NHTSA Complaint #10558603 — 2007 SAAB 9-3

IN COLD WEATHER (SLIGHTLY BELOW FREEZING AT THE TIME) VEHICLE STARTED BUT IDLED VERY ROUGHLY. DROVE DOWN STREET AND WHILE COASTING ENGINE WAS IDLING AND SPUTTERED AND STALLED WITHIN 1 MINUTE OF INITIAL START. LOSS OF BRAKE ASSIST, POWER STEERING, POWER TO ACCELERATE WITH TRAFFIC. PULLED OFF TO SIDE AND RESTARTED ENGINE. AGAIN ROUGH IDLE. APPLIED GAS PEDAL AND HELD RPMS SLIGHTLY ABOVE IDLE TO WARM ENGINE. AFTER ~5 MINUTES, CAR WAS IDLING NORMALLY. NO FURTHER ISSUES ONCE ENGINE REACHED OPERATING TEMPERATURE. UPON RESEARCH SAAB/GM (SPNA TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE) HAS ISSUED A NOTICE TO CERTIFIED SERVICE CENTERS THAT INTAKE VALVES ARE PREMATURELY WEARING CAUSING SEVERE ISSUES IN COLD START SITUATIONS. NOTICE IS DATED 12/17/2013 AND WAS RE-ISSUED TO EXPAND SCOPE OF MODEL YEARS KNOWN TO BE EFFECTED. THIS WARRANTS AN INVESTIGATION FOR POTENTIAL RECALL, AS NO VEHICLE SHOULD RESULT IN SUCH SIGNIFICANT DEGRADATION OF A MAJOR ENGINE COMPONENT WITH SUCH LIMITED MILES. REPAIR REQUIRES MAJOR ENGINE WORK TO REPLACE ALL INTAKE VALVES. *TR