Three problems related to front suspension have been reported for the 2004 SAAB 9-3. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2004 SAAB 9-3 based on all problems reported for the 2004 9-3.
I received a letter from SAAB dated Feb 2010 to owners of 2003 - 2006 SAAB 9-3s there was a potential problem of the suspension spring corrosion may weaken and/or break. 3rd paragraph bold underlined: do not take your car to the dealer as a result of the letter unless you believe your car has the condition. I did not take it in. On may 18, 2010 the spring on the left front broke resulting in the front end dropping. During the loading on flat bed tow truck the oil pan was damaged with a $1055 repair at my expense. No oil leak prior to this incident.
In Feb 2010 I received a letter from SAAB saying that the front springs of my car could fail due to corrosion. They said could cause the height of the vehicle to decrease by an inch or two. What they neglected to say was that the broken spring can hit the tire and cause the tire to fail, which is what has happened to me and may other SAAB owners. Their letter should have mentioned this since tire failure caused my car to break down in the middle of a busy road which had no shoulder and I had no warning that this could happen.
After noticing an increasingly loud suspension clunk coming from the drivers side front wheel. I brought the car into the SAAB dealership for service, I was told that the front spring was snapped and both front needed to be replaced as the car was no longer safe to drive. After further investigation on the web I have found there are similar problems with the springs for this year and model, I was lucky that I did not experience and failure at high speed as some others have. I find this to be extremely dangerous that the springs are rotting and snapping after only a few years. I live in the snow belt that is noted in the already open investigation. Action# pe08052 and ea08026.