Vehicle Data Hub

2004 Saturn Ion steering problems

Owners reported steering problems in 350 complaints for the 2004 Saturn Ion, 31% of the complaints on file. It is the 2nd most reported problem area for this model year.

At a glance

Complaints
350 31% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage
86,000 miles 312 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires
16 and 1
Injuries and deaths
4 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When steering problems show up

Steering complaints by mileage, 2004 Saturn Ion Complaints by odometer reading in 20,000-mile steps. The median is about 86,000 miles. 0k to 20k miles: 18 complaints 20k to 40k miles: 22 complaints 40k to 60k miles: 40 complaints 60k to 80k miles: 56 complaints 80k to 100k miles: 58 complaints 100k to 120k miles: 49 complaints 120k to 140k miles: 32 complaints 140k to 160k miles: 20 complaints 160k to 180k miles: 9 complaints 180k to 200k miles: 1 complaints 200k+ miles: 7 complaints 040k80k120k160k200k miles Typical: 86,000 miles
Based on 312 complaints that include mileage. 26% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.
View the numbers
MileageComplaints
0k to 20k miles18
20k to 40k miles22
40k to 60k miles40
60k to 80k miles56
80k to 100k miles58
100k to 120k miles49
120k to 140k miles32
140k to 160k miles20
160k to 180k miles9
180k to 200k miles1
200k+ miles7

What the data shows

Of the 312 steering complaints that report mileage, the median is about 86,000 miles, and 26% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 16 crashes, 1 fire, 4 injuries.

What owners wrote

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 saturn ion 2. While driving 25 MPH, the contact attempted to turn the wheel and it locked. The brakes failed and the vehicle crashed into a pole. The air bag deployed, but the driver was injured. Saturn stated that the vehicle is not a defect. The vehicle was destroyed. The current and failure mileages were 45,326.

Reported at 45,326 miles, April 2007 CrashInjury

Saturn ion 2004- spontaneous power steering outages. This car is a danger to the public in that without any warning the power steering fails on the vehicle. The entire steering column must be replaced although the actual motor is the reason for the failure. The cost of the repair is approximately $1100.00. After research this is a common problem that exists among these models and there is a potential for harm or death due to the failure of the power steering. This needs to be addressed immediately.

Reported at 74,000 miles, January 2010

Other problems reported for the 2004 Saturn Ion

Steering problems in other years

Steering problems across all Saturn models