SATURN SATURN · model year

2003 SATURN SATURN

11 NHTSA complaints, 1 crash report for this specific cohort.

NHTSA overall rating

Not crash-tested

New Car Assessment Program

The 2003SATURNSATURN carries 11 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 1 crash, 0 fires, 1 injury, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.

Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2003 SATURN is power train:automatic transmission with 5 filings, followed by seats (1) and electrical system:horn (1). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability.

NHTSA currently has 14 investigation files overlapping the 2003 SATURN. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.

11
Complaints
1
Crashes
0
Fires
1
Injuries
0
Deaths

Total Complaints

11 filings

Crashes Reported

1 reports

Source

NHTSA ODI

Federal complaints database

Complaints vs. fleet median (215)

At or below the fleet median complaint volume.

Complaints by Component

ComponentCount
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION5
SEATS1
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:HORN1
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V BATTERY1
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM1
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY:FILLER PIPE AND CAP1
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:TORQUE CONVERTER1

Recent Complaints

20071116POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

YORK PA> SATURN HAS PATCHED UP MY 2003 VUE BY REPLACING VALVES, SENSORS ETC. WHICH THEY WELL KNOW WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. AFTER REGULAR PREVENTABLE MAINTENANCE, 2003 SATURN VUE HAS CONTINUOUSLY EXPERIENCED TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS FROM 10,000 POINT ON. VEHICLE WHILE JUST TRAVELING DOWN A ROAD AT 30-40 MPH), DOES NOT SHIFT PROPERLY INTO HIGHER GEAR , MAKES LOUD GRINDING NOISES WHILE TURNING AND ACCELERATING AND OTHERWISE FAILS TO OPERATE PROPERLY TRANSMISSION WAS LOOKED AT BY DEALER SEVERAL TIMES AVOIDING THE ISSUE OF TRANSMISSION REPLACEMENT. PROBLEMS CONTINUE AFTER SERVICING. HAVE READ EXTENSIVE REPORTS AND COMPLAINTS INVOLVING SATURN VUE VT1 TRANSMISSION. SATURN NEEDS TO HAVE A RECALL - IT'S CONSUMERS CAN'T AFFORD ALL OF THESE REPAIRS FOR WHAT IS CLEARLY A FAULTY TRANSMISSION THAT HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED! NEXT STEP IS CLASS ACTION SUIT BY OWNERS!!!!!!!!!! THINK ABOUT ALL OF THESE UNHAPPY PEOPLE WHEN SALES GET TOUGH SATURN??? ALL I ASK IS FOR GM/SATURN TO REPLACE MY FAULTY DRIVE TRA

Mileage: 10,000

20071116POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:TORQUE CONVERTER

YORK PA> SATURN HAS PATCHED UP MY 2003 VUE BY REPLACING VALVES, SENSORS ETC. WHICH THEY WELL KNOW WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. AFTER REGULAR PREVENTABLE MAINTENANCE, 2003 SATURN VUE HAS CONTINUOUSLY EXPERIENCED TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS FROM 10,000 POINT ON. VEHICLE WHILE JUST TRAVELING DOWN A ROAD AT 30-40 MPH), DOES NOT SHIFT PROPERLY INTO HIGHER GEAR , MAKES LOUD GRINDING NOISES WHILE TURNING AND ACCELERATING AND OTHERWISE FAILS TO OPERATE PROPERLY TRANSMISSION WAS LOOKED AT BY DEALER SEVERAL TIMES AVOIDING THE ISSUE OF TRANSMISSION REPLACEMENT. PROBLEMS CONTINUE AFTER SERVICING. HAVE READ EXTENSIVE REPORTS AND COMPLAINTS INVOLVING SATURN VUE VT1 TRANSMISSION. SATURN NEEDS TO HAVE A RECALL - IT'S CONSUMERS CAN'T AFFORD ALL OF THESE REPAIRS FOR WHAT IS CLEARLY A FAULTY TRANSMISSION THAT HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED! NEXT STEP IS CLASS ACTION SUIT BY OWNERS!!!!!!!!!! THINK ABOUT ALL OF THESE UNHAPPY PEOPLE WHEN SALES GET TOUGH SATURN??? ALL I ASK IS FOR GM/SATURN TO REPLACE MY FAULTY DRIVE TRA

