Saturn Ion at Center of Power Steering Safety Probe

With the massive recall recently announced over General Motors’ ignition switch issue, the government safety agency overseeing the investigation is under scrutiny as to why a similar recall hasn’t been issued for the Saturn Ion’s power steering failures.

At least 846 complaints have been filed with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) on the 2004-2007 Saturn Ion with owners reporting a sudden loss of power steering assistance, an issue that resulted in a recall of over one-million Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 vehicles four years ago.

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General Motors has informed NHTSA that the electric power steering system in the Saturn Ion is identical to that in the Cobalt and the G5, and despite the agency replicating the same issue on the Saturn Ion, no recall was issued.

Recently, GM CEO Mary Barra issued out a statement that the ignition switch recall “took too long,” and now many are questioning why no recall has been issued on the Ion. If a recall is issued on the 2004-2007 Saturn Ion, 382,000 vehicles would be affected. There have been reports of 16 crashes and two injuries related to the issue. The investigation was upgraded to an engineering analysis by NHTSA in September 2011, but the agency stated that it did not have enough evidence to order a recall from GM.

[Source: Automotive News]

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