99, the power steering light came on and steering became tight and hard. After further research saturn does know about this problem and has only issued a special policy and not a recall.
For the past 5 months, the saturn ion 3 power steering will intermitently go out. When I first start the car the power steering works fine, and then at any random time the car makes a ding,ding noise and then there is no power steering. If the car is shut off and turned back on the power steering is fine. Then a few miles down the road it turns off again, almost every day. This makes it very difficult to turn corners. The next problem is if it is damp or cold (below 60) in the morning at 8am the car will not turn over or start, until the sun comes out and warms up the car, by noon the car starts just fine. I can get it started if I place two warm blankets on the battery and motor and wait a few minutes, then the car will start. The drivers side windows have also stopped working.
This happened on my daughters 2006 saturn ion with less than 25,000 miles. She had been making a right hand turn in a double turn lane off an angulared intersection (about 60 degrees). She was in the outside lane with a semi-truck making the turn along side, left of her. She was going approx. 25 MPH. When she lost the power steering and almost veered under the trailer. Thank god she didn't go under under it or she probably would have been killed. The eps has failed 4 times since. I see that gm has acknowledged this problem with their other models and posted recalls for them, but not for saturn. 846 saturn complaints to odi and 3,489 reports to gm and no recalls!!! How many people have to report a crash or sadly enough, have to die, before something is done. I've been out of work for sometime and can not afford the reported $1,000 repair at a dealer that admits there is a problem. The federal safety agency and or gm, stand up for what is right and do something. Since when is the loss of steering not a major issue!!!
I am beginning to believe that the issue with the saturn ion is an electrical or computer based. I put in a complaint earlier about how the car shuts off in the middle of making turns. This morning as I went to work I was met with the automatic steering not working. At first I thought that maybe the emergency break was still up. I checked my steering fluid and it is full. I turned the car off and then on again and tried to move the wheel. No dice. I drove the car to work fighting with the steering all the way there. When I got to work I called for assistance to get my car to a shop. After making the arrangements, I went to try to straighten up the vehicle somewhat so that others could park beside me and so the towing company could get it out. To my amazement the car steering worked fine. There are several complaints on the web about this issue, the key getting stuck in the ignition, the key being removed from the ignition and the car engine continuing to run anyway, and the shutting off while going over tracks and making turns with the saturn ion 2004-2007. Please get gmc to fix these issues. What makes me really angry is that the company knows, they simply are avoiding fixing the problems and only focus on the fuel pump problem. Somebody is going to get killed sooner or later btw the shutting off issue or the steering wheel issues. I hope you guys look into these issues and demand that gmc fixes them before then. Thanks.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. The contact stated that the steering wheel would intermittently seize while driving 30 MPH and above. Whenever the failure recurred, the contact would stop the vehicle and shut it off. Upon restart, the vehicle would operate as normal. A power steering service light would also illuminate on the instrument panel during the failure and a warning bell would sound. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer, but the failure was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 104,000.
On sunday, september 25th, 2011, I was driving on a familiar road in town when all of the warning lights on my vehicle suddenly illuminated and began blinking. The speedometer, fuel gage, temperature gage, and RPM indicator all went down to zero and the message center began saying "trac off" and "pwr str." as this happened, my power steering went out. I pulled over and turned my car off. My car would not turn back on. After about one minute, I was able to start my car again and resume driving as normal. This has happened on four other occasions since the first time, three days ago. The last time it happened I was going around a curve and I almost went into the ditch. In addition, it is also important to note that at 40,000 miles, the vehicle began having the same issue (message center occasionally flashing "trac off" and "pwr str", and the ABS and emergency break lights going on). The dealer found that the steering column was shorting out and had to replace the steering column in the vehicle. This leads me to believe that this is an electrical problem...
While driving my 2006 saturn ion indicator chimed and pwr str light displayed. I lost steering control and almost wrecked. I pulled off the road killed the car upon restarting engine everything was fine. Five minutes into my trip problem happened again. Also, sometimes when I drive the car the passenger airbag is on at other times it turns off on it own. Both are these are very dangerous especially for me being a single mother.
Pwr str warning on dash. Power steering assist turns off. After restart power steering assist returns. Started off as once a month for 2 months then once a week then several times a day. Now it happens about 2 minutes after each time I start it. Total of three month to get to this stage.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn ion. The contact stated that while driving, the power steering would sporadically become inoperable. The dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure, but denied any assistance with repairs to the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 106,000. ..updated 09/29/11 *bf the power steering motor failed on the vehicle. Updated 01/03/12
While traveling at city speeds (approx 35mph), the vehicle's information center sounded a "ding" and displayed a message reading "pwr str". This occurred suddenly and without warning. According to the owner's manual, the message "pwr str" indicates a power steering failure, an indication confirmed by the fact that turning the steering wheel suddenly became extremely difficult, requiring a significant amount of effort to turn the steering wheel beyond 1-2 degrees from its present location. I estimate this effort would exceed the abilities of some drivers, given the sudden onset and difference in effort required to turn the wheel before and after this problem occurs. This has happened to me on multiple occasions, including while driving at highway speeds (55-65mph) and while traveling in a parking lot (5-15mph). Turning the engine off and restarting it shortly thereafter seems to correct the problem; the message is no longer displayed and the steering works as expected. However, I have noticed with the recent incidents that turning the engine off and on again only fixes the problem for approximately one mile of travel before the problem occurs again. To date, I have managed to avoid getting into a collision as a result of this sudden loss of power steering, however I feel that this is a serious safety problem that could result in injuries or deaths if the problem were to occur while the driver is actively turning the steering wheel (e.g. Turning, changing lanes, navigating a parking structure) or if the driver lacks the strength necessary to turn the wheel without functional power steering. It would seem this problem is already under investigation (the federal safety agency action number: rq10004), and I would urge you to have this component recalled as it is a serious safety concern.
We lost our power steering,going around a curve @ 45 MPH,almost lost control. We shut the car off and it reset on starting. It kept going off and on for 100 miles,requiring us to pull over and stop and start the car every time, until we got home now.
Driving with traffic, the car dies and the steering gets very hard to turn then battery light comes on. Car will restart with no further problems. This will happen at least once a week. Took to the dealer they fixed the gas tank leak and other recall parts. This continues to happen almost caused several accidents. Do not know if it is the steering or electrical. It doesn't matter what speed your going or if your going straight or turning. Please look into this problem. I have had the battery checked the thermostat, checked the fuse box checked. The dealer checked and fixed the other 3 things from recall as stated. The ignition sometimes gets stuck when the steering goes out you can not get the key to do anything until you turn the steering wheel that has no power then you can restart the car. Also the car heat gauge never goes above half way so car is not over heating.
Driving on highway in my 2006 saturn ion. Her a "beep" notification from the dash and simultaneously, I lost all power steering. Warning on dash stated "pwr strng".
In may 2009, my power steering went out on my 2006 saturn ion in the middle of steering. When I turned my car off and would start back up the car it would work. Every time it would turn off, my car would be difficult to drive and if I was in the middle of a turn, almost was hit because I was unable to turn fast enough. I had an extended warranty on my car, had to pay $100 to have it fixed. Now 2 years later, 40,0000 miles here is it doing it again. It cost almost $800 to get this repaired. Why should this be failing every couple of years. When it started again today, I was coming down a mountain and almost went off the edge.
The power steering goes out intermittently.
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