My daughter has a 2004 Saturn Ion coupe. She is a new driver and has told me an several occasions that the hood on her vehicle keeps opening by accident. I asked if it was opening all the or just part of the way. She said just popping up part of the way and she has to open it from the front and close it completely. I asked her to let me know the next time it happened and she did. I took a look and saw it had released and was only being held shut by the secondary safety latch. When I looked at the location of the hood release I noted it was located very close to the floor on the driver's left. When I tested it, the release activate very easily. The position of the release is right next to the driver's foot and is likely being activated when the foot moves around or when the driver is getting out of the car. In fact, I drove her car last week and had the hood accidentally release 3 times. One time I noticed when I was on the expressway traveling at highway speeds. This condition could easily lead to a hood blowing up and off while driving if the secondary safety latch fails. This could cause a catastrophic incident. I called Saturn customer service, explained my concern, and was basically treated as if I was crazy. I asked for my concern to be sent to the product design and safety group for review and asked for a follow up call. They told me "that's the way the car is designed and no one would be getting back with me."

- West Bloomfield, MI, USA