Total Complaints
4 filings
SAAB 900 · model year
4 NHTSA complaints. A VIN lookup is required to determine whether a specific vehicle has an unrepaired recall.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1999SAAB900 carries 4 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
The most frequently selected component label in reports for the 1999 900 is suspension:front with 1 filings, followed by electrical system:ignition:switch (1) and power train:automatic transmission:gear position indication (prndl) (1). Complaint categories reflect owner reports and intake categorization; they do not establish a defect pattern or cause.
NHTSA currently has 9 investigation files overlapping the 1999 900. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should read the complaint-by-year trend as report volume, not a causal diagnosis. Use the related-complaint feed and the official recall lookup when researching a specific vehicle.
Total Complaints
4 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| SUSPENSION:FRONT | 1 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:IGNITION:SWITCH | 1 |
| POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:GEAR POSITION INDICATION (PRNDL) | 1 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING:FRONT UNDERHOOD | 1 |
ENGINE SHUT OFF WHILE CAR WAS RUNNING THREE TIMES. FIRST TWO TIMES CAR WAS IDLING, THIRD TIME CAR WAS BEING DRIVEN AT 60 MPH. ENGINE SHUT OFF WITH NO WARNING AND WOULD NOT RESTART. SAAB DEALER CLAIMED IN THE FIRST TWO INSTANCES THAT THIS COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAPPEN WITH CAR RUNNING. IN FIRST INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED IGNITION SWITCH. IN SECOND INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED GEAR POSITION SWITCH. IN THIRD INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED CHAFED WIRING HARNESS TO PASSENGER SEAT. WE ARE NOT CONVINCED THAT SAAB HAS FIXED THIS MAJOR SAFETY PROBLEM, AND ARE EVEN MORE WORRIED THAT A CHAFED WIRE FOR THE HEATED SEAT CAN CAUSE AN IMMEDIATE ENGINE SHUTDOWN ON ANY SAAB 9-3.
ENGINE SHUT OFF WHILE CAR WAS RUNNING THREE TIMES. FIRST TWO TIMES CAR WAS IDLING, THIRD TIME CAR WAS BEING DRIVEN AT 60 MPH. ENGINE SHUT OFF WITH NO WARNING AND WOULD NOT RESTART. SAAB DEALER CLAIMED IN THE FIRST TWO INSTANCES THAT THIS COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAPPEN WITH CAR RUNNING. IN FIRST INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED IGNITION SWITCH. IN SECOND INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED GEAR POSITION SWITCH. IN THIRD INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED CHAFED WIRING HARNESS TO PASSENGER SEAT. WE ARE NOT CONVINCED THAT SAAB HAS FIXED THIS MAJOR SAFETY PROBLEM, AND ARE EVEN MORE WORRIED THAT A CHAFED WIRE FOR THE HEATED SEAT CAN CAUSE AN IMMEDIATE ENGINE SHUTDOWN ON ANY SAAB 9-3.
ENGINE SHUT OFF WHILE CAR WAS RUNNING THREE TIMES. FIRST TWO TIMES CAR WAS IDLING, THIRD TIME CAR WAS BEING DRIVEN AT 60 MPH. ENGINE SHUT OFF WITH NO WARNING AND WOULD NOT RESTART. SAAB DEALER CLAIMED IN THE FIRST TWO INSTANCES THAT THIS COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAPPEN WITH CAR RUNNING. IN FIRST INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED IGNITION SWITCH. IN SECOND INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED GEAR POSITION SWITCH. IN THIRD INSTANCE, DEALER REPLACED CHAFED WIRING HARNESS TO PASSENGER SEAT. WE ARE NOT CONVINCED THAT SAAB HAS FIXED THIS MAJOR SAFETY PROBLEM, AND ARE EVEN MORE WORRIED THAT A CHAFED WIRE FOR THE HEATED SEAT CAN CAUSE AN IMMEDIATE ENGINE SHUTDOWN ON ANY SAAB 9-3.
FRONT END DRIFTS ACROSS THE ROAD, STRANGE NOISES IN FRONT END, RIMS AND TIRES WEAK, GLASS ROOF NOISE, PAINT DEFECTS( DOT NUMBER: TIRE SIZE: 205,65, 16 )
Data vintage: August 2026. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. This year-specific record is rendered from NHTSA ODI, recall, and NCAP rows for the 1999 SAAB 900; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.