Other powertrain problem on the 2004 Saturn Vue
3 crashes 4 injuries 7 of the 53 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 powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Saturn Vue report other powertrain problem at a median of 92,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 37,500 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles, from 50 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 136,189 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.
24% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,920 miles | 38,404 miles | 93,400 miles | 126,500 miles | 145,109 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, 3 a crash and 4 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 $400–$4,500 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2002, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 92,500 miles.
By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 179; the 2004 has 53. 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.
Random obd code p0571 cruise/brake switch malfunction since purchasing the vehicle on 6 dec 03. The switch has been replaced. The following has been checked switch alignment, connectors. Numerous failures currently waiting since 29 jan on engineer to look at freeze frame data from the computer. *jb
I have taken my 2004 saturn vue-manual transmission in for service regarding a thumping that I heard and felt come from the shifter location. I got the "everything is within normal parameters" line. Then tonight when I went to down-shift from 5th gear to 4th gear, the shifter made a crunch sound and then it bounced into the neutral position. However, the transmission is still in 5th gear and is sitting in front of the saturn service center awaiting to be looked at tomorrow morning. This is not my first saturn but it will be my last after having as many problems as I have had with it in 1.25 years time.*jb
Driver had the vehicles cruise turned on most of the trip, with a speedometer reading of 67-72mph. Around tomah, wisconsin, the driver planned to exit/attempted to turn off the vehicles cruise. Driver depressed the cruise button to turn off the cruise, the no response. The driver went to depress/engage the clutch, and found that the clutch was stuck and did not respond/waited a few seconds, tried the clutch again, this time getting a response. Drivers trip continued (with the cruise on) and traffic was congested. The driver had slowed the vehicle down using the cruise & remembers a speedometer reading of 60mph. Tried to turn off the cruise button. The cruise failed to respond or shut off as she used her left foot to engage/push in the clutch with absolutely no response. Driver immediately put her foot on the brake. No response. Both the clutch and the brake pedal were locked/stuck and did not respond to the application of pressure applied by the drivers feet. Driver tried to use both feet on the brakes -no response. Neither the clutch or brakes responded. Driver swerved to the left and the vehicle spun across the highway as the…
Also reported on the 2004 Saturn Vue
Other electrical problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Complete transmission failure
Other suspension problem
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 53 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2004 Saturn Vue?
Across 50 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 92,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 37,500 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2004 Saturn Vue?
53 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 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