2003 Saturn Ion fuel system problems

Owners reported fuel system problems in 34 complaints for the 2003 Saturn Ion, 4% of the complaints on file.

Complaints: 34 4% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage: 105,000 miles 27 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires: 1 and 0
Injuries and deaths: 0 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When fuel system problems show up

Based on 27 complaints that include mileage. 15% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.

View the numbers

Mileage	Complaints
0k to 20k miles	0
20k to 40k miles	2
40k to 60k miles	2
60k to 80k miles	4
80k to 100k miles	3
100k to 120k miles	4
120k to 140k miles	5
140k to 160k miles	4
160k to 180k miles	2
180k to 200k miles	0
200k+ miles	1

What the data shows

Of the 27 fuel system complaints that report mileage, the median is about 105,000 miles, and 15% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 1 crash.

What owners wrote

I have a 2003 saturn ion coupe. When I would drive for a little while and let the car warm up, there are intermittent occasions where I will slow down suddenly, for example, the changing of a stop light, and when I either come to the stop or when I accelerate again, the car would in essence stall out and turn off. However the car would start right back up when I put it back in park. It happened once, maybe twice b4 I had a chance to realize it was a serious problem.

January 2005 Crash

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 saturn ion. The contact stated after driving the vehicle for a few miles there was a fuel odor throughout the vehicle. The contact stated that after the vehicle was parked, the fuel odor increased. The failure recurred on a regular basis. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage and current mileage was 165,000.

Reported at 165,000 miles, June 2014

Fuel system problems in other years

Fuel system problems across all Saturn models