Mileage: 10,000

20071115POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

YORK PA> SATURN HAS PATCHED UP MY 2003 VUE BY REPLACING VALVES, SENSORS ETC. WHICH THEY WELL KNOW WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. AFTER REGULAR PREVENTIVELY MAINTENANCE, 2003 SATURN VUE HAS CONTINUOUSLY EXPERIENCED TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS FROM 10,000 POINT ON. VEHICLE WHILE JUST TRAVELING DOWN A ROAD AT 30-40 MPH), DOES NOT SHIFT PROPERLY INTO HIGHER GEAR , MAKES LOUD GRINDING NOISES WHILE TURNING AND ACCELERATING AND OTHERWISE FAILS TO OPERATE PROPERLY TRANSMISSION WAS LOOKED AT BY DEALER SEVERAL TIMES AVOIDING THE ISSUE OF TRANSMISSION REPLACEMENT. PROBLEMS CONTINUE AFTER SERVICING. HAVE READ EXTENSIVE REPORTS AND COMPLAINTS INVOLVING SATURN VUE VT1 TRANSMISSION. SATURN NEEDS TO HAVE A RECALL - THIS IS CLEARLY A FAULTY TRANSMISSION THAT SATURN DISCONTINUED IN 2004! SEE: MYCARSTATS.COM/SAFETYSTATION.ASP FOR ALL THE UNHAPPY SATURN OWNERS THAT HAVE BEEN ROBBED. *TR

Mileage: 10,000

20070419POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

2003 SATURN VUE WITH ROUGHLY 107,000 MILES SUDDENLY SLIPPED WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD. LUCKILY, HUSBAND MADE IT HOME. I DROVE TO LOCAL SHOP WHERE DIAGNOSIS REVEALED A RECALL ON FAULTY TRANSMISSION WIRE THAT COULD LEAD TO TRANSMISSION FAILURE. I TOWED TO SATURN DEALERSHIP AND WAS TOLD CAR WOULD NOT REVERSE. WHEN PRESENTED WITH RECALL INFO, THEY "CHECKED" AND SAID RECALL HAD BEEN DONE. SATURN SERVICE MANAGER CONFIRMED THAT SATURN KNEW THERE WAS A TRANSMISSION PROBLEM BECAUSE THEY ONLY USED VTI FOR 18 MONTHS, THEN TOTALLY CHANGED 2004 WITHOUT VTI. SATURN KNEW VTI TRANSMISSIONS WERE FAULTY AND RATHER THAN RECALL AND FIX, THEY ONLY EXTENDED WARRANTY FOR 75000 MILES. I HAVE HAD CAR LESS THAN 2 YEARS. WHEN CONTACTED SATURN HEADQUARTERS, THEY WOULD ONLY EXTEND A 15% DISCOUNT TO REPAIR TRANSMISSION AT $3000+. CAR IS CURRENTLY AWAITING PRICE ON REBUILT TRANSMISSION BECAUSE SATURN IS REFUSING TO FIX CAR AT A LOWER PRICE. *TR

Mileage: 107,000

20060706FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY:FILLER PIPE AND CAP

NOTICE A GAS ODOR A FEW WEEKS AGO, TOOK MY SATURN VUE TO THE DEALER AND FOUND OUT THAT THE GAS NECK HAD A CRACK. I HAD TO LEAVE IT THERE DUE TO THE DANGER OF THE GAS LEAKAGE. I WAS TOLD THAT THE ONLY TIME THAT OCCURS IS FROM AN ACCIDENT. I WAS TOLD THERE WAS NO SIGN OF AN ACCIDENT AND THEY COULD NOT THINK OF ANY OTHER REASON FOR THE CRACK. THE SATURN WHICH WAS BOUGHT NEW FROM THE DEALER HAD 37,000 MILES. OF COURSE NOT COVERED BY ANY WARRANTY SINCE I MISSED THE 36,000 MILE FULL WARANTY THE DEALERSHIP COVERS. BUT I WAS CONCERNED THIS MIGHT HAPPEN TO OTHER SATURN OWNERS AND WAS TOLD IT COULD BE DANGEROUS DUE TO THE GAS LEAK. *NM

Mileage: 37,008

20051117ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

THE BCM (BODY CONTROL MODULE) HAS NOT FUNCTIONED PROPERLY SINCE DAY 1. MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS HAVE BEEN MADE TO RE-PROGRAM IT AND TO NO AVAIL. SATURN CLAIMS IT IS BECAUSE OF THE MILEAGE OF THE CAR, HOWEVER THE CAR IS A 2003. IT HAS 60K MILES. THIS PART IS DEFECTIVE FROM THE MANUFACTURER AND NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. *NM

