2009 Saab 9-3
This year drew an ordinary 86 complaints for a Saab 9-3 — the model's median is 95. What they were about is the unusual part: 30.2% of them mention very, against 8.4% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 86 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 95 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- very — 30.2% of this year's complaints, against 8.4% across the model's other years (3.6×).
- start — 23.3% of this year's complaints, against 7.8% across the model's other years (3×).
- several times — 7% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the model's other years (4.3×).
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.
What owners wrote
THE INTAKE VALVES ARE WORN ON THE ENGINE THIS STARTED AROUND 80,000 MILES AND HAS PROGRESSIVELY GOTTEN WORSE. THE CAR WILL NOT START ON VERY COLD DAYS. IF IT DOES, IT IDLES VERY ROUGH AND HARD. DATE BELOW IS AN ESTIMATE OF WHEN THIS STARTED.
UPON STARTING AFTER SITTING, THE BRAKES HAVE A GREATLY INCREASED PEDAL EFFORT AND A CORRESPONDINGLY GREATLY REDUCED BRAKING EFFECT. THIS COMBINED WITH THE RELATIVELY HIGH IDLE FOR THIS MODEL OF ENGINE, (V-6), AT START UP COMBINES TO CREATES A SITUATION WHERE T…
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 2009 Saab 9-3? What happened to yours?
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