2007 Saturn Aura XR - Steering Issues Again

Ahh, GM quality at its finest.
It's one thing to make their interiors look nice, which they do nowadays (notable exceptions aside...cough *Saturn Ion* cough). It's another thing to build them with quality. Personally, I'll take the equally good looking and much nicer Mazda 6 interior.....and keep my tilt-and-telescoping steering column cover where it belongs.

Before y'all jump too hard on the Aura for this particular problem, it's important to note it could just be a problem with this particular unit.

so by now even I know about the TSB on the Aura steering column and I don't even own this thing. Go to the dealer already! If this had been the 3-series, it would've been sent to Germany for an urgent inspection by now (sorry, couldn't resist a quick jab)

As much as I hate to add to the whole Aura vs Camry controversy, I feel I must.
 
Really, truly, had this been the Camry, you would have had the whole steering thing fixed before you even had a chance to write about it. When you did write about it, it probably would have come off as something like "The Camry's steering has wonderful audible steering feedback, and the cover is easy to remove for those who want to fix any problems themselves, though they'll probably never need to, as it has the typical wonderful Toyota quality. This is just one more example of how far ahead of the American manufacturers Toyota is."
 
Of course, I do have to admit it would have been easier to address this issue on the Camry, as it would have come up during its regular monthly recall.
 
As I said, I hated to continue with the whole Aura vs Camry thing, but seriously, you've known about the steering problem for a very long time, and you've known about the TSB for it for just as long, but instead of fixing it you keep it broken and just keep writing about how bad it is. How can you call that fair? You made it very clear from your introduction that your only purpose for the Aura is to debunk it as North American Car of the Year and protect your friends at Toyota.

stovt001 - well put..
 
I dont even think the editors even notice they are doing it anymore. Its engrained in their brains so that they think they are objective. when the reality is different.
 
now that cover should stay on, so something is wrong. but instead of fixing it, taking it in, the editors have at least 3 articles about steering problems. if not more.

"It's one thing to make their interiors look nice, which they do nowadays (notable exceptions aside...cough *Saturn Ion* cough). It's another thing to build them with quality. Personally, I'll take the equally good looking and much nicer Mazda 6 interior.....and keep my tilt-and-telescoping steering column cover where it belongs."
 
Ion is no longer made and the 6 has one of the most plastic interiors in this class. Its almost a carbon copy of the much criticized G6 interior. For some reason the 6 was never subject to nearly as much criticism.
 
I hope they take this car to the shop soon so we can stop reading about this same issue. I would be shocked if it cant be fixed in 15 minutes.

Someone PLEASE change the title of this blog from "steering issues again" to "the same steering issue that we don't feel like addressing".
 
No, actually, I don't wonder what the inside of the steering column looks like. I wonder about how the car drives, performs, and compares to those in its class. Please have the car fixed and begin reporting what actually matters, or at the very least, stop double-posting about the same problem. After all, it should be fixed in a whole lot less time than a broken timing belt (Honda Pilot) or four broken shocks (Honda Ridgeline).

I am glad it is just a cover problem.GM has had enough real steering issues with their current cars......Cobalt and Malibu to be specific. I think fast track design and pressure on suppliers to meet a low cost, will insure quality problems popping up. I don't see that as a GM only problem. But I repeat, real steering system problems are a deal breaker for me.

Like everyone else, if a problem isn't mission critical we deal with it at the next scheduled service. The groan/TSB issue falls into that category, I think.
 
And I think anyone would try to pop a loose trim piece back on and see if that takes care of it before they take time off from work or spend a Saturday going to a dealer. That's what we did, it didn't work, and someone reported it.
 
I don't see how this sequence of events differs from that of the average car owner in a similar situation.

actualsize
 
what you are doing is no different then what anyone else is.
 
However writing a 'different' story about the same problem 3-4 times makes it seem like there are 3-4 problems. when in fact its slightly more then 1.

if the plastic cover was the ONLY problem I would agree that it could wait. But you have noticed the steering rack groaning for some time now and someone noted there was a TSB. I would get that checked out. I dont know how far the dealer is, but I believe you are entitled to a loaner car if the car is going to be there all day. I do agree this is a minor issue, but since we have to read about it twice a week I think we all hope it gets fixed quickly so we can read about how the car rides, steers, accelerates, holds kids, etc. Even though I was shouted down before I stand by my comments that there has been little in the way of driving impressions about this car. Most mosts have been about how its gas mileage is worse than camry or steering rack issues. Oh, and complaints about the rear audio system not having a screen.

