2008 Saab 9-3
Complaints about this year name intake far more often than the model's other years — 22% of them, about 54× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 368 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 86 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- intake — 40.8% of this year's complaints, against 14% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: intake, valves, compression, rough.
- start — 23.4% of this year's complaints, against 7.8% across the model's other years (3×).
- idle — 8.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the model's other years (3.6×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- valves — 22% of complaints, 54× usual
- compression — 18% of complaints, 45× usual
- cold — 21% of complaints, 20× usual
What owners wrote
CAR WILL NOT START ON COLD DAYS. FOUND CYLINDERS 1 AND OR WITH LOW COMPRESSION.INTAKE VALVES NEED [VIN].
DEFECTIVE INTAKE VALVES. REPAIR CENTER SPECIALIZING IN SAAB PERFORMED COLD COMPRESSION TEST ON CYLINDERS AND FOUND THAT 2 OF 4 HAD LOW COMPRESSION. INFORMED ME THAT THEY HAVE FOUND 90% OF THE SAABS THEY TEST FROM 2007-08 HAVE THIS PROBLEM FROM CHEAP VALVES USE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V063000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V318000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 11E009000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Saab 9-3 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Saab 9-3? What happened to yours?
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