2001 SATURN SL — Complaint #1958295
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about TIRES:TEMPORARY/EMERGENCY SPARE TIRE filed January 15, 2024
NHTSA complaint #1958295 (ODI reference 11565605) concerns a 2001 SATURN SL and was filed on January 15, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 8, 2024. The report was geocoded to Illinois based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as tires:temporary/emergency spare tire, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same SATURN SL cohort independently describe similar tires:temporary/emergency spare tire failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2001 SATURN SL shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The problem is with the Firestone Tempa Spare T115/70 R14 spare tire. This tire came with the car when new, and has never been used. Tire date of manufacture is 42 2000. I periodically check its air pressure, but it has never been out of the spare tire well. I checked the pressure 1 week ago, and found a large bulge in the tread, along with broken cords, both steel, and polyester (see photos). The inner tire liner has not ruptured, and the tire still holds air. One month ago I checked the pressure, and it looked completely normal. If I had a flat tire then, I would have put it on the car without hesitation. I suspect that it would have failed on the road leading to a possible disaster. My reason for alerting NHTSA is that I suspect there are many compact spare tires in people's trunks, in the same condition, just waiting to cause trouble. I brought it to a Firestone store and they showed no interest in it. I have removed the tire from the steel wheel, and you are welcome to have it to
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1958295 |
| ODI Number | 11565605 |
| Date Filed | January 15, 2024 |
| Failure Date | January 8, 2024 |
| VIN | 1G8ZJ52771Z |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.