Owners have filed 1,284 complaints on the Saturn Aura, covering 2000–2009. The system named most often is Steering (357 reports). Worst years by volume: 2007, 2008, 2009; cleanest: 2000, 2005, 2009. 42 reports describe a crash, 8 a fire, 2 a death. On average the car was 6.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Saturn Aura
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,284 Aura complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Steering 357 Read
As my daughter was leaving a costco parking lot the steering wheel locked as she was making a right turn causing her to stop immediately and some one ran right into my car. Since then the steering will locks abruptly while driving and ill have to turn the car off and when I turn it back on its not locked anymore. When…
The contact owned a 2009 saturn aura. The contact stated that the steering wheel was extremely tight and the power steering failed several times without warning. In addition, the shift lever failed to function properly. When the vehicle was placed in park, it rolled and the contact had to quickly apply the emergency…
While driving strearing just stops almost getting into accident and also brakes failed and had to repalce calipers and rotors was in motion on highway
Power Train 316 Read
Car has had intermittent transmission issues for years, mainly stutters and slipping. At the dealership, we'd just get a shoulder shrug and were told it was not repeatable, despite our several visits for the same issue. Well it acted up more than normal as my wife was driving around town (bucked and raced with no…
The plastic casing on the shifter cable has broken and the sprag on the at transmission is bad.... Or so I have been told. It is in the driveway now with the abc, brake, traction control and ESC lights lit as well as error codes p0449 & p2101. I have temp repaired the shifter cable and it will shift through the gears…
I have a 2008 saturn aura. The car was parked with nobody inside it and the, keys removed, in a parking lot with a very slight incline. While my wife was inside a store the vehicle rolled backward 100 feet only to be stopped by a parking block. The prndl still showed the vehicle as being in park
Electrical System 164 Read
The contact owned a 2009 saturn aura. While driving 25 mph, the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle inadvertently veered to the right side of the road. In addition, the contact noticed smoke and flames coming from the front passenger side and rear of the vehicle. As a result, the contact sustained…
The contact owns a 2008 saturn aura. The contact stated while driving 55 mph down a hill, when brake pedal was depress and failed to stop/low down the vehicle. The contact stated she heard an abnormal noise while trying to divert the vehicle to the right shoulder of the road. The contact stated after pumping the brake…
For the past year when I turn on my vehicle & start driving the service airbag lights up & starts dinging. In october 2015 I was involved in a collision on interstate 60 & my airbags never deployed when impact accrued going approximately 55ml an hr & my front bumper had to be replaced & drivers side wheel locked up…
Air Bags 101 Read
The contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. The contact stated that the vehicle crashed into the rear of a vehicle and the air bags failed to deploy. The contact suffered a head injury and required medical assistance. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage…
I was driving north on the hwy and the other person ran a stop sign and t-boned me on the driver side. My face and body smashed into the drivers door causing sever whiplash and some other things yet identified by an orthopedic surgeon. The drivers door and rear drivers door is smashed all the way to the seats, pushing…
I was driving north on the hwy and the other vehicle ran a stop sign and t-boned me on the driver side. My face and body smashed into the drivers door causing sever whiplash and other things not yet identified by my doctor. The drivers door and rear drivers side was smashed pushing up against the seats (front and…
Exterior Lighting 70 Read
Brake lights work opposite of expected. That is: they are on when accelerating and go off when braking!! This is very dangerous. I have had it to gm dealership 3 times and they say it drove fine, and charged me a diagnostic fee. Granted traction control light only goes on sporadically to cause this mess which also…
The contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the brake lights illuminated without the contact depressing the brake pedal. The contact had to slightly touch the pedal to turn off the brake lights. The failure recurred frequently. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, who…
Front seat passenger observed that the passenger air bag light on the dash was indicating off. It remains off when the car is running. Both turn signal lights will not automatically turn off when the turn is completed. Took it to the dealer where I bought the car and he said, without investigating, that the steering…
Service Brakes 60 Read
Was in back to back traffic using brakes often, when I tried to use the brakes it was not working, the car run into another car in front of me, damaged the entire front of my car. To repair this car it will cost xxxxxwhich is as the value of the car. The car involved had very little damage only my saturn aura has…
My 2007 saturn aura had been into the dealership approx. 1.5 weeks ago because the vehicle was having difficulty accelerating. The engine would rev but the car wouldn't move. The dealership said there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. On the night of september 20, 2007, at approximately 8:30 pm, while driving the…
I bought this 2007 saturn aura on 05/23/2010. The same day I started noticing my cruise control wasn't working properly. Sometime it would work, other times it wouldn't. Then I realized when I drove the car home that night that the brake lights were on and this was causing the cruise to not work. The brake lights will…
Seats 35 Read
Today my driver seat caught fire and burnt a whole all the way through my seat
Driver seat abruptly fell down to the right side while driving. Inspection of driver seat revealed that the right side of the seat frame broke off. This caused the seat to immediately incline to right side
Driver seat support bar broke by weld this is a safety hazard and should be a recall seat tips to the right while driving
Engine 27 Read
The service traction light came on and the car began to shudder/lurch, the engine light came on but both went off when car turned off and restarted, taken to dealer who said might be fuel injection but didn't repair because couldn't get a read on computer. Dealer said to continue to drive until lights stayed on…
The contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 mph, the engine stalled with the illumination of the check engine warning light. The vehicle restarted independently and simultaneously with the intermittent release of all four automated door locks. The contact continued to…
The contact owns a 2009 saturn aura. The contact stated while traveling 20 mph on a highway the vehicle failed to accelerate beyond 20 mph. The contact drove onto the emergency lane and restarted the vehicle; however, it did not accelerate over 20 mph. The vehicle resumed to its normal acceleration after it was…
Aura years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Air Bags | 11 | 2 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 18 | 1 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 13 | 5 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2000 | Power Train | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 120 |
| Average complaints per series | 10.7 |
| Worst single series | 38 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.9 years |
A model average of 10.7 hides a worst series at 38. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Aura?
By complaint volume, 2007, 2008, 2009 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Aura years are the cleanest?
2000, 2005, 2009 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Saturn Aura have?
1,284 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2000–2009. Of those, 42 describe a crash and 8 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.