CarComplaints.com Notes: The Saturn Ion was a compact bundle of hurt wrapped up in a cheap, plastic shell. With so many defective components and a safety rating that a bicycle would be ashamed of, it’s a blessing this car only lasted five model years.
The 2003 (and 2004) Ion was cursed with GM’s flawed attempt at a continuously variable transmission, known as the VTi. It had such a high failure rate that a class-action lawsuit was filed against GM, eventually prompting a settlement and a warranty extension. GM discontinued the VTi for the 2005 model year – surprise, surprise.
The 2003 Ion was also part of one of the largest and most controversial recalls of all-time. A defective ignition switch in millions of GM vehicles could accidentally turn the car off and disable important safety components like the power steering and airbags. The problem resulted in at least 13 deaths, but what made it worse was that GM knew about the issue for 10 years before doing anything about it.
So was the transmission warranty extended? Yeah. Was the ignition switch recalled? Eventually. Is this car safe to drive? Not really. Honestly, you’re better off looking elsewhere.
7.3
pretty bad- Typical Repair Cost:
- $4,500
- Average Mileage:
- 126,350 miles
- Total Complaints:
- 3 complaints
Most Common Solutions:
- not sure (2 reports)
- replace transmission (1 reports)
transmission problem
Helpful websites
- No one has added a helpful site for this 2003 Ion problem yet. Be the first!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
This happened earlier today but has happened many, many times before... Usually I try to keep my car around the 70mph or less mark and it doesn't seem to happen as often, but it still happens. When I'm driving the car will suddenly seem to slip out of gear, though it is still in drive and the rpm's will keep going up while the car continues to slow down and I am not able to accelerate. I then have to pull over to the side of the road with hazard lights on (given that hopefully there is somewhere safe to pull over, it's extremely scary to have to slow down and pull over when you're in the middle of the interstate), then if I turn the car off and turn it back on, the car will usually run fine again.
I haven't had any accidents yet, but I'm sure it's definitely a possibility. I have two children and another on the way right now so this is a very scary situation for me. Also, I was in the ATM drive thru at the bank the other day and when I tried to shift my car back into gear and go, the car was stuck in park and would not shift. I had to turn the car off twice to get it to finally shift and nearly went into a panic attack because there were several cars waiting in line behind me. I would have liked to get this problem fixed when it first happened, but unfortunately, I just can't afford a new transmission, and seeing as there is no recall for these transmissions, even though there are thousands of complaints, I know I can't get it taken care of. This is a safety issue and it should be a recall!
- Christina D., PARRISH, FL, US