2008 Saab 9-3 Problems, complaints & recalls

I have been trying to get this recall done for many years and with no luck. Most recently June 26th 2026 I was informed my recall was not fixable again and I hope for the last time. Enough is enough! Van Bortel Chevrolet in Macedon Ny tried again today which is there 2nd attempt. I had to buy a software card to give them the tool they didn't have to fit in there tech 2 scanner and even with the card they were unable to fix. It's a major safety issue I have been more than patient with and can't even begin to tell you over the years how much time and money spent trying to fix. I think at this point they need to replace car with similar or purchase from me.

Hello, I know the Takata airbag has to be replaced on my car. However now I do live abroad, in Gothenburg Sweden in Europe. How do I get the replacement done? Should I go to GM here in Europe? Thanks

The contact owns a 2008 Saab 9-3. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 14V318000 (Seat Belts) and 16V063000 (Air Bags); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The local dealer was contacted; however, the dealer declined to service the vehicle. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

at about 98,000 miles the starts to fail transmission fails Also when the car gets too cold in the winter it refuses to start and it is not a battery issue. the cylinders get to cold to start. When the warm weather comes back around it starts again.

Driver seat belt fails to retract. When retraction failure occurs, it is obvious to the seat occupant immediately. If a crash were to occur with a seat belt in this condition, the result could increase the risk of injury to the driver. The seat belt retraction failure has been reproduced and confirmed. No warning lamps but, the seat belt showed earlier symptoms of not working properly, by not engaging when hard braking occurred. I will have the tensioner replaced.

AIRBAG MALFUNCTION CONTACT SERVICE

Had to have valve job done due to bad /defective/inferior intake valves, from manufacturer. Had to have all intake valves replaced, with modified/upgraded intake valves. Obtained po300 - random misfire codes, had rough idle, checked engine compression, had 45psig in cylinder number 4. Engine had 72862miles, on it, this should be covered under warranty by saab/gm.

My vehicle doesn't start/idle well in the cold due to the air intake manifold bolts slowly becoming loose. **When driving and shifting** the vehicle cannot handle the extra unclean air entering the system and will stall out while going anywheres from 0-60+ mph, once the engine shuts off all power steering also shuts down. The secondary issue is an acceleration problem because the seals on the air intake valves into the combustion chamber have become faulty resulting in cylinder misfires and a high amount of...

My car wouldn't start so I replaced the battery and the crankshaft sensor. It drove fine and then I parked it and went out a little later and it would jerk and try to stall while I was driving, sputtering like I was running out of gas. If I pressed the accelerator, it wouldn't accelerate and then it would surge forward. I ran some errands and it drove fine. After my final errand, the car struggled to start but did and idled really roughly. I put it into gear and it died. I couldn't get it started again. After reading other posts, this seems like an issue with these years and veey dangerous.

I brought my 08 saab 9-3 to a shop for a compression test cause it kept stalling when I would go to start it, it's an automatic. I was told my intake valves were wearing down and it's due to gms faulty valves. Yesterday my car started ticking while I was driving and I lost almost all my power, come to find out my valves were about to snap. Now I'm making payments on a car I can't drive and gm refuses to fix this issue and there are multiple cases of this happening to 08-10 saab 9-3 with the gm factory valves. *Tr

Experienced hard starting in cold weather in the pacific northwest the past few years. Did research and found a tsb regarding the intake valves for 2.0 Ecotec 4 cylinder. Had a compression test following several check engine lights and multiple readings diagnose a p0300 engine code . Cold and warm compression test showed cylinder 2 compression well out of specification. Documents available upon request. Quoted $4000 for engine rebuild.

The valves on these cars are defective and start failing around 60k miles. This is a widely know issue affecting the 2008 saab 9-3 2.0L engines. Gm needs to take responsibility for these repairs given the known manufacturing defects. Car will not start when cold and there is nothing the dealer can do other than perform a major valve job (+$2300) => https://www.Saabcentral.Com/threads/08-saab-cold-start-rough-idle.327778/

Significant decrease in average mpg (problem from research online suggests it is from lowered compression from intake valve design/material used). 109700 Miles on engine. Meticulously maintained by us navy submariner. Haven't contacted gm or saab affiliate yet. Forums used infer this problem is widespread for 2007-2009 saab 9-3 2.0T with b207 engine. Summer time mpg is around 32-33, winter mpg is 30-31 in the pacific northwest. Last 3 fill ups, average mpg has dropped steadily from 30.5 To 26 on the most recent fill up. Respectfully request to know if a recall or financial compensation by the manufacturer to consumers has been ordained?

Rough idle and start on cold starts. This issue is well known in the saab community due to gm putting weak material in factory fuel injector valves. Engine loses compression until car is warm, but may result in stalls or limp mode

Vehicle exhibits all signs of premature intake valve wear causing loss of compression and/or hard start/no start when ambient air temp is below 40 degrees. See all previous complaints of the same issue!

Just purchase vehicle from a friend 2008 saab 9-3 2.0T convertible . When I first start up the vehicle (it is now cold outside) the engine is running ruff until it warms up. I understand many other saab 2008 owners have the same complaint and have read that the intake values used by gm are faulty.

Both front coil springs while driving, snapped in half, and dislocated from vehicle, 6 months apart. Was driving at 30 mph, and the passenger front spring snapped in two. Had no forewarning, before it exploded apart. The passenger-side coil-spring snapped off the vehicle, in two+ places, and was retrieved from the highway. Metal showed a clear snap. The metal appeared corroded and as if the metal was not strong enough to work long-term. Six months later, the driver side front-coil-spring snapped and dislodged in...

Accident happened after headlight low-beam failed.Was told and shown a melted headlight module that overheated and caused the low-beam headlights to go out. The entire headlamp assembly was replaced. As were other crash involved parts

Concern 1 as a female it is a safety issue to be stranded in my vehicle, recently what I thought was a battery issue turned out to be a key fob issue. I have been stranded with a well cared for vehicle that has keys that start and get to destination, but have gotten back in my vehicle and the car does not recognize the fob. Concern 2 I have noticed that the cruise control is automatically coming on, and I have to manually turn it off, there have been times when I was not aware until until I took foot off accelerator and the car still traveled at the cruise speed, tapping the brake did not disengage the cruise setting.

Car struggled to start when the temperature was below 40 degrees. After a number of trips to the shop that maintains my car they researched online that this was a common problem for saab with this engine and gm isn't willing to do anything about it. Please do something!

Hard starting cold with engine misfire and low compression, vehicle starts and runs normally when hot 2007-11 9-3 b207 & 2011 9-5 a20nft ______________________________________________ this is a re-issue of a previously published document with updated information highlighted inred. Models: 2007-2008 saab 9-3 b207r (this pi does not apply to the b284 engine) update: this condition could also occur on 2009-11 b207 or 2011 9-5 a20nft condition/concern: a technician may comment of hard or no starting when...

We own a 2008 9-3 saab that has approximately 120,000 miles on it. When it is cold outside (50 degrees and below), our car starts very roughly after 2-3+ minutes of continuous cranking. Once the car starts and has warmed up, it runs quite smoothly. However, it currently isn't starting at all now and is in the shop. We have been doing research online to see if this is a common problem among other 2008 saab owners. So far we have seen a large amount of other owners of 2008 saabs expressing the same concerns/problems...

Tl* takata recall. The contact owns a 2008 saab 9-3. The contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 16v063000 (air bags); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact called victory chevrolet cadillac at (707) 776-6385 (1360 auto center dr, petaluma, ca). The contact also called marin mazda at (415) 454-7000 (807 francisco blvd, san raphael, ca). Both dealers confirmed that the parts...

As is the case with many other saab 9-3 built after 2006, my dealer's service department recently identified a problem with the intake valves in my vehicles engine, which has experienced premature failure at 77,000 miles. Other postings on line lead me to believe that this is major issue affecting thousands of these vehicles built by gm in years 2007 and later. The cause is widely known and is a manufacturers defect resulting in failure of the vehicle to start in cold weather. The fix required is a replacement...

The headlights in my vehicle started flickering and shut off while driving in the dark a few days ago. After safely parking the car, I investigated and found that the housings are designed to be unservicable but I was able to investigate and found that nearly all of the internal wiring shielding had cracked and fallen off (please see attached photos, I appologize about the quality). The headlights failing without notice created a very dangerous blackout scenario which could have very easily resulted in serious injury and/or death due to manufacturing defect and by no fault by or prior warning to the operator. I was lucky!