Summary: we bought the new 2008 SAAB 9-3 in Agust of this year Mon Dec 1 there was a problem on first attempt to start the car, but then started My wife dropped my son off at school and then continued to work Then without warning (no bucking or sputtering) the car just turned off My wife did her best to control the car, but without power, the brakes and steering are strenuous She managed to minimize the impact, but was unable to avoid the collision The police were called and a report was filed we later had the car towed to SAAB in Cary using SAAB roadside assistance SAAB initially provided a rental car, but called back that same day to state that they could not find a problem with the car and we needed to either return the rental car or start paying for it ourselves. The dealership said that they would need to bring in a SAAB engineer to better diagnose the problem I called the next day (Tues) and they did not know when the engineer was scheduled to arrive I called again Wed, and they still did not know. They told me that they would call when they have an ETA. I waited until Monday before I called again. All along, I was somehow hoping that SAAB, being a safety minded company, would do the right thing and either thoroughly investigate and resolve the problem, or decide that it is too big a liability to put the car back on the road, and exchange the car for me. For this reason, I had insturcted my insurance (State Farm) to process the claim for the damages to the other car, but not to mine, as I am waiting for a response from SAAB. So, now it's the following Monday and still no call from the dealership, so I call the dealership. They tell me that their regional manager had isntructed them to direct me to SAAB USA - now when did they give these instructions and why was I not called? So on Monday I file the claim with SAAB USA. Tuesday morning they call back asking for more info Tuesday night, they inform me that they spoke to the dealership and since they cannot reproduce the problem it is not their practice to exchange the car and I should proceed with having my insurance repair the damage. How much of an investigation could they actually have done between Tuesday morning and evening? I have a letter sent to SAAB management telling them that I can't beleive that their senior management is aware of this decision or that I am APPALLED with their lack of concern for safety. I informed her that, if the problem is still UNKNOWN, but it did exist and can happen again that I do not feel safe driving the car and do not understnad why SAAB/GM would want the liability of having this car on the road. If it causes another accident, with injury, the lawsuit would then be astronomical. At first, all I was looking for was for SAAB to exchange my 3-month old car with one from their lot. Now, I am so fed up with SAAB that I never want to have to deal with their dealership for future service or their customer service. If this is how they handle a warrantied new vehicle that caused an accident, I can only imagine the service I will get for lesser items in the future. I now want the full sticker price for the car, I want SAAB to be responsible for the damages to the other car, I want them to pay any legal fees and I want something for all the stress they have caused me. I want SAAB and GM to feel this incident and know how wrong they are. I need to move fast on this because I want to get out of my remainng $500/month payments and I need a rental car. I need to know if I should rent on my own or through my insurance, but since I don't want the car back, I don't know why State Farm should have to get the car repaired. That car should not be fixed and it should be salvaged for parts if they cannot find and repair the problem with it turning off while driving.
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