1998 Saturn SC
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
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These records cover every 1998 Saturn SC. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
Owner complaints
13 complaints1 involved a crash
What owners report most
Latest complaints
- Electrical system · Steering · Unknown or other
Car key locks up in ignition, wont turn or come out. cable to park mechanism wont disengage. has happened multiple times, today it took 40 minutes of jiggling steering wheel,key, brake shifter to disengage to get the car started.
- Tires
The tire that I believe IS faulty, ran low on air for a little while, then I aired it up - everything was fine until I tried to go into town one evening and it felt like I was riding on my rim. It sounded awful. Once I was stopped at a street light, I opened my car door and there were pieces of…
The tire that I believe IS faulty, ran low on air for a little while, then I aired it up - everything was fine until I tried to go into town one evening and it felt like I was riding on my rim. It sounded awful. Once I was stopped at a street light, I opened my car door and there were pieces of tire just sitting underneath my car and under the tire. So I finally pulled into a gas station, sure enough, I was riding my rim. I came to conclusion that my tire was debeading, and I was sold a possible faulty tire. *tr
- Service brakes
Button popped off emergency brake handle, rendering emergency brake inoperable. *tr
- Latches/locks/linkages · Power train › Manual transmission
As I'm pulling away from a stop sign, I go to shift into 2ND gear & it's as if my manual gear shifter IS not attached to anything. I am now not in any gear , unable to shift into gear, & left coasting across a 4 lane, 2 way street. also, both front seat seatbelts only retract about half way, and it has been that way from at least 17000 miles. *tr
- Engine and engine cooling › Engine
Car overheated on 4 lane highway. had to pull over while cars were driving by. replacement of head gasket at 101,000 miles. car IS still not working properly as head was replaced and now a ping had developed. 8JB
- Vehicle speed control › Accelerator pedal
While driving at any speed vehicle accelerated uncontrollably. driver was able to maintain control of the vehicle, and drove it to the dealer for inspection. however, mechanic could not duplicate the problem. *ak
- Engine and engine cooling
While the vehicle was parked consumer noticed fluid leaking from underneath. consumer was able to drive the vehicle to the dealer for inspection, and mechanic determined that the cylinder head needed to be replaced due to crack inside of the engine. *Ak
- Engine and engine cooling · Power train
Air conditioning unit stopped cooling.dealer wanted to trouble shoot@$80.00/hour. Haynes service manual said to check fuse .replaced diode @$4.00 and fixed myself. manual transmission whining in 2ND and 3RD gear. Checked transmission dipstick and transmission fluid was low. Added fluid and…
Air conditioning unit stopped cooling.dealer wanted to trouble shoot@$80.00/hour. Haynes service manual said to check fuse .replaced diode @$4.00 and fixed myself. manual transmission whining in 2ND and 3RD gear. Checked transmission dipstick and transmission fluid was low. Added fluid and anything over 1 quart poured out. Had transmission shop check it out for blown seal and they found internal metal fracture in transaxle inner case caused by shear pin movement. saturn issued service manual notification in jan.1998. Dealer and saturn are no help. Vehicle only warranteed 3 years or 36K even though this has been a known problem since 1997. Saturn blames owners for their bad engineering and does not stand behind their crappy vehicles
- Power train › Manual transmission › Floor shift assembly
Manuel shift handle disengaged from transmission cable on floor when shifting. Car was unable to be shifted to lower gear to cross highway safely .
- Air bags
While driving vehicle was in a frontal collision, but none of the airbags deployed upon impact. vehicle was totaled. Please provide more details.*ak
- Service brakes, hydraulic › Foundation components
Consumer states that when applying the brakes the brakes will go all the way to the floor. The stopping distance has increased. contacted dealer and the dealer states that the brakes are prefectly ok. *mrconsumer does not feel safe in this vehicle. *jg
- Power train › Automatic transmission › Cooling unit and lines
Transmission failure resulted in leakage. *mjs
- Equipment
Visor stopper failed. *yc
Service bulletins
Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.
- 10248444Vehicle Recalls
- 10246631Expanded Availability for Remanufacture and Return (R&R) Electronic Control Modules
- 10233369This service bulletin revision provides a repair procedure to Remove Debris from Evaporator Case, Disinfect evaporator or Apply Cooling coil coating and install blower motor control module to correct a customer concern of A/C Odor at start-up.
- 10082506This technical bulletin provides a procedure to reprogram the media disc player with the latest calibrations to correct a condition of the rear entertainment system not operating as intended in colder ambient temperature areas due to calibration concerns.
- 605959Vehicles built after and including wz150315 may exhibit a dome lamp that IS either inoperative, working intermittently, or flickers when turned on.
Every Saturn SC model year
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