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Saturn Airbags

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Saturn • Aura • Vue --- • Engine problems • Transmission problems • Airbags • Ignition interlock • Oozing goo • Miscellaneous woes • The Shamrock Saturn --- Recalls/News • Penske Scraps Plan to Buy Saturn; Brand Likely to Die • Penske Hopes to Drive Saturn Off GM's Lot • Saturn Climbing the Roadway to Heaven • Saturn Aura Gets a 5,000-Mile Road Test • NHTSA Probes Timing Chain Again • NHTSA Recalls Saturn L Series • NHTSA Probes Saturn Timing Chain Failures • Saturn Astra Named Safest Car Under $25,000 • Saturn Outlook Gets Top Marks from Consumer Reports • Saturn Targets Toyota, Honda for Side-by-Side Tests • Saturn Sky Prices Go Sky High • Saturn VUE Recalled • L-Series Cars Recalled

Linda of McKinney, TX August 26, 2009

My family and I were in a severe accident with our Saturn Vue last night. Another driver (identified by the police as a hit and run driver) side swiped us and a semi-truck hauling gravel slammed into the back of our car. Our daughter was in the back seat, my husband and I in the front (I was driving). Our car is most likely totalled.

Once I got past the shock of the accident, I realized that the air bags never deployed and saw that both of the front seats had broken all the way down onto the back seat during the accident. Luckily for my family I get locked in during emergency situations and was so intent on steering the car through a spin and keeping us from being killed that I did not go back with the seat. My husband did and both he and the chair back slammed into our daughters legs. Should I have gone back with the seat, we would most likely either be severely hurt right now or dead.

We are in the process of contacting Saturn because I would like to understand both the airbag non deployment and the seats breaking down. We are having the insurance adjuster take pictures of both items and will be supplying those to Saturn.

Anne of Buzzards Bay, MA August 11, 2009

I was in an accident on 8/4/09. My drivers side quarter panel along with the front end of my car was badly damaged and my airbags never went off. My chest is injured from my seat belt and steering wheel. I would like to know if there is anything legally I can do regarding this issue. Thank you.

Valeria of Federal Way, WA January 25, 2007

I was pulling into the driveway of a gas station this morning and the side airbags on my Saturn LW100 deployed.

I called Saturn and they told me to bring the car in so they could evaluate it. I was told that they would not pay the 1700 to repair the airbags and that there was structural damage on the underside of the car that was the cause for the deployment.

This may have been caused from hitting a speed bump. They said that it was a my fault. I had not hit a speed bump that morning and the incident may have been months ago. This makes no sense to me.

Teri of Philadelphia, PA December 5, 2006

i bought a 2001 Saturn ls back in 2002..i took very good care of my car....in july of 2006 i was driving down street where i lost power in my car...i had to have it towed to the dealership where i was told the the timing chain went in my car...i have 79,000 miles on it...they told me it would be easier to replace the motor for about 3,000...i do not have it...they say my warranty expired in January of 2006...so basically i am screwed....my car is sitting in my garage unable to drive and still making a car payment....i went on the website to find out the the saturn ls...have timing chain problems..this is under consumeraffairs.som...ther is a whole list of saturn cars with this problem....tell me where do i go from here......i am a very disappointed saturn owner

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Shelly of Fairmont, WV November 6, 2006

I was traveling 50 MPH and a deer jumped out and I hit it head on. I was so scared, I pulled over to get out of the road and the police came and took a report for insurance purposes, which I was thankful that the police was close by. I had 2 passengers in the car, one was in the front seat and my 7 year old daughter was in the back seat. The airbags of my 2002 Saturn SL1 never deployed. As I was talking to the manufacturer of Saturn, he said he would send out an airbag packet with information of my airbags and restrictions. Please, restrictions? these airbags should have deployed at 50 MPH head on collision. Saturn gave me a reference number to use if the airbag information packet did not answer my questions.

Anthony of Miami, FL August 29, 2006

Leased a brand new 2005 Saturn Vue V6 in May 2005. It has been brought to dealer, body shop, and service 4 times for failure of brakes, power steering, transmission, and as of a recent accident  impact front end at 40 MPH with a car that ran a light, the airbags did not deploy. Saturn sent a product specialist out and they said everything was working fine. The angle of impact was not enough. Other than the police report, witnesses, and insurance adjuster all agreeing that the entire front of the Saturn was smashed direct frontal collision, they will not speak with me. Also the interior paint on the dash is flaking, rubber around the windows is dry rotted, and the car is falling apart. It has just over 12 months and 24k miles of use.

No airbag replacement, even though they did not deploy in a head on accident at 40 MPH, no assistance with breaks failing to work, 4 weeks loss of time while Saturn spent doing an investigation. I have been paying my lease, insurance, and no use of the car. It is falling apart and they will only give me an address to send in my complaint. No information will be released as it is proprietary they say. I have lost 100s of hours of work to deal with all this mess, my family grew up on GM employment, loyal American Car buyers, and now I will never buy another GM car again. This has left me so disappointed in our auto market, no wonder foreign auto makers are killing us. When are we going to get our act together. I was loyal to Buy What America Builds. This will never happen again. Sorry for believing. Now everyone I know will know do not buy a Saturn. They act as if I am the enemy.

