1995 SATURN SL — Complaint #438766
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER filed November 3, 2003
NHTSA complaint #438766 (ODI reference 10045345) concerns a 1995 SATURN SL and was filed on November 3, 2003. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 5, 2000. The vehicle had 96,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Washington based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as seats:front assembly:recliner, 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: yes, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. 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 seats:front assembly:recliner 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 1995 SATURN SL shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
BELOW ARE EXCERPTS FROM THE LETTER I WROTE TO SATURN. THEY BASICALLY BLEW ME OFF: PRESIDENT AND CEO SATURN CORPORATION ON JULY 5, 2000, I WAS REAR-ENDED BY A LATE MODEL FORD MUSTANG WHILE I WAS STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT IN MY 1995 SATURN SL-1. WHEN I WAS HIT, MY DRIVER'S SEAT BACK FAILED AND I WAS THROWN INTO THE BACK SEAT OF MY CAR AND SPRAINED MY LOWER BACK. AFTER ALMOST TWO MONTHS, MY BACK IS STILL IN PAIN AND I AM UNDERGOING PHYSICAL THERAPY. A YEAR OR SO AGO, I SAW A TELEVISION NEWS REPORT THAT STATED SATURN WAS RECALLING ALL 1995 SL-SERIES SEDANS BECAUSE OF AN INHERENT FAULT IN THE DESIGN THAT WOULD CAUSE THE SEAT BACK TO FAIL IN THE EVENT OF A REAR-END COLLISION. I CONTACTED SATURN OF BELLEVUE IN BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON AND AFTER TYPING MY VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER INTO THEIR COMPUTER, THEY TOLD ME MY CAR WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE RECALL. WHEN I ASKED IF MY CAR WAS SAFE, THEY ASSURED ME IT WAS. IT IS NOW PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THAT MY CAR WAS NOT SAFE. I AM UPSET AND DISAPPO
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 438766 |
| ODI Number | 10045345 |
| Date Filed | November 3, 2003 |
| Failure Date | July 5, 2000 |
| VIN | 1G8ZG5289SZ |
Similar SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER Complaints for 1995 SATURN SL
MY WIFE WAS ON THE WAY HOME FROM PICKING UP OUR KIDS FROM SCHOOL AND THE DRIVERS SEAT RECLINING BACK GAVE WAY RECLINING THE SEAT BACK ALL THE WAY. I LOOKED UP A PREVIOUS RECALL SATURN HAD FOR THE YR,
WHILE DRIVING DRIVER'S SEAT SLID BACKWARDS. THE SEAT DID NOT LOCK IN PLACE, AND LOCK SYSTEM FAILED INTERMITTENTLY.*AK
CONSUMER CALLED COMPLAINING ABOUT HAVING PROBLEM, WITH DRIVERS CHAIR BREAKING WHEN THE VEHICLE WAS IMPACTED FROM THE BACK BY ANOTHER VEHICLE.MANUFACTURER WAS NOT CONTACTED AT THE TIME AT THIS CALL.
DRIVER SEATBACK KEEPS FALLING BACK INTERMITTENTLY WHILE DRIVING.*AK *YH
CONSUMER TOOK VEHICLE TO DEALER IN APRIL 1999 FOR RECALL 99V045000 REPAIRS. DEALER SAID VEHICLE WAS NOT AFFECTED BY RECALL, AND REFUSED RECALL REPAIRS. ON JUNE 1, 2002 VEHICLE WAS REARENDED, AND DR
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.