On a cold winter morning, the one thing that you expect from your safe Swedish sports sedan is that it will come to a stop as you pull into the parking lot at Starbucks. Unfortunately for some Saab 9-3 Aero V6 owners, their braking systems have started losing power assistance first thing in the morning. Maybe the Saabs need a cup of coffee to wake up, just like their owners?
All kidding aside, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun a formal investigation into 5 separate claims of brake failure in these vehicles. Only one accident has been attributed to the claim of faulty brake assistance. When the NHTSA starts an investigation of this nature, a nationwide recall is the result in over half of said cases.
The vehicles afflicted by this problem are all equipped with the new 2.8 liter V6 turbo that is the most powerful engine in the lineup. Without a doubt there is one component in the correlating braking system that doesn’t appreciate cold weather!
Having your power brakes suddenly go out on you is usually attributable to losing pressure in the hydraulic lines filled with brake fluid. There can be any number of sources for such a loss of pressure from a leaking line to a problem in the master cylinder design.
Theories aside, this is a vital recall for Saab and parent company GM to work out. If GM plans to use this turbocharged V6 engine in other applications, they had best get to work spending late nights to solve this problem. Might I suggest some coffee?
via guest blogger Jim Hamel