Other electrical problem on the 2002 Saturn Vue
1 crash 1 fire 1 injury 3 of the 26 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Saturn Vue report other electrical problem at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 23 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 116,988 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
26% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6,902 miles | 30,500 miles | 70,000 miles | 95,140 miles | 123,890 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash, 1 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2009, at a median of 50,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 92,500 miles.
By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 68; the 2002 has 26. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
This vehicle has had this trouble since its puchase. After the first break down, saturn returned it to us stating that it was a loose battery terminal. The second time saturn stated that they replaced two of the three on board computers, they also stated that a full diagnostic and repair record would be fowarded to us. That never came. Yesteday 7/6/03 the engine shut off in traffic. I could not get it started and had to have it towed. I will not put my family back in this car again, I don't trust saturn, the company or the vehicle with my families lives.
The battery dies constantly since early august of 2002 (purchased car on june 2002). Unable to operate car when the battery dies. Must be jumped to be able to operate. It has been replaced twice and the radio also has been replaced once. The battery dies if the car is not used for more than 3 days. Contacted the dealership and was told it was because the car was iddle for too long. Visited the dealerships 8 times in 6 months for this problem - dealership actions do not fix problem. I experienced problems with the dash and the lights coming on and off. I experienced problems with the alarm - not engaging and malfunctioning. I also experienced problems with the wheel steering - needing replacement.*ak
My fiance and I both purchased a 2002 saturn vue. During the course of normal driving she used her horn in alerting other drivers and the horn failed to stop sounding. The only remedy was to pull over and remove the fuse to stop the horn from sounding. This occurred three times during her ownership of the vehicle and each time the defective part was replaced the problem would return shortly after. After much inquiry we finally had a manager admit to us there was a product redesign to fix the problem with it shorting out which also affected the air bag functionality as well. Both safety issues. Now during the course of normal driving my vehicle, also a saturn vue of the same year, has suffered the same failure. Although this is my first such incident with the problem, I suspect this is not an isolated case. I was told that the part would cost roughly $1000 to replace when we had to replace hers three times! I am now finding myself in the same situation where I honked the horn and it refused to turn off until I pulled the fuse. I assume they will also try to charge me $1000 for it's repair. *nm
Also reported on the 2002 Saturn Vue
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other powertrain problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 26 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other electrical problem happen on the 2002 Saturn Vue?
Across 23 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2002 Saturn Vue?
26 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed