2002 Saab 9-3 Convertible
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
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Vehicles › Saab › 9-3 Convertible › 2002
These records cover every 2002 Saab 9-3 Convertible. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
Recalls
1 recall names the 2002 Saab 9-3 Convertible. Newest first.
On certain passenger vehicles, the fuel pump retaining tabs holding the fuel lines were damaged during production.
Risk and remedy
Risk
Over time, this could cause the fuel lines to loosen from the pump resulting in fuel leakage. if an ignition source were present, the fuel may ignite resulting in a vehicle fire.
Remedy
Dealers will develop a securing bracket that will secure the fuel lines to the fuel pump even if the plastic retaining tabs should break. The recall began on march 14, 2005. owners should contact saab at 1-800-955-9007.
Owner complaints
9 complaints1 involved a crash3 involved a fire1 injuries
What owners report most
Latest complaints
- Air bags
Slowly approaching stoplight, and drivers side, side airbag goes off for no apparent reason. Driver was struck in side of head, and upper body, some hearing loss suffered also.
- Exterior lighting
Use of high beams causes quick failure of headlamps. *Tr
- Power train › Manual transmission
On august 13, 2006, my wife was driving our 2002 saab 9-3 convertible when the engine caught fire. she was able to get out of the car safely, but the car was destroyed. investigations by international motors (falls church, va) after the event showed that the transmission had disintegrated and transmission fluid has sprayed throughout the engine compartment causing the fire.
- Electrical system › Wiring › Front underhood
2002 saab 9-3 with 54K miles caught fire while my wife was driving it on sunday, august 13, 2006. *jb
- Service brakes, hydraulic › Foundation components › Disc › Caliper
Dt: 5/4/05, car was at dealer5 for regularly maintenance. Dealer reported rear brakes were rusted to the point of not being able to operate. service manager said that saab had a history of brakes deteriorating at low miles. Caller complained about saab, dealer could not offer any help. No previous problem with vehicle, which was IS regularly serviced, and records were available. *Ak
- Air bags › Frontal › Driver side › Inflator module
On april 8, 2004 my wifes 2002 saab convertible was struck by a vehicle that failed to yield at a stop sign. The car was severely damaged and was towed to nimnicht saab, the only authorized saab dealer in jacksonville, fl. Although the accident resulted in more than $8,000 to our vehicle and the…
On april 8, 2004 my wifes 2002 saab convertible was struck by a vehicle that failed to yield at a stop sign. The car was severely damaged and was towed to nimnicht saab, the only authorized saab dealer in jacksonville, fl. Although the accident resulted in more than $8,000 to our vehicle and the impact zone was a t-bone type impact to the driver side door, the driver side airbag failed to deploy. as of this writing, our car remains at the dealership and has yet to be repaired. This repair delay situation has been created, in large part, by the fact that the primary replacement part necessary to repair the vehicle has been on factory back order since mid-april. over five months later, there IS still no specific time-frame for receipt of this part. to make matters worse, nimnicht saab has recently informed us that they no longer have interest in repairing our vehicle under any circumstances, and are demanding that we remove our car from their lot and pay them more than $1,000 in storage fees. ID be sincerely and eternally grateful if you would consider our plight and bring awareness to your viewing audience to this seemingly endless quagmire. Doing so might convince the parties involved (saab cars USA, nimnicht saab, st. Paul travelers insurance) to resolve this matter to everyones satisfaction. *Ak
- Visibility
A crack formed on the inside layer of the glass right where the driver's side convertible top latch in the frame IS located. the dealer declared that this occurred as a result of an impact as opposed to stress from the frame and refused to correct it under the warranty. there was no sign of an…
A crack formed on the inside layer of the glass right where the driver's side convertible top latch in the frame IS located. the dealer declared that this occurred as a result of an impact as opposed to stress from the frame and refused to correct it under the warranty. there was no sign of an exterior impact and the crack originated on the interior side of the glass. there IS clearly a defect either in the construction of the windshield or in the manner in which the top latches to the frame, which caused the glass to crack *jb.
