Owners have filed 1,079 complaints on the Saturn Outlook, covering 2007–2010. The system named most often is Electrical System (239 reports). Worst years by volume: 2008, 2007, 2009; cleanest: 2010, 2009, 2007. 14 reports describe a crash, 22 a fire. On average the car was 5.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Saturn Outlook
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,079 Outlook complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 239 Read
Passenger headlamp went out. On my 2009 saturn outlook. Took the vehicle to the gm dealership for repair and found there was a fire in the wiring harness that controls the headlamps
The contact owns a 2009 saturn outlook. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 mph, smoke started emitting from above the driver side of the vehicle. The vehicle engulfed into flames. The fire was extinguished by the fire department. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was notified of the…
There is a leak in both corners of the sunroof allowing water to leak down into the console affecting the performance of the airbags. There are drain holes on both sides of the sun roof but the water dosent go down. The water damaged several wires under the passenger seat and it also damaged the fuel box. I did not…
Power Train 213 Read
The contact owns a 2009 saturn outlook. The contact stated that she parked her vehicle, removed the keys from the ignition, and went inside her residence. Shortly after, she heard a commotion outside and noticed that the vehicle had rolled away and struck another vehicle. The contact entered the vehicle, depressed the…
The contact owns a 2007 saturn outlook. While the vehicle was parked a child's foot hit the gear shift and the vehicle rolled down the driveway. The vehicle crashed into a neighbor's parked vehicle. No injuries occurred and there was no police report filed. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current…
On 08/13/2011, I was traveling on northbound I-95 when a loud boom occured and the car began lurching out of control bringing the tires off of the ground. I managed to get the vehicle under control and discovered the bolts on the driveshaft had loosened and fell off, resulting in the driveshaft striking the pavement…
Exterior Lighting 210 Read
Low beam headlights not working causing a safety hazard at night. Put in new bulb still not working. Wiring defective and melted. Could cause a fire hazard
Headlight on saturn outlook melted and damaged complete light fixture with no warranty and I to pay $680.00 to get a complete new unit installed. Really no fire just melted and smelled bad along with no lights. Many web sites I visited, many customers have had the same problem with no action to repair it for no charge
The contact owns a 2008 saturn outlook. The contact was driving 35 mph when the headlights failed. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where it was discovered that the wiring harness had overheated and melted. The dealer replaced the passenger side headlights at the contact's expense. The driver side…
Steering 132 Read
Travel us hwy when encountering rain condition vehicle had rear wheel loss of control into hydroplane, when attempting to correct steering into skid the steering failed to respond as if no power steering. The vehicle cruise control was on until point of first applying brake. The vehicle impacted ravine at frontal…
I have had my outlook for roughly a year and a half ago now, and my power steering seems to go out when going a low speed and turning. It has caused me 2 accidents so far within months of each other, increasing my insurance to $460/mo. One was backing up, it stopped turning and it backed into a vehicle, and the other…
I was driving my 2007 saturn outlook when the power steering went out and I went off the road hitting a culvert head on. The frontal air bags failed to deploy. The driver seat on impact broke off of the frame of the vehicle. The only thing that saved my life was my seatbelt. The vehicle was towed to a dealership and…
Air Bags 122 Read
Vehicle was traveling on highway dry pavement when rain condition came on suddenly. The vehicle begin to loose control and steering was sloppy when turning into skid. The vehicle then slid sideways hitting a ditch head on, at which time front air bags for passenger and driver failed to deploy at high impact, the…
The contact owns a 2008 saturn outlook. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 mph, the vehicle became uncontrollable and hydro-planed. The contact crashed into a tree and the air bags failed to deploy. There were five children in the vehicle who sustained injuries from bruising, contusions and…
My outlook was involved in a front end accident. The airbags should have deployed but didn't. There was lots of smoke, smell and powder as if they had gone off but never did. This was after the supposed airbag recall had been fixed. I've had nothing but trouble with this vehicle in the 3 short months I have owned it!!
Structure 25 Read
This is the 2nd occurance of water spillage out of my head liner. Water leaking out of the rear back up indicator and down by the passenger side floor. When orginally occured brought to chev delaership to diagnose repair, told about old recall on models but my VIN did not fall with in the correct numbers, it was just…
The contact owns a 2009 saturn outlook. The power lift-gate fell on his head. He had to receive treatment from the hospital for injuries. He has not called the dealer or manufacturer. The failure mileage was 7,000. Updated 01/29/10 *bf the dealer replaced the faulty shock. Updated 01/29/10
July 5, 2014: previously we would smell the scent of water that had been there for a while, but there was no evidence of where it would come from. When we left our destination it was dry, but rain was in the forecast. It began to rain heavily as we continued to drive and suddenly, I felt water on my feet. By the time…
Engine 20 Read
The contact owns a 2008 saturn outlook. While driving approximately 45 mph, the low pressure warning indicator illuminated and the vehicle lost acceleration. The contact continued to drive and heard a loud pop before the vehicle stalled. The contact coasted to the side of the road and exited the vehicle before flames…
The contact owns a 2007 saturn outlook. While driving approximately 60 mph, the vehicle caught fire. There were no injuries. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate…
Engine light was coming on & off. After a couple days, the outlook had a loss of power. Had it checked & was told we had a timing issue with the 3 timing chains. The chains were stretched & one of the timing chain gears was one tooth off. They needed to be replaced. I was also told that there was a recall on the…
Visibility 19 Read
The contact owns a 2008 saturn outlook. The contact stated that the sun roof leaked when it rained and water entered the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and repaired twice, but the failure recurred. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The cause of the failure was…
Windshield wipers stopped midcycle wipe and would not move up or down. This has occurred twice now, the first time around april 12th, 2008 and now today (may 7th, 2008). After the first incident the vehicle was taken to the dealership for service, where it was discovered that the locking nut between the wiper motor…
During a snow storm my windshield wipers stopped working. Went to dealership and wiper linkage became detached from motor shaft causing it to become inoperative
Outlook 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Electrical System,exterior Lighting | — | — | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 5 | 2 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 4 | 13 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 5 | 7 |
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 | 202 |
| Average complaints per series | 5.3 |
| Worst single series | 21 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.2 years |
A model average of 5.3 hides a worst series at 21. 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 Outlook?
By complaint volume, 2008, 2007, 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 Outlook years are the cleanest?
2010, 2009, 2007 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Saturn Outlook have?
1,079 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2007–2010. Of those, 14 describe a crash and 22 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.