I have replaced my headlights 4 times(both sides) and wire harness keeps melting. I have made a complaint before and received no response. I have now purchased the wire harness and I hope this will not burn also. 2. The car jumps when shifting in reverse which indicates the parking pawl. This has been an issue for over a year now and no response returned. 3. Water is leaking into my car. The front and backseat floors are soaked. Looks like the seal around the firewall is not sealing properly. I saw multiple people have the same issue on the 2008-2010 saturn vue. Why isn't there a recall? This could cause a major electrical issue.
Saturn Vue headlights problems
37 of the 2,351 owner complaints about the Saturn Vue describe headlights failing or too dim, most of them for the 2008 model year.
- owner complaints
- 37
- worst model year
- 2008
- typical mileage
- 56,000
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
Wipers 5Fire or smoke 3Won't start 2Jerking 2Fuel pump 2Check engine light 2Warning lights 1Transmission failure 1
What owners say
Both headlight wiring melted. Replaced both side headlights and after 2 years the wire harness melted again the parking pawl gets stuck often. When putting the car in reverse the parking pawl gets stuck. Then it will eventually go into reverse but the car jerks and makes a clunking noise. The light issue I've been dealing with for the last 3 years now. The parking pawl issue has been like this for over a year now.
It started after turning on my headlights. I was driving home and seen and smelled like he smoke, it was coming from the ignition switch the wires were burning. I turned off car and called my boyfriend. He unclamped the ignition switch and checked, the wires were burned. Once I started the car again my dash lights were not on nor the tail lights but the headlights worked, hazard lights and blinkers all worked. So I drove home with my hazard lights on and my boyfriend following behind me. Had all fuses checked, replaced ignition switch, tail light wiring harness and the fuse box, still no dash lights nor tail lights. I did call your company for help and was told by the agent that he could not help. I did recently found out about some kind of recall. The information I found is below. Recall 05v245000 electrical & lights, october 17, 2005 original recall from the federal safety agency model year(s): 2001, 2002, 2003 manufacturer's report date: october 17, 2005 the federal safety agency campaign id number: 05v245000 the federal safety agency action number: pe05010 component: exterior lighting:brake lights potential number of units affected: 291,652
Vehicle experienced burning smoke emissions and a burning odor from the steering wheel / steering column area where the wipers and signal light/highbeam headlight switches are connected. The smoke emissions and the burning odor appeared to be triggered by the turning signals or from activation of the headlights. For safety purposes, the vehicle was turned off and parked; however, the headlights continued to illuminate after the headlights were shut off. Eventually, the car battery died; but the headlights continued to illuminate; headlights were finally extinguished with disconnection of battery cable.
The wiring harness to the passenger side head light keeps melting, causing me to loose the use of that headlight. I have already repaired the situation twice, now I am see that other saturn owners have had the same issue. I called gm and there is no recall? How is that possible. I have struggled with this issue for 2 years. This is a serious safety concern, I can't see with one headlight. Please help
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 saturn vue. While the vehicle was stationary, the driver side low beam headlight malfunctioned. The contact stated that the headlight had burned out and was melted at the socket. The contact replaced the driver side headlight three times in the past six months. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 171,000.
Over the past year and half I've had numerous electrical issues. Head lights dimming and flashing at very high intervals almost like a dim strobe. Radio not turning on. Interior lights not coming on. Odometer light dims. Random dinging noise. Turn signal not always working or working sporadically. Front windshield wipers not always coming on and when they do it's sporadic. Rear windshield not coming on but will after an engine restart. Key stuck in the ignition. Hazard lights not working when engine is off. All this has happened slowly over the last year and half. I've replaced the battery twice and have had it in the shop multiple times and they can't find an issue. Everyone with these problems will tell you that a mechanic can't run a test for the problem if it's not happening at that time. We also all know too well these problems come and go very quickly and sometimes temporarily fix themselves with just an engine restart, driving over a bump (which also brings on the issues) or shaking the wire harness on top of the battery. So taking it to a shop to run a test is almost meaningless unless towed and even then it's not 100% chance you're going to get a code(s) to read. The last few months the problems have gotten worse. The big occurrence came when I was just two minutes down the road from where I live, I had the vue not start up or even turn over and the key was locked in the ignition. I opened up the hood, tapped once on the black box on top of the battery and the vue started dinging and was able to turn the vehicle on. I then drove to my house and the vehicle completely shut off on me and restarted twice within that two min drive. I lost total power and very limited control of the steering wheel. This issue has been brought up and complained about hundreds of times on the internet and has yet to be investigated. Please investigate this electrical issue. -11.4.17
All four head lights out of nowhere just started to flash and it went from a flash to out not coming on at all and I have checked all fuses relays and lightbulbs just driving down a dry road no water at all
It's my turn signals my locks and my flashers headlights
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 saturn vue. The contact stated that while driving at 55 MPH, a puff of smoke and an abnormal odor emitted from the steering wheel without warning. In addition, the high beam indicator flashed on and off independently. The contact also stated that on another occasion, the high beam and low beam headlights operated independently and failed to shut off as the vehicle was off. The contact was able to shut off the lights by starting the vehicle and then shutting it off. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 162,007.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Saturn Vue headlights
Which Saturn Vue years have headlights failing or too dim problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2008 (9 complaints), 2003 (7 complaints) and 2006 (7 complaints).
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used Saturn Vue?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history