Consumer Complaint Detail

SATURN / SC / 1996

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 004304888 Incident Date: Oct, 23 2004
Consumer's City: SARASOTA Consumer's State: FL
Vehicle Transmission Type: MAN Manufacturers Name: General Motors, LLC
Model Name: SC Model Year: 1996
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Latches/locks/linkages
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 1G8ZG1277SZ Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Oct, 24 2004 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: May, 09 2004
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: No
Number of Cylinders: 4 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: I drive a 1996 saturn sc-1. while trying to back out of the driveway yesterday, the gearshift went "limp" and i was unable to put the car into gear and drive. i removed the center console, and found that what i later found out to be the "shifter linkage bushing" had broken in half, and would need to be replaced. should have been a simple fix. after two auto parts stores, the saturn dealership, and a lot of online research, i find out that saturn decided to stop making that part, and that the only way to fix the problem is to replace the entire cable assembly going into the transmission. so, for a .50 cent part, i would be forced to pay several hundred dollars to get this fixed, as replacing a bushing is something i am capable of doing at home, but cracking open the transmission is not. i am appalled that saturn doesn't make or carry the parts to replace an item on a car that is only 8 years old. i realize they still have a fix for this, but i would categorize that fix as extortion. i thought i was alo0ne with this problem, but it is well documented on the web by other saturn owners. here is a good link to a forum discussing this: http://www.chaosmagnet.com/blog/archives/000112.html i am currently using zip ties to keep the linkage in place because i refuse to pay four or five hundred dollars, (the part alone cost almost $200) to fix this. i pray there is something the nhtsa can do about this, because i can't make enough waves on my own to get anything done about this. thank you in advance.*ak