2003 Saturn ION review from North America

Cold Start problems. Manufacturer "cover up"?

The problem arises as follows:

A.The Saturn vehicle is exposed to temperatures at or approaching 32 degrees F for several hours when the engine is not running (usually 6-10 hours.)

B.An operator attempts to start the vehicle, the ignition switch clicks and the car stalls.

C.The security system kicks in. The security light blinks and the odometer screen reads: “Service Engine Soon.” Fuel will not be sent to the engine.

D.The vehicle will now NOT start for about 8-10 minutes as the security system resets.

E.After 8-10 minutes, the security light will stop blinking and then go out. “The service engine soon” scroll light will stop and also go out.

F.Now the operator may attempt to start the vehicle again.

G.However, if the ignition switch grease has not adequately warmed, then the process will begin again.

H.A signal that the vehicle will likely start after the present “lock-out” will be when the ignition seems to crank a bit more than just a click, before locking out again.

Remedy:1. The grease in the ignition switch is freezing and/or hardening so that the ignition switch can not engage. The dealer must recall all of these vehicles and replace the ignition switch and grease. They apparently have a redesigned switch, which certainly can be construed as an admission to the faulty design. Of course, this type of remedial measure cannot be used in court, but is certainly helpful to those of us consumers who are the victims of the faulty design. Saturn must openly acknowledge the mistake and fix it, before someone is stranded in the cold, in an area with no cell phone service.

This is an established problem.

2003 Saturn Ion. This car will not start in the cold weather. If the temperature is below 32 degrees F for an extended period of time, the car will stall. This will be a recall item once we get together and sue Saturn for this obvious negligent behavior. This problem is well known and is continual. Perhaps when some unfortunate soul is stranded in the wilderness and dies, then the manufacturer will pay attention to this cold weather start problem. The public is well aware of the problem and so is Saturn.

It would be well worth it for the corporate office to crunch the numbers and decide to recall the vehicle for this problem. I have read that the difficultly may have to do with a type of lubricant on the starter, which hardens in the cold weather. The car stalls as a result, and then the Pass-lock kicks in. After 8 minutes, the car may start, or one may have to wait an additional 8 minutes (or more) for the ignition switch to loosen up enough to start the engine. However, the car may stall yet again---and set off the passlock system yet again.

Saturn is negligent at the very least--and criminally negligent if they know of this problem---the potential dangers of it---and do nothing.

SERVICE BULLETIN:040845005 NHTSA ITEM NUMBER:10007431

MFG Bulletin Date: 20060301

Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION:SWITCH

Bulletin Summary: NO CRANK, NO START WHEN AMBIENT TEMPERATURES IS COLD - DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODES (DTCS) B2960 AND OR B3033 ARE SET. *TT.