1994 Saturn SL problems
Owners have filed 376 complaints with NHTSA about the 1994 Saturn SL. Brakes is the most reported problem area, at 14% of complaints. After that come seat belts (13%) and seats (13%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 376 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 14% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 65 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 49 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 120,000 miles 17 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 1 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 0 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 0 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 2 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 1 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 17 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 120,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 65 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 49 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 86% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1994 ranks 2nd most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Saturn SL with enough data (221 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
While driving at 55 MPH stepped on brake pedal and vehicle did not stop, nor reduced speed. Vehicle rolled over three times. After that master cylinder did not work. Consumer states vehicle also caught on fire, consumer was injured in accident. *slc
Vehicle struck by another vehicle traveling 25MPH causing driver and passenger seat to collapse. Air bag did not deploy. Tt
While driving consumer stopped at a stop sign, and child sitting in a child safety seat told the father that the seat belt came completely out of the back of the seat. However, all seat belts in the back seat remained unstitched. Consumer contacted the dealer.
For several years now, the cruise control on the car will turn itself off while engaged, and, if left alone, will randomly reengage ten or fifteen minutes later with no warning. This can cause a surge of acceleration (as much as one can expect from a saturn, anyhow) if speed has slowed due to traffic.