Saturns have had interior problems for some time. The Aura was a step in the right direction, but various shoddy trim bits I've seen inside it are not inspiring for a "car of the year".
 
Still, if there is a TSB for this, it would be helpful to know if the TSB actually fixes the problem.

i agree the editors are writing about the same problem over and over, but i also have to think that the situations on when the steering wheel cover pop off are different so it might be worth mentioning. for the other one, the writer was adamantly trying to see if they could fix the steering problem and was probably probing around. this time Donna was just using the car normally.
 
it's like one editor praising a car for a sporty suspension and another one praising it for being fun on the twisties.

The TSB on the Aura's steering is not for the issue of the plastic cover popping off. This is a different problem. And I don't think any of you would go rushing off to the dealer the first time a plastic piece comes off that you are able to pop back into place. The second time it happens, yes. And that is what we are doing.
 
Here is the TSB:
 
2007 Saturn Aura
STEERING:HYDRAULIC POWER ASSIST:POWER STEERING FLUID
PRODUCT ENHANCEMENT FOR INVENTORY VEHICLES ONLY - POWER STEERING HOSE CONTACT.

Hey 1487 - I think it's hard for the editors to focus on other aspects of the car such as driving dynamics etc, when large parts of the interior are popping off and a car that is brand new and touted as NA car of the Year, groans every time you turn the wheel. This blog is after all about raw real world impressions. I don't blame them for blogging about this repeatedly and I like reading about it. Don't be such a GM Nazi.

Inventory vehicles != Retailed vehicles like the LT Aura
 
Hmmm. Perhaps it's a different, but related TSB, Donna? It looks like you pulled up the TSB from Edmunds' maintenance guide ( http://www.edmunds.com/maintenance/MaintenanceServlet ).
 
There should be a bulletin related to 06147 (10/2006). It would be great if anyone from the service department of a Saturn dealership chimed in here with the actual TSB info.

The large part came off when someone started messing with it. Maybe a perivous driver was looking to see what makes the noise, broke the cover and then just put it on. Feeling bad/guilty they told no one.
 
my cheap gm sunfire doesn't have an pieced falling off, so this kind of thing is more exception then the rull. Yet people make it seem like every aura will now lose a plastic piece.

Hear, hear! (to benson)
 
I also want to point out that Edmunds editors are not proven GM haters. They've been complimentary of Cadillac's recent offerings (Karl's latest CTS blog is very high praise), and they've also liked the Silverado well enough.

It's been stated a few times that the cover came off initially because someone was "messing" with it. Here is the blurb from Chris Walton's original blog on the subject...
"Not ten seconds into my time in the driver's seat, as I cranked the wheel to go up the first parking ramp, did the steering wheel begin to grind away on the shroud covering the column. I tried readjusting the tilt wheel to see if it was perhaps at the limit of its travel but found it about midway between its highest and lowest settings. After a few more corners and incessant scratching suddenly stopped -- right after the shroud dislodged itself."
 
That grinding was happening almost immediately after we got the car.

Boy those guys are GM are sneaky. They know that edmund's editors hate them, a certain 1487 can't be wrong, and so they have put into play this byzantine strategy to exact revenge and reveal the edmund's bias once and for all. OOOOH! General, you are a clever devil. The following is an approximation of the GM strategy (Of Genius!!!!).
 
Step 1: Knowing that Edmund's would buy this vehicle, GM purposefully sabotages the steering cover. Without knowing exactly which car they would buy, GM possibly performed this bit of intentional sabotage on potentially thousands of vehicles. Well worth it to attack their nemesis, no?
 
Step 2: Playing into GM's hands, the rabidly anti-American Edmund's editors, like a pack of slavering wolves smelling blood on a fresh kill, blog about this minor defect in a flurry of biased, vitriolic diatribes they call "blogs."
 
Step 3: Honest, decent, freedom loving Americans everywhere are outraged at Edmund's despicable behavior. The Edmund's hate machine is revealed for what it is by the comments of astute readers.
 
Step 4: The future for Edmund's looks bleak. Their loathing of GM now revealed, their readers and advertisers flee in droves. The business crumbles, the demonic editors lose their jobs, and GM has successfully silenced a voice of tyrannical anti-Americanism.
 
