2003 Saab 9-3 transmission problems

Owners reported transmission problems in 25 complaints for the 2003 Saab 9-3, 8% of the complaints on file.

Complaints: 25 8% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage: 32,000 miles 17 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires: 1 and 0
Injuries and deaths: 1 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When transmission problems show up

Based on 17 complaints that include mileage. 82% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.

View the numbers

Mileage	Complaints
0k to 20k miles	7
20k to 40k miles	5
40k to 60k miles	2
60k to 80k miles	3
80k to 100k miles	0
100k to 120k miles	0
120k to 140k miles	0
140k to 160k miles	0
160k to 180k miles	0
180k to 200k miles	0
200k+ miles	0

What the data shows

Of the 17 transmission complaints that report mileage, the median is about 32,000 miles, and 82% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 1 crash, 1 injury.

What owners wrote

Sudden acceleration. I have a 2003 saab 9-3 arc, bought on 9/03, around 13,000 miles, yesterday I went to office and stopped in the right position to park in front of the wall, I stepped on brake, push the gear to "p", all of a sudden the engine started "howling", and accelerated to hit the wall, Im pretty sure that's not the human error, 'cause the gear's in park, and my foot stepped on brake( I have more than 20 years driving experience, to park a car is like normal reaction), I walk out the car, there're two…

Reported at 13,000 miles, July 2004 CrashInjury

Vehicle equipped with automatic transmission stalls at low speeds during brief periods of acceleration. Frequently, this occurs while crossing an intersection, making a left hand turn from a stop sign, or a turn in front of traffic.

Reported at 6,000 miles, October 2003

Transmission problems in other years

2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999

Transmission problems across all Saab models