- Electrical system · Electrical system › Alternator/generator/regulator · Electrical system › Wiring › Front underhood · Engine and engine cooling · Latches/locks/linkages › Hood › Latch · Structure › Body › Hood
2002 saab 9-3 convertible, about 13,000 miles caught on fire. drove to office, turned off engine, & parked car. got out of car & noted unusual smell despite that guages indicated "checking ok"ay. *ak went into my office & called zee saab of milford where new car was originally leased…
2002 saab 9-3 convertible, about 13,000 miles caught on fire. drove to office, turned off engine, & parked car. got out of car & noted unusual smell despite that guages indicated "checking ok"ay. *ak went into my office & called zee saab of milford where new car was originally leased from & where all services had been performed. no problems had ever been noted with the car. told to call saab roadside assistance, which I did. went back outside to where car was parked to wait for roadside and noticed smoke coming from the hood area. Then saw fire & flames coming from the top of the hood and underneath the front of the car. Immediately called witon ct fire department and within 15 minutes fire was extinguished. in that very short amount of time, the entire front of the car was significantly damaged from the fire. a newspaper reporter was with the fire dept. & took about 30 photos of the fire & the resulting damage. saab roadside arrived & I requested that the car be taken to saab of milford. I notified allstate, my insurer. allstate claims rep & engineeer examined the car (although requested,to date, I have not received a copy of the allstate engineer's repiort). allstate engineer informed saab of milford that the fire was from "undetermined causes" & car was "totalled". dealer informed me that despite the fact that car had only about 13,000 miles, the dealer performed all services & there were no warning lights or indicators of a problem, the damages were not covered by saab dealer or manufacturer warranty. clearly, fires don't just start and there was some type of failure(s) with the car.
- Structure › Body › Door
On hot days, temperature in excess of 90 degrees, the outside rear door handles do not release and open doors. in the event of an accident or medical emergency, the failure to open may lead to serious death, injury, and damage to the vehicle if emergency workers have to pry open the rear doors.*ak
Defect investigations
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened these reviews into vehicles including this one.
- Engine stall/ engine compartment fires
Odi opened pe05-017 based on 35 reports of alleged engine stalling due to the failure of the idm cassette on the subject vehicles.all complainants reported that the engine shut down suddenly without warning and most reported that the vehicle would not restart.in 3 incidents, the complainants reported smoke and/or fire…
Odi opened pe05-017 based on 35 reports of alleged engine stalling due to the failure of the idm cassette on the subject vehicles.all complainants reported that the engine shut down suddenly without warning and most reported that the vehicle would not restart.in 3 incidents, the complainants reported smoke and/or fire resulted from the idm failure.during pe05-017, additional failure data was identified as noted in the failure report summary above.the complaint data represents incidents where the complainants alleged a stall or fire.on september 13, 2005, general motors (gm) notified nhtsa of a safety defect on 95,081 my 2000-2002 saab 9-3 and 9-5 vehicles with 4-cylinder gasoline engines and 8,117 my 2001 9-5 vehicles with 6- cylinder gasoline engines (recall 05v-399).the notification stated that certain vehicles within these populations may experience overheating and burnout of the isolated gated bipolar transistor (igbt) within the idm due to increased susceptibility to electrical loads.overheating of the igbt occurs most often at engine start-up for both a 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder engine, but it may also occur while the engine IS running.when the idm fails on a 4-cylinder while it IS running, the engine may stall without warning, with no ability to be restarted.when the idm fails on a 6-cylinder engine while it IS running, the driver will initially experience reduced power and rough operation because the engine will only be running on three cylinders.the check engine light will flash.if the driver continues, unburnt fuel in the exhaust can cause thermal damage to the catalytic converter.the engine may stall and not restart.thermal damage to other underhood components and the underbody may also result from prolonged driving.the recall population encompasses 84% of the stalling and fire complaints (215 for vehicles with 4-cylinder engines and 36 for vehicles with 6-cylinder engines).the 36 months in service (mis) stalling rates for each model year of recalled vehicles with 4-cylinder engines were all greater than two percent.although the 36 mis stall rate for the recalled my 2001 vehicles with V6 engines was lower, at 1.3 percent, these vehicles also had the highest rate of confirmed (open flame verified) fires at 62 per 100,000 vehicles.gm will instruct owners to bring their vehicles to a dealer for idm inspection and replacement, if necessary.consequently, this investigation IS closed.odi will monitor the effectiveness of the scope and remedy of gm's action and take further action if warranted.
Service bulletins
Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.
- 10029344Saab service campaign: see document search button for owner letter. Under certain circumstances control module's analogue inputs may produce invalid signal. This means the soft top's control module does not function as intended. Difficulties in opening/closing soft top in extremely hot weather. Function of soft top mechanism returns after cooling down. Csc letter was received.
Every Saab 9-3 Convertible model year
Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.