First, let me begin with a little of the back story. Almost one year ago, on New Year's Day, 2009, I was about to go to a Brunch at a friend's house. This is a traditional party that he throws every year, and I was very excited. It was a very cold morning, that day, somewhere in the vicinity of zero degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine my surprise when my car would not start! I thought in this modern age of fuel-injection and other examples of automotive technology, that the days of not starting in cold weather, were behind us. The good news that day was that after some time, the car eventually did start, and I was able to attend the Brunch.
I called my Saturn dealer the next day, and explained the problem to the Service Manager, and he was familiar with the symptoms in that particular model (2006 Saturn Ion). It required changing out the ignition switch, because that particular switch gets dirty, or something, prematurely, causing the car not to start. He said it would cost in the vicinity $150 to replace.
A dirty switch I thought? As an electronics tinkerer, I always have a can of contact cleaner around, so I sprayed the heck out of the switch, and figured that I had beaten the system, because the problem never appeared again.
Never appeared again until about ten days ago, that is.
Since Saturn is essentially gone as an automotive brand, I decided to Google around for a bit. It didn't take long to find hundreds of other examples on the web of other people experiencing the same problem, in far less severe weather. It seems as though GM simply designed a defective ignition switch, and was unwilling to do a recall, to replace all of them. Ion owners are forced to have to pay for replacing the switch, with another potentially defective switch, or perform a kludgy fix that involves cutting a wire inside the steering column.
What I learned about the problem, is pretty interesting, actually. It's not your typical cold-weather starting problem, that happens because the engine is cold, and ignition simply doesn't occur. No. This is much more complex.
It seems that the defective switch in question also has some sort of sensor in it, that sends information to the car's security system. Cold weather confuses this sensor into thinking something is wrong, and doesn't give the car's security system the OK to start the car. You see, apparently my car's security system has a few different components. The first is the alarm. If someone tries to steal the car, it sounds an alarm just like every other car, in every mall parking lot in which we've ever been. Then there is the other component, called the Passlock System, which kills the power to the starter motor, and to the fuel pump, rendering the car completely un-drivable to a would-be car thief.
Great idea, right??!
Yes. Great idea, unless you designed a defective sensor into a defective switch, which in cold weather makes the Passlock System think that something is wrong, when it is not. Thankfully this glitch only affects the Passlock System and does not cause the alarm to sound!
One workaround to the problem, is a way in which you can reset the Passlock System, that takes about a half an hour, each time you wake up to find that your car isn't starting. You have to attempt to start the car, and leave the key in the run position, and wait ten minutes for the Passlock indicator light to stop blinking. You then put the key into the ACC position (where the engine would be off, but the car stereo and dash electronics stay on), wait for ten seconds, and try to start the car, again.
Once you have performed this cycle three times, and have turned the ignition switch all of the way off, and waited thirty seconds, the car then should start.
As you can see, none of the fixes, or workarounds are particularly appealing, so it is terrible that GM never re-engineered the ignition switch, and replaced them all, at their cost.
Why am I writing about this you ask? Because as I sit here, hammering away on my Netbook's keyboard, I am in the middle of cycle number three, of the time-consuming workaround that I described above. This is the third time this winter that my car did not start in the morning. The good news is that two of the times, I didn't actually have to be anywhere, but one of the times, I did. Thankfully I have a friend who lives nearby, and I was able to beg a ride, until I could get my car started, later that day.
I have a new, potentially defective, ignition switch on order, that my father and I will install, when it arrives. After doing my research, apparently using any of these switches in cold weather, is like playing the lottery. Despite the fact that I just paid forty dollars for a new switch, this problem could occur at any time.
Shame on you General Motors, and thank you for making such a quality ignition switch.
I called my Saturn dealer the next day, and explained the problem to the Service Manager, and he was familiar with the symptoms in that particular model (2006 Saturn Ion). It required changing out the ignition switch, because that particular switch gets dirty, or something, prematurely, causing the car not to start. He said it would cost in the vicinity $150 to replace.
A dirty switch I thought? As an electronics tinkerer, I always have a can of contact cleaner around, so I sprayed the heck out of the switch, and figured that I had beaten the system, because the problem never appeared again.
Never appeared again until about ten days ago, that is.
Since Saturn is essentially gone as an automotive brand, I decided to Google around for a bit. It didn't take long to find hundreds of other examples on the web of other people experiencing the same problem, in far less severe weather. It seems as though GM simply designed a defective ignition switch, and was unwilling to do a recall, to replace all of them. Ion owners are forced to have to pay for replacing the switch, with another potentially defective switch, or perform a kludgy fix that involves cutting a wire inside the steering column.
What I learned about the problem, is pretty interesting, actually. It's not your typical cold-weather starting problem, that happens because the engine is cold, and ignition simply doesn't occur. No. This is much more complex.
It seems that the defective switch in question also has some sort of sensor in it, that sends information to the car's security system. Cold weather confuses this sensor into thinking something is wrong, and doesn't give the car's security system the OK to start the car. You see, apparently my car's security system has a few different components. The first is the alarm. If someone tries to steal the car, it sounds an alarm just like every other car, in every mall parking lot in which we've ever been. Then there is the other component, called the Passlock System, which kills the power to the starter motor, and to the fuel pump, rendering the car completely un-drivable to a would-be car thief.
Great idea, right??!
Yes. Great idea, unless you designed a defective sensor into a defective switch, which in cold weather makes the Passlock System think that something is wrong, when it is not. Thankfully this glitch only affects the Passlock System and does not cause the alarm to sound!
One workaround to the problem, is a way in which you can reset the Passlock System, that takes about a half an hour, each time you wake up to find that your car isn't starting. You have to attempt to start the car, and leave the key in the run position, and wait ten minutes for the Passlock indicator light to stop blinking. You then put the key into the ACC position (where the engine would be off, but the car stereo and dash electronics stay on), wait for ten seconds, and try to start the car, again.
Once you have performed this cycle three times, and have turned the ignition switch all of the way off, and waited thirty seconds, the car then should start.
As you can see, none of the fixes, or workarounds are particularly appealing, so it is terrible that GM never re-engineered the ignition switch, and replaced them all, at their cost.
Why am I writing about this you ask? Because as I sit here, hammering away on my Netbook's keyboard, I am in the middle of cycle number three, of the time-consuming workaround that I described above. This is the third time this winter that my car did not start in the morning. The good news is that two of the times, I didn't actually have to be anywhere, but one of the times, I did. Thankfully I have a friend who lives nearby, and I was able to beg a ride, until I could get my car started, later that day.
I have a new, potentially defective, ignition switch on order, that my father and I will install, when it arrives. After doing my research, apparently using any of these switches in cold weather, is like playing the lottery. Despite the fact that I just paid forty dollars for a new switch, this problem could occur at any time.
Shame on you General Motors, and thank you for making such a quality ignition switch.
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