Stalling while driving on the 2003 Saturn Vue
When stalling while driving gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Saturn Vue report stalling while driving at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 14th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 91,460 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
17% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33,540 miles | 68,250 miles | 102,000 miles | 125,000 miles | 125,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $300–$2,500 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2009, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 saturn vue. The vehicle stalled and lost power while driving 75 MPH. There were no warning lights prior to the failure. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and later repaired. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken to the dealer. The dealer stated that the vehicle needed a new catalytic converter. The vehicle was repaired a second time, but later began making a clicking sound. The contact was informed that the converter was rubbing against another component. After repairing the vehicle for the third time, she smelled exhaust fumes inside the passenger compartment. The VIN, engine size, and purchase date were unknown. The current mileage was 42,500 and failure mileage was 42,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 saturn vue. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled while driving 45 MPH. Additionally, the front driver and passenger side doors were unable to be opened from the inside of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnostic testing where the dealer advised that the transmission would need replacing as well as the door hinges. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The transmission was replaced but the doors were not repaired. The failure mileage was 77,000 and the current mileage was 106,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 saturn vue. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled while driving 45 MPH. Additionally, the front driver and passenger side doors were unable to be opened from the inside of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnostic testing where the dealer advised that the transmission would need replacing as well as the door hinges. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The transmission was replaced but the doors were not repaired. The failure mileage was 77,000 and the current mileage was 106,000.
Also reported on the 2003 Saturn Vue
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 stalling while driving happen on the 2003 Saturn Vue?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is stalling while driving on the 2003 Saturn Vue?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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