NHTSA Complaint #10615980 — 2008 SATURN ASTRA

ORIGINAL OWNER OF A SATURN ASTRA 2008 XR WITH LESS THAN 40,000 MILES. CAR STARTED LOSING POWER STEERING AT LOW SPEEDS (I.E. TURNING FROM A STOP, PARALLEL PARKING, ANY MOVEMENT THAT DIDN'T REQUIRE ACTIVELY APPLYING THE ACCELERATOR SUCH AS BACKING UP, SLOWING TO TAKE A CURVE, ETC). DEALER STATES NEED TO REPLACE ELECTRIC POWER STEERING MOTOR AND CONTROLLER UNIT GEAR. BATTERY IS AT 35% AND ALSO NEEDS REPLACING. NO NOTICE OF LOW BATTERY WAS SHOWN ON THE DASHBOARD. LAST SERVICE (ALWAYS AT DEALERSHIP) 12/31/13 THEY HAD TO FORCE THE ON-BOARD COMPUTER TO STOP SHOWING AN ENGINE PROBLEM CODE RELATED TO THE INTAKE SYSTEM (P0068), AS THEY COULDN'T FIND/REPLICATE THE INDICATED ISSUE. GM SAYS THEY WON'T COVER THIS BECAUSE OF THE AGE OF THE CAR, DESPITE THE LOW MILEAGE AND THE FACT THAT THIS IS THE SAME ISSUE CITED IN VARIOUS RECALLS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF 2014. THEY HAVE, AS OF JULY 24, 2014, SIXTY DIFFERENT RECALLS COVERING ALMOST 30 MILLION CARS. THEY HAVE ALLOWED EXTENDED WARRANTIES OF 10 YEARS OR 100,000 MILES TO SATURN IONS FOR THIS PROBLEM AND ISSUED ACTUAL RECALLS FOR, AMONG MANY OTHERS, SATURN AURA, SKY, ION ETC. FOR THIS AND RELATED PROBLEMS. *TR