2002 Saturn S-Series Problems
Owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA, grouped by component
Data refreshed
What this page shows
Everything below is an owner-reported complaint submitted to NHTSA about the 2002 Saturn S-Series, grouped by the component NHTSA recorded on the report. These are not confirmed defects, and they are not recalls. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a category with more reports in it is not evidence that a part is defective.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Reports by component
Ranked by how many owner reports name each component category
- Transmission3100.0%
Percentages are of component mentions. A single complaint can name more than one component, so these do not sum to the total complaint count.
Each component in detail
What the reports in each category say, in the owners' own words
Transmission
Reports naming the automatic or manual transmission, including shifting behaviour, shudder, slipping and transmission control modules.
From owner reports, verbatim
AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION HAS BEEN QUESTIONED SINCE NEW DELAY SHIFTING INTO REVERSE ,DOWNSHIFTING ERRATIC AND SHIFTS HARD SOMETIMES FLUID HAS BEEN CHANGED BUT TO NO AVAIL. *TR
THE 2002 SATURN SL2 DOES NOT SHIFT INTO REVERSE AND WHINES WHEN STARTED AND UNTIL RUN FOR AT LEAST 15 MIN. CALLED SATURN CORP. AND WAS TOLD THERE WAS NEVER ANY MENTION FROM OTHER CONSUMERS. THERE ARE MANY COMPLAINTS WITH THIS CERTAIN VEHICLE. *TR
Too few reports in this category for a page of its own — they appear in the full complaint list.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Elsewhere on this vehicle
Data sources
- NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation — owner-reported complaints and the components recorded on them
Data on this page last refreshed .