2003 Saturn Ion steering problems

Owners reported steering problems in 140 complaints for the 2003 Saturn Ion, 15% of the complaints on file. It is the 2nd most reported problem area for this model year.

Complaints: 140 15% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage: 99,000 miles 118 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires: 3 and 0
Injuries and deaths: 4 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When steering problems show up

Based on 118 complaints that include mileage. 18% 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	2
20k to 40k miles	2
40k to 60k miles	17
60k to 80k miles	24
80k to 100k miles	14
100k to 120k miles	13
120k to 140k miles	20
140k to 160k miles	9
160k to 180k miles	8
180k to 200k miles	4
200k+ miles	5

What the data shows

Of the 118 steering complaints that report mileage, the median is about 99,000 miles, and 18% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 3 crashes, 4 injuries.

What owners wrote

Driving on staight on the highway hit a bump in the road my car started spinning out of control steering wheel locked up which made my driver side crash into a cement wall, my airbags did not deploy even thought the car hit the wall so hard that it cracked my radiator, my car then shut off then turned back on

Reported at 170,000 miles, August 2016 CrashInjury

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 saturn ion. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 MPH, the power steering suddenly malfunctioned causing the steering wheel to become very difficult maneuvered. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the defect. The failure mileage was 45,000.

Reported at 45,000 miles, May 2014

Steering problems in other years

Steering problems across all Saturn models