By Drew Johnson
Monday, Nov 14th, 2011 @ 12:51 pm
 
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has widen the scope of its investigation into Saturn Aura models for a possible transmission defect. The probe, which initially launched in May, could cover as many as 88,729 vehicles.

The NHTSA announced on Monday that it has upgraded and widened the scope of an ongoing safety investigation involving the Saturn Aura. The new investigation covers Aura models from the 2007 and 2008 model years and could encompass nearly 89,000 vehicles.

The initial investigation was launched after the agency received complaints that the Aura's automatic transmission cable could fail, preventing the gearbox from engaging park. At the time just eight complaints had been filed, but that number has ballooned to well over 100. Seven crashes and one injury have been blamed on the defect.

According to complaints, the defect allows the transmission's shift lever to be placed in the park position, but fails to actually engage. As a result, many people have exited their vehicles thinking it was safety in park, only to have it roll away. In the lone injury report, the driver exited the vehicle and was struck as the car rolled backwards.

No recall is currently planned, but one could be on the way. General Motors issued a recall for a similar issue for Aura models from the 2009 model year.

GM ceased production of the Saturn brand in 2009.

References
1.'NHTSA upgrades, widens...' view
  

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