“Saab does not exist.”
A driver checking an open recall on GM’s website found a surprising instruction: if your vehicle is a Saab, contact a Saab Official Service Center. Saab Automobile went bankrupt in 2011, so he went looking for one. He says the trail led him to a Cadillac dealership in Los Angeles.
drilledlobotomy (@drilledlobotomytwo) posted about the situation last week.
“Let’s not forget GM killed Saab,” his caption says.
The recall is for his own car, a 2023 Chevrolet Malibu. GM is recalling 276,879 Malibus from the 2023 to 2025 model years because “the rearview camera screen may display a distorted or blank image,” according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and dealers will inspect the camera and replace it if necessary, free of charge.
“So my car has a recall, right?” he says. “And I’m looking at the information before I take it to the dealership.” On screen, GM’s answer for an incomplete recall tells owners of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Hummer and Saturn vehicles to contact a certified service dealer, then adds: “If your vehicle is a Saab, please contact a Saab Official Service Center.”
“Saab is a Swedish car company that hasn’t made a car since 2011,” he says. “Saab does not exist.”
Tim Coleback, the CEO of SPG America, which provides car parts for Saab’s even though the original manufacturer is long shuttered, told Motor1 in an email, “Yes, there is still an infrastructure in place to take care of Saab owners and Saab vehicles. Since Saab stopped producing vehicles in 2011, there has been global support for the parts and service needs of those owners and vehicles. Our company, SPG North America, is the provider in the US and Canada for Saab parts and Service. Our distribution center is located in Westampton NJ, in between New York City and Philadelphia.”
Coleback added, “We have a network of 85 Official Service Centers (OSCs) in the US and Canada. You are correct that we administer recall and warranty programs on GMs behalf for the vehicles that were built under their ownership.”
The link took drilledlobotomy to the Saab Parts website and its service center locator. The listing he opened was “Saab of Sherman Oaks,” at 14401 Ventura Blvd., with “Recalls Only” next to the phone number. He dropped the address into Google Street View and found Cadillacs parked outside a service bay.
“Parts department. It’s a Cadillac dealership,” he says. “What?”
That address belongs to Casa de Cadillac, which sells Cadillacs in Sherman Oaks. Of the 82 locations in the locator’s data, it is the only one marked as recalls only. The website listed for it, casacars.com, now opens with links to online casino games.
GM bought half of Saab and management control in 1989 and took full ownership in 2000, before Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy in 2011. GM had sold the brand to Spyker in 2010, and the AP wrote that GM then “blocked takeover attempts by Chinese investors,” which Saab’s chief executive called “the last nail in the coffin.” A new owner briefly restarted 9-3 production in Trollhättan at the end of 2013.
But GM kept its obligations to the Saabs it built. In 2012, it announced a warranty agreement with Saab Automobile Parts North America to handle 2009 and older Saabs “still covered under the GM limited warranty” through Saab’s own service network, Canadian Auto Dealer reported. GM still files Saab recalls, too. The most recent of the 36 Saab recalls on NHTSA’s records, from 2021, covered 380,498 Cadillac SRX and Saab 9-4X crossovers whose rear suspension toe link may not have been tightened properly. That notice told Saab owners to call Cadillac customer service.
Saab’s old parts company outlived the carmaker. Renamed Orio, it was sold by the Swedish state in 2022 to dealer group Hedin Mobility Group, which says the business “was formerly known as Saab Automobile Parts and is the exclusive global supplier of Saab Original spare parts.” Its US arm runs the Saab Parts site, and its phone number matches the one listed for Saab on GM’s recall page.
“There are still some Saab service centers around. I work at one in Springfield, MO,” wrote brightonback. “There’s one in Portland, OR, too,” added hopsgohonk. The locator lists both cities.
electricprunes wrote “Speaking from experience, they will usually send you to the dealership that was previously the Saab dealer. In my case it was a Maserati dealer,” they wrote. “They can do recalls but won’t do anything else.”
“Their parts and service network survived independently, so technically there still are Saab service centers,” wrote fortnitechest6. drilledlobotomy replied: “That’s wild, I thought it was all GM.”
Motor1 reached out to drilledlobotomy via TikTok direct message. We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.
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