Saab Automobile AB went into bankruptcy in 2011 ending the production of the iconic Saab cars. There are still many Saab cars on the roads today that continue to need service and repairs. Orio AB has the exclusive rights of the Saab brand to provide the remaining cars with the parts, and technical know-how, to keep the remaining vehicles alive. This thesis will investigate five potentially problematic parts from Orio's Saab catalogue and determine technical solutions to the problems found, either availability issues or copied parts being sold in the general automotive aftermarket, referred to here as aftermarket threat. The parts chosen will be tested in real-life driving conditions and proposed solutions will be found.

Three of the five parts are classified under aftermarket threat and will be tested against the equivalent available through the general aftermarket, and the remaining two are common failing parts that are unavailable from the OEM supplier. Aftermarket threat parts studied are: Ignition coils for the 2003-2011 Saab 9-3, ignition cassette for the 1998-2010 Saab 9-5 and the jalousie for the automatic gear selector fitting numerous Saabs. No longer available parts studied are: rear lights for the 2010-2011 Saab 9-5 and headlights for the Saab 9-4X.

The OE and aftermarket ignition coils, and ignition cassette will be tested in various driving situations simulating real life driving conditions, misfires will be logged and compared. The OE jalousie's physical properties will be compared to the aftermarket equivalent to evaluate durability. The rear lights for the 9-5 have an issue with the halogen bulb generating too much heat and melting the socket and housing causing the light to fail. An investigation will be made to evaluate if an LED light could be a viable solution. The last part for testing was to investigate if the EU specification 9-4X headlight could possibly replace the unavailable original US market 9-4X Headlight.

Results for the ignition coil were inconclusive due to unforeseen problems during testing. The aftermarket ignition cassette tested proved to be inferior to the OE part with initial results showing the the aftermarket cassette caused nearly three times as many misfires compared to the OE part. The aftermarket jalousie was however superior to the OE with the material being softer and more flexible. The rear light problem was resolved by replacing the halogen bulb with an LED and a load resistor. After numerous tests, the 9-4X headlight problem was solved by replacing the headlights with the European equivalent.

The unforeseen problems that occurred with the ignitions coils was the difficulty of finding actual aftermarket coils. A similar problem was observed with the ignition cassette, but sourcing an actual aftermarket part did not prove to be as much of a challenge. Finding information about the material used for the jalousie proved to be challenging, even the service representative could not provide a more exact material than just TPE. Lack of parts availability for the 9-5 rear light, lead to the LED replacement only being theoretically tested. Calibration of the measuring equipment used on the 9-4X headlights was time consuming. After replacing the equipment testing proved more successful.