Bravo to the General. Well played, Sir.
 
And for shame, Edmund's. For Shame!

Really, I just don't see the problems in GM vehicles that everyone talks about. My sister bought a compact Saturn in 2002, and in the nearly 7 years that she's owned it she has only had to take it in for a repair once. That was only one year ago (car was 5-6 years old) and it was just a clunky shift into reverse. She took care of it immediately, and it hasn't been a problem since. If you ask me one very minor problem in 7 years, and it only cropped up after 5 or 6, is the epitome of reliability.
 
It is this flawless reliability that encouraged me to buy my Cobalt. I was deciding between the Cobalt and the Scion tC, and went with the Chevy thanks in part to my sister's experience. Its a good thing I did, because within months of my purchase the tC became the latest in Toyota's record setting string of recalls. If you want real quality problems, look at those recalls: detaching seatbelts, misfiring airbags, faulty steering columns, etc. Makes a piece of trim being dislocated by the Edmunds editors unloving hands seem rather trivial don't you think? Anyway 14 months into my Cobalt ownership it is still running problem free. I'm satisfied with it.
 
Cheap interiors are symptomatic of the auto industry as a whole right now. Sitting in my girlfriend's roommate's mid 90s Maxima (by no means a top level luxury car) I was struck by how cheap modern interiors are in comparison. All of the materials were softer, everything fit better, and overall it was just very simple and easy to use compared with most newer car's I've been in, from all sorts of manufacturers. Its been noticed on other cars, even shockingly enough by the Edmunds editors themselves on *gasp* the Camry. My sister's Saturn has, I feel, a much better interior than my Cobalt, and for that matter the Ion (wow now that's damning with faint praise). Its not just a GM thing. They are guilty, to be sure, but while their interiors are actually rising a bit from mediocrity, the competitors are falling. I fear they shall all meet in the middle in a sort of uniform semi-mediocrity. Joy.

"This blog is after all about raw real world impressions. I don't blame them for blogging about this repeatedly and I like reading about it. Don't be such a GM Nazi."
 
What is the point of reading about the SAME issue over and over if it hasnt been taken to the dealer? I just want to know. Based on your comments I'm sure you do love reading about this issue because it helps you confirm that GM is making trash. Look, Edmunds has tested at least two other Aura's prior to buying this car and this issue was never mentioned. I havent read about it in any road test in any publication- not even CR. No one on the Aura forum has mentioned such a problem. My point it this seems like an isolated issue and it needs to be fixed. The fact that this car has this issue cannot be used as proof that GM (and domestics in general) are making poor products. As for those commenting on how cheap the Aura interior is, I suggest you look at the Camry's plastics. I dont see a major difference at all. Neither one is causing VW to lose any sleep.
 
crowb,
 
what a waste of keystrokes. I guess that was supposed to be funny.

I'm tired of this too. So I'm going to sum up and shut up.
  
There are two different steering issues and three posts.
  
1) The groan noise is underhood, hydraulic in nature and covered by a TSB. We have a visit scheduled after Labor Day. Post count = 1
  
2) The column cover and associated scraping noise are inside the car. Post #1 described it coming off of its own accord. Conspiracy theorists out there might consider that the scraping noise heard intermittently since day one might have been indicative of initial mis-assembly or incomplete assembly, and the forces applied by the resulting part-to-part contact eventually popped the cover off. It happens, but we'll never know for sure. Post #2 reported that snapping it back on didn't help. This will be looked at during the visit for issue #1.

Face it, you guys just hate the Aura when you should be praising it. It is gods gift to the midsize segment no matter what foolish Camry, Accord, Altima owner thinks otherwise. I mean really, steering issues? C'mon it's not like it's a broken cupholder or something serious like that. You're complaining about piddly stuff here.

anythngbutgm:
 
Now there's a nice nom de plume. Your title tells a person everything they need to know. No bias there, none what so ever.
 
Yeah, cars catching on fire (Altima), transmissions going out(Accord), transmissions not shifting, losing two gears(Camry) those aren't serious either. Obviously the steering was good enough to canyon race with the Altilma. If the Aura was from anyone else, I guess you would then love it, huh?

This is just fun. It's like watching 2 midgets fight over a donut. There's no point, I don't care who gets the donut, I just wanna watch the fight.