20050927ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V BATTERY

DELCO FREE 72 MO. BATTERY POSITIVE POST INTERNALLY CORRODED AND LEAKED ACID. BATTERY WAS 35 MO. OLD ON SATURN VUE WITH 47K MILES. STALLED AND HAD TO GET TOWED. TOTAL COST WITH BATTERY AN TOW $197. SATURN WOULD NOT WARRANTY. DELCO'S 72 MO. WARRANTY DOES NOT APPLY TO BATTERIES IN NEW VEHICLES. SATURN REPLACED WITH A DIFFERENT BRAND BECAUSE OF PROBLEMS WITH LEAKING DELCO BATTERIES. I KNOW THIS IS AN ONGOING PROBLEM AS TWO DELCOS FAILED IN MY PREVIOUS VEHICLE WITH THE IDENTICAL PROBLEM OF POSITIVE POST LEAKING ACID. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF SAME THING ON THIS NHTSA WEB SITE. WHEN IS SOMEONE GOING TO REALLY INVESTIGATE THIS? WHAT RECOURSE DO I HAVE? *JB

20050509POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

DT: TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS, WHEN VEHICLE ACCELERATED IT SEEMED TO GO IN NEUTRAL;. NARROWLY, AVOIDED 3 ACCIDENTS. THE CAR COMPLETELY STOPPED AT ONE TIME, AND HE HAD TO HAVE IT TOWED.*AK

Mileage: 500

20040813ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:HORN

HORN IS TO DIFFICULT TO PUSH IN ORDER FOR THE HORN TO BLOW. *PH THE CONSUMER FEELS THAT THE HORN BUTTON REQUIRES TOO MUCH PRESSURE TO ACTIVATE. THE CONSUMER STATED THAT HE AND HIS WIFE (78 AND 80 YEARS OLD) DON NOT POSSES THE STRENGTH REQUIRED TO BLOW THE HORNS. THE CONSUMER TOOK THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALER TO SEE IF ANYTHING COULD BE DONE . THE DEALER CHECKED THE VEHICLE AND INDICATED THAT THE WAS NO REMEDY. *NM

20030630POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

WHEN ENGINE STARTED AND ENGAGED FROM PARK TO DRIVE TRANSMISSION JERKED AND CONTINUED DOING SO BETWEEN 45 AND 65MPH. DEALER HAS INSPECTED VEHICLE AND COULD NOT DUPLICATE OR CORRECT THE PROBLEM. SATURN, ION, 2003. *AK

20030605CrashSEATS

I HAD A THREE-CAR ACCIDENT ON HIGHWAY 258 SOUTH IN TARBORO, NORTH CAROLINA ON JUNE 1, 2003. MY CAR IS A SATURN SL1 2003. THE LADY IN FRONT OF ME CAME TO COMPLETE STOP MAKING A LEFT TURN. I THEN QUICKLY STOPPED BUT THE COUPLE BEHIND ME WERE NOT ABLE TO STOP. A MAJORITY OF THE DAMAGE TO MY CAR TOOK PLACE ON THE BACKEND. THE FORCE OF THE IMPACT MADE MY CAR HIT THE LADY IN FRONT OF ME. THE CAR IS A TOTAL LOSS AS IS THE CAR BEHIND ME. MY COMPLAINT IS ABOUT THE DRIVERS BUCKET SEAT. AT IMPACT, THE SEAT COLLAPSED BACKWARDS. I SEE MANY YOUNG CHILDREN THAT SIT DIRECTLY BEHIND THE DRIVER AND THINK THIS IS A VERY BIG RISK. IF SOMEONE HAD BEEN IN THE BACKSEAT OF MY CAR THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN SEVERELY INJURED. *AK

Mileage: 9,600

Compare 2003SATURNSATURN to Similar Vehicles

NHTSA Investigations

View all investigations

Frequently Asked Questions

How many complaints does the 2003 SATURN SATURN have?
The 2003 SATURN SATURN has 11 NHTSA complaints, 1 crashes, 0 fires, 1 injuries, and 0 deaths reported.
What are the most common problems with the 2003 SATURN SATURN?
The most-complained component for the 2003 SATURN SATURN is POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION with 5 complaints. Other frequently reported areas include SEATS and ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:HORN.
Is the 2003 SATURN SATURN safe to buy?
Review the complaint history, crash and fire reports, safety ratings, and recall status on this page to make an informed decision. No NHTSA crash test rating is available for this model year. Compare with other model years using the links above.
Where does this data come from?
All complaint, recall, and safety rating data is sourced from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Complaints are filed by vehicle owners through NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation.

Vehicle Safety Guides

Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.