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My 01 Saab hardtop had the problem recently (March 06). The mechanic called the dealer asking if there had been a safety alert on this (the fuel pours down on to the exhaust system...) and was told no. We didn't believe that and did a net search and found this site.
I called Saab and told them my car had the issue. They were very interested because they didn't believe my VIN nor hardtops in general, had the problem. They said to send in the repair receipt (not knowing it was a recall issue I had the car fixed locally)and they'd pay it. I was very pleased at how responsible they were acting.
We faxed them the paperwork. A few days later I get a call from them. The woman who called was almost in tears because she knew they were trying to shaft us. She said the company position is that my car did NOT have the problem because my VIN isn't in the lot that they believe was the only one that has the problem. She said they won't pay.
The part was under $4.00 (four dollars) and the repair to pull the tank and put on the new plastic tab was $263, based on a labor rate of $73/hr, half the Seattle dealer's rate. In other words, Saab was not facing much money here.
I told her to tape my call and have some bosses hear it. I told them I now understand why GM is going under. I told them I would NEVER buy another one of their products since obviously they don't stand behind it, acting only when they are forced to. I told them in this case they ARE going to pay me because I checked with the Feds (NHSTA) and saw they consider this fuel tank issue still open because they've found 6 more cars (7 now with mine) that suffered from it.
This is potentially a deadly issue. My mechanic told me I had been crazy to drive it to his shop because I was risking fire. I told him I drove it without a seat belt on and with the window down, slow, ready to bail out. In retrospect I should have parked it in a field and left it running in hopes it wuld have burnt up so I could have collected the insurance.....
This is very disappointing. The design of the part that failed is incredibly cheap; I've never seen such a fragile system in a car. And Saab's attempts to hide the scope of the issue is even more disappointing. To top it off I just got notice of a safety recall they can't claim doesn't apply to my car. Apparently the ignition system is goofy. I have to take it back to the dealer for that to be checked.........
Again, after seeing this happen I am not surprised at all that GM is going down the tubes. To bad they bought Saab before it happened. They were known once as being a decent ride and a straight company.
posted by 66.235.64...
, Mon, 21 Mar 2005 12:39:11
, Mon, 21 Mar 2005 08:28:58
, Sun, 20 Mar 2005 18:09:07
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