Ian of Waterbury Center, VT March 9, 2006

I am writing about my Saturn "issues" and how their car/airbags almost killed me. I am an 11-year veteran of two branches of the U.S. military, father of two sons and married. I own a Saturn 1999 SL 4DOOR Automatic. I had taken a trip 1/4 mile down the road to pick up milk and snacks for the kids for the next day of school. Upon returning home, I was listening to a National Public Radio broadcast on the war in Iraq. I was very interested in this so as I pulled into my driveway, I instead of turning off the car, sat and listened to the broadcast.

Five minutes later, the broadcast was over and I proceeded to gather my milk from the back seat to the front seat (passenger side) in order that it be easier for me to grab. I am disabled with one bullet lodged in my back next to my spine that cannot be removed. I released my seatbelt, and leaned slightly forward to turn the car off. Just as I turned the key, BOOM! I wasn't sure what had happened, I was surrounded by white powder, and my head hurt, my back was in pain and I noticed as I lay in the seat that my air bags both drivers and passengers had deployed, hitting me full force in the face while I was leaning into or towards the steering wheel.

My wife even saw me enter the house, in a "daze" as she puts it. I went straight to my bed, clothes on and collapsed. The next morning I awoke, with a killer head ache, my whole body felt like it had been kicked,and my already injured back was really screwed up. I called the insurance company as well as Saturn.(after I left the hospital) (probable concusion, possable damage to my neck and back) My insurance company sent a person out immediately to inspect the car at a facility, I gather to get it on a lift, and check all possable causes, including driver error.

Answer: Insurance company concluded that the air bag deployment was not of driver error, but "mechanical failure". Saturn to sent their "specialist" out to inspect the vehicle. I had a lawyer who agreed to represent me on a "if we win" basis and the fact that "I'm a disabled veteran" as he stated.

Saturn's answer: Driver Error! The computer is what they based their evidence on, even though the person from Saturn admitted that the computer was outdated and they couldn't really pin down any "time frames", but that it had indicated a sudden loss of speed, eg. indicating that I was lying and that I had hit somthing, or slowed down so quickly that it released the airbags. My lawyer at this point thought that they were very wrong as his pictures and my pictures and the insurance companies pictures showed no damage to the vehicle!

The air bags deployed in my driveway, at a stand still and my lawyer revealed that the computer Saturn was "investing all their stock in" was wrong, and that it could pick up increases/decreases in acceleration, but had no "time frame" so the sudden stop in theory could of been from a month ago, a year ago, or even from the previous owner. I had bought this Saturn from the Saturn dealer located on Shelburne Road here in Vermont and am still paying on this car loan. The insurance company would not cover the cost of bag replacement let alone my hospital bills claiming it was mechanical failure and hence not their problem, and Saturn claimed that it was "driver error" and would not cover replacement or reimbursment for no vehicle or anything! As my lawyer speculated that if they did so this would indicate guilt on their part.

Eventually Saturn issued a decree stating that they had no intentions of any acceptance of responsability, and because my insurance company (after a very comprehensive investigation) deamed the deployment a "mechanical error" not "driver" they were not responsable. So, at 32 years of age with two children,on a meager disability income I was told that no one would cover the air bags which were as much as the cars value! At the time it had less than 75k miles on it. My lawyer worked for his father who in turn decided not to represent me unless I had money because "Saturn was going to DRAG this out" as reimbursment would count as an admission guilt and may effect other current cases similar at the time.

Not able to afford an attorney now I make payments on this car, with no airbags, and this is our only vehicle, as we are unable to buy another. My lawyer said that it was very obvious as did the insurance company that it was mechanical failure, but because I did not have a retainers fee he could not continue to "eat man hours". Since the accident I've documented thru my doctor complete loss of feeling on my entire right side of my body. All I asked of Saturn, and Im being honest here. All I asked of Saturn (mostly because I felt lucky to have not been driving at the time or that my boys were not in the car) was that Saturn replace the air bags. Absolute refusal.

Now I live in more pain than ever before, and it directly corrolates with the deployment of these bags into my face from inches away, I pay for a car with no safety devices, and my family is stuck as the "middle party", nable to fight this giant with no representation. My lawyer suspects that Saturn knowing of my predicament  partly pushed non replacement knowing full well I could not battle them in court.  I'm really upset that a humble request to simply fix what they should of was not only turned down, but I was actually referred to as "lying" to my lawyer from the advisor from Saturn.

I have read other horror stories of the same content, only they were driving with a child in the car, stopped at a stop light and the same thing happened, same make and model.

Damages: Subsequent extreme back pain, neck pain, irratic loss of feeling on my right side, concussion, loss of vehicle for over three monthes, no safety features eg. airbags, frequent nightmares or "flash backs" of the explosion of the bags, travel to and from lawyers, photos, emergency room and subsequent treatment for pain and sleeplessness, the toll of no vehicle in a rural state with no transportation for a family of four (with two children), loss of my wifes job due to unavailability of tranportation, and again, the increased pain after this altered my back forever, as a slipped disk was found after this incident and subsequent increase of pain medication to enable me to move. These issues have not gone away, Im still paying on the vehicle as well. In the end, due to my disability, hospital bills not covered due to no insurance coverage due to their ruling that it was Saturns faulty equipment, eventually bills went to collection, loss of my wifes job and no transportation led to living off from my disability income alone which in turn led to losing our home and moving into a trailer! To much to write.....I can't write any more.

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