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1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Yes. Like the C900's had the steering rack bolted to the subframe where its geometric relationship to the control arms was assured. With the NG900, they moved it to the cookie sheet, err I mean the firewall, and then to isolate the cab from feared noises, they then floated the rack in the blubber bushings. When the rack bushings are replaced with solid metal, there are no induced road vibrations!
And the two control arms are linked with a hollow oil filled bladder for a bushing. And they call it hydraulic to make it sound high tech. When that is replace with a solid bushing there is no harness, only more control. Ditto for the read bush replaced with a spherical steel bearing. Some engineer had a rubber fetish and no one drove the prototypes and did a proper evaluation. So floating everything in rubber must have been the boss's idea.
Then there is the howling windscreen trim. They left that for years!!! Did they every fix that or did the problem persist through 2002?
So I expect with finacial constraints there, that money to allocate to product improvements is hard to get. The cost of the changes would have to be shown to be fully funded by reductions of in-warranty claims. If its ex-warranty, what motivation do they have? If the in-warranty claims are offset by chargebacks to 3rd party suppliers, then all the less motivation to fix anything. And they do not want to create the need to stock and supply service parts for before and after the change. So the improved part needs to be a direct replacement so it can flush out the old service parts.
And all of the early NG900 engine rear seals failing - out of warranty of course. Whats with that? Whats so new about an oil seal! They did issue a new part, but the costs to the customers has been many millions of dollars. Did the 1994-1997 engines in the other Saabg models have any such problems or was this joy reserved for that one model?
And production runs of engines with loose head bolts. What ever happened to quality assurance checking the torque of the head bolts and keeping records. That was totally unforgivable. They still can't get the mushroom head 40mm bolts that hold down the valve cover tight. One of mine was totally shook loose and I was able to just lift it out. You need to check these. Remove the DI to expose them all. Someone else reported this a recently. I had one loose on my 95SET as well.
So Saabs are something that we all love. But there are some patterns in the issues that suggest that there are also quirky problems in Saab's production management.
posted by 66.139.123...
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