2001 Saturn SL problems
Owners have filed 137 complaints with NHTSA about the 2001 Saturn SL. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 23% of complaints. After that come engine (14%) and transmission (13%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 137 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 23% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 16 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 10 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 59,000 miles 76 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 | 14 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 10 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 14 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 13 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 7 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 7 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 5 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 76 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 59,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 64,000 miles (17 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 16 complaints mention a crash; 10 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2001 ranks 10th most-complained-about out of 12 model years of the Saturn SL with enough data (82 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
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.
Freeway traffic suddenly came to a stop. I stopped but was rear ended by a vehicle traveling at approximately 25 MPH and pushed into car in front of me. Drivers seat back collapsed. I sustained minor back, hip, bruised stomach muscles and knee injuries that I feel would have been avoided or much less severe had the seat back held.
While traveling at 35MPH vehicle was involved in an accident. Upon impact, air bags failed to deploy. Please provide further information.
Saturn has engineered a front seat that folds flat when hit in the rear with sufficient force. What saturn has forgotten about during the design is the potential for severe and catostrophic injuries to rear passengers when the seat folds down during a crash. I experienced such a crash and feel that if a passenger were in the rear seat they would have sustained broken knee caps or had various parts of their body serverely hit by the seat. This would be from the head to the lower torso.
The vehicle brake rotor warp several times which caused vibration while braking. The dealer replaced the rotors. When the vehicle was moved from a stop the vehicle jerked forward. The vehicle also acts as if it want to stall when sitting idle. The dealer was unable to duplicate either concern. The radio light was inoperative therefore the dealer replaced the radio. *nlm
Freezing accelerator on 2001 saturn sl1.oday I experienced a frozen accelerator cable which caused the car to accelerate very rapidly. I had driven about 80 miles and stopped at a store. When I came out of the store, I started the car and backed out of the parking slot. When I then started to go forward, and pressed the accelerator, it froze up at a rather high speed. Releasing the pressure on the pedal did not cause the pedal to return to idle . The outside temperature was zero degrees.