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Asbestos Free Brakes


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ANOTHER FIRST FOR SAAB

Swedish Automaker Offers Asbestos-Free Brakes For 1983

Long a leader in automotive innovations, Swedish Saab has come up with another industry first for 1983: asbestos-free brakes, providing for considerably longer brake life and lessening the amount of carcinogenic asbestos fibers in traffic and service shops.

The 1983 Saabs, offering a host of changes, will be available through some 315 U.S. Saab dealers on October 1, 1982.

Since the very first production Saab rolled off the assembly line in Trollhattan, Sweden, in late December 1949, the Swedish car maker has been known as one of the most innovative car companies in the world. A small selec- tion of Saab llfirstsll includes:

- Advanced Aerodynamic Design -- The very first Saab 92 was designed by aerospace engineers and featured an aerodynamic body and a flat floor plan. The air drag index for the Saab 92 was an extremely low .32.

- Dual Diagonal Brakes -- To ensure straight stops, even with one brake circuit out of commission, Saab in 1964 introduced a dual brake circuit system with one circuit working on the left front and right rear brakes, and the other circuit on the remaining two. This system is still in use on all Saabs built today.

- Heated Front Seats -- For 1983 the Saab Turbo and 900S models offer as standard equipment electrically heated front seats, a Saab innovation that has been widely hailed by both Saab owners and medical people. When the temperature of the seat cushion is below 57F, an electric heating element in the seat automatically starts to warm the seat when the ignition is turned on. Once the seat temperature reaches 82F, the heat is automatically turned off.

- Headlight Wipers and Washers -- In the early 1970s Saab introduced wipers and washers on the headlights to make sure that the lights are always capable of illuminating the road ahead, even when driving in bad weather or on muddy roads. After Saab's introduction of this system, the Swedish highway authorities decided to make headlight wipers mandatory on all cars sold in Sweden. Because of U.S. lighting regulations, the wiper system is not avail- able in this country.

- Passenger Compartment Air Filter -- With the introduction of the Saab 900, Saab also introduced the first passenger compartment air filter as standard equipment. This filter, available on non-air conditioned vehicles, screens the air coming into the passenger compartment from all particles larger than .005 mm; oil and soot; and 100 percent of all pollen.

- Turbocharging -- Saab was one of the first car makers to use turbo- charging on normal cars for everyday use to add performance without major sacrifices in fuel economy. Turbocharging is now becoming widely used throuqh- out the world.

- APC (Automatic Performance Control) -- While other car makers are only now getting around to turbocharging, Saab in 1982 introduced its "second generation turbo": the Saab Turbo with APC, Automatic Performance Control. The Saab patented APC system automatically adjusts turbo boost to the quality of the fuel being used, providing higher engine torque and improved fuel economy.

Brake Pad Life Tripled

For 1983 all Saabs are equipped with entirely asbestos-free brake pads. By following a Saab tradition of unconventional approaches and unique ideas, Saab's engineers have succeeded in combining a number of brake system proper- ties which only a few years ago were considered incompatible. This pioneering work has resulted in Saab's being able to become the first car manufacturer to offer:

Up to three times the life of the brake padsi asbestos-free semi-metallic inner and outer pads on the front disc brakes; asbestos-free pads of organic material on the rear disc brakes; improved braking performance under all driving conditions; and less carcinogenic asbestos dust in the traffic environment and

New Lights - Electric Windows

Other improvements and innovations on the 1983 Saabs include:

- New front parking lights, integrated into the headlight bezels. These lights, which make the vehicle considerably more visible to other drivers when the parking lights are used at dusk or dawn, are switched on along with the amber side marker lights when either the parking lights or the headlights are turned on.

- Electrically controlled front windows on both three-door and four-door versions of the Saab 900S and Turbo models, as well as a central locking system for doors and trunk lid on both three- and four-door versions of the Saab 900S and Turbo.

- In the interest of passenger safety, the rear seat belts in the 1983 Saabs are now of the three-point inertia reel type for the outermost passen- gers. (The center belt is a lap-type belt.) This new system offers more

protection and comfort for the rear seat passengers, as well as additional protection for people in the front seats, since unbelted rear seat passengers can cause injuries to belted front seat passengers in certain types of accidents.

Improved Fuel Economy

With the introduction of the Saab Turbo with APC (Automatic Performance Control) in early 1982, the fuel economy for the Saab Turbo drastically in- creased to 21 mpg city and 34 highway for manual five-speed transmission Turbos; and to 21 city and 29 highway for automatic transmission Turbos. These figures, which are quite remarkable for a performance car of the Saab Turbo type, are still in effect for the 1983 Turbo models.

For 1983 normally aspirated Saabs, the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system has been deleted, allowing the engine to run considerably better and to offer greatly improved fuel economy without any penalty in harmful exhaust as emissions. Thanks to the optimizing of the normally aspirated engine perfor- mance, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) fuel economy figures for the 1983 normally aspirated Saab 900 and 900S models are 23 city and 36 highway for cars with the five-speed manual transmission; and 22 city and 29 highway for cars with automatic transmission.

900 - 900S - Turbo

The 1983 Saab line of automobiles includes the Saab 900 and 900S models, with normally aspirated fuel injected engines developing 110 bhp (SAE net). Both the 900 and upscale 900S models are available in either three-door hatch- back or four-door sedan configurations.

Standard equipment on the 900S versions includes: factory installed air conditioning, sunroof, aluminum alloy wheels, electrically controlled front windows, and central locking system for doors and trunk lid.


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