3
Instrument panel
IB3830
Indicator and warning lights ______ 58
Speedometer _________________ 65
Odometer and trip meter ________ 64
Fuel gauge___________________ 65
Temperature gauge ____________ 65
Saab Information Display (SID) ___ 68
Parking lights____________ 73
High/low beam __________ 73
Daytime running lights_____ 73
Instrument illumination ____ 75
Changing bulbs __________ 204
Rear fog light ____________ 74Turn signal and lane change
indicators ______________ 75
High beam flasher ________ 73
Cruise control3_________ 159Front fog lights3_________ 76
NIGHT PANEL __________ 72
Power Outlet3________________ 126
Wipers and washers ______ 77
Rear-window wiper
(SportCombi)3_________ 78
Rain sensing wipers3____ 77
Washers _______________ 203
Wipers and washers ______ 202Saab 9-5 Audio System3_ 90
Steering wheel controls3_ 91Hazard warning lights_____ 76Automatic climate control
(ACC) ________________ 79
Air conditioning (ACC) ____ 246
Heated front seats3___________ 87
Head restraint ________________ 21
Steering wheel controls3_______ 91
Sentronic, manual mode 3______ 15695_US_M08.book Page 3 Friday, May 11, 2007 1:06 PM
ProCarManuals.com
33 Safety
Passenger Sensing SystemVehicles with a passenger sensing system
have indicator LEDs on the fascia. The indi-
cators will be lit during the system check
when you turn your ignition key to ST or ON.
When the system check is complete, either
the ON or the OFF LED, will be lit. See
AIRBAG warning light on page 61.
The passenger sensing system will turn off
the right front passenger’s frontal airbag
and side airbag under certain conditions.
The driver’s airbags is not part of the pas-
senger sensing system.
The passenger sensing system works with
sensors that are part of the right front pas-
senger’s seat and safety belt. The sensors
are designed to detect the presence of a
properly-seated occupant and determine if
the passenger’s frontal airbag should be
enabled (may inflate) or not.
Accident statistics show that children are
safer if they are restrained in the rear rather
than the front seat.Saab recommends that child restraints be
secured in a rear seat, including an infant
riding in a rear-facing infant seat, a child
riding in a forward-facing child seat and an
older child riding in a booster seat.
Your vehicle has a rear seat that will accom-
modate a rear-facing child restraint. A label
on your sun visor says, “Never put a
rear-facing child seat in the front.” This is
because the risk to the rear-facing child is so
great, if the airbag deploys.
IB3952
Passenger Airbag Status Indicator.
USA
IB3953
Passenger Airbag Status Indicator,
Canada
95_US_M08.book Page 33 Friday, May 11, 2007 1:06 PM
ProCarManuals.com
36 SafetySide airbags
The side airbags, which help protect the
upper body are integrated in the outside
edges of the front seat backrests.
In a side impact, only the airbag on that side
will be activated, and only then if certain pre-
determined conditions are met such as the
force and angle of the impact, the speed of
the car on impact, and at which point on the
car’s side the impact occurs.
The sensors, which are fitted in the front
doors, sense the rise in pressure caused by
the door panel being pressed in during an
impact condition. The side airbag trigger will
be commanded based on the characteris-
tics of this pressure rise.
WARNING
This car is equipped with side airbags
and no extra interior trim should be fit-
ted. Failure to observe this warning
could result in the side airbags not
inflating as intended and thus not pro-
viding the intended protection either.
Never place any object in the area that
would be occupied by the inflated air-
bag.
For optimum protection, sit upright in
the seat, with your safety belt correctly
fastened.
The sensors for the side airbags are
fitted in the front doors. We advise
against doing any work on the doors
that could affect the moisture barrier in
the door or the airbag sensors. It is
essential that the moisture barrier
(thick plastic film) in the front door is
not damaged in any way.
Improvement of the anticorrosion
treatment of the doors should only be
carried out by a workshop. We recom-
mend that you contact an authorized
Saab dealer. Otherwise there is a risk
that the side impact sensor and the
moisture barrier in the front door could
be damaged.
The side airbags will inflate only in the
event of a side impact; not in the event
of a front or rear-end crash or of the
car’s rolling over.
Damage or wear to the seat cover, or
the seat seam, in the area of the side
airbag must immediately be repaired.
We recommend that you contact an
authorized Saab dealer.
Do not modify the speaker installation
in the front doors or install speakers
other than those specifically approved
by Saab.
95_US_M08.book Page 36 Friday, May 11, 2007 1:06 PM
ProCarManuals.com
40 SafetyFrequently asked questions on
function of airbagsDo you still need to wear a safety belt if air-
bags are fitted?
Yes, always! The airbag merely supple-
ments the car’s normal safety system.
Moreover, the airbag will only be actuated in
a moderate to severe frontal, or near-frontal
crash, which means, of course, that it pro-
vides no protection in minor frontal crashes,
major rear-end or side-on crashes or if the
car rolls over.
The safety belts help reduce the chance of
the car occupants from being thrown around
and injured or killed inside the car.
But they also ensure that, if a crash occurs
in which the airbags are inflated, the airbag
will make the optimum contact with the
occupant, i.e. square on from the front. If the
occupant meets the airbag in an offset posi-
tion, the protection afforded will be reduced.
In addition, airbags provide no protection
against a secondary impact occurring in the
same incident. So there is no doubt about
the benefit of wearing safety belts at all
times.
Do not sit too close to the airbag: it needs
room to inflate.
The airbag inflates very quickly and power-
fully in order to protect an adult person,
before they are thrown forward, in a serious
frontal crash.How do I position the seat to leave room for
the airbag to inflate?
Don’t have your seat too far forward.
Recline the seat back to increase the dis-
tance between you and the airbag. For short
drivers, special accessory pedal extensions
are available through your Saab dealer.
Airbags inflate extremely rapidly and with
great force – to be fast enough to protect an
adult in the seat.
When do the front airbags inflate?
The airbag will only be inflated under certain
predetermined conditions in a moderate to
severe frontal, or near-frontal crash,
depending on such factors as the force and
angle of the impact, the speed of the car on
impact, and the resistance to deformation of
the impacting object.
The airbag can only be activated once in the
same incident.
Do not attempt to drive the car after an
airbag has been inflated, even if it is
possible.
What won’t trigger the front airbags?
The airbag will not be activated in all
front-end crashes. For instance, if the car
has hit something relatively soft and yielding
(e.g. a snow drift or a hedge) or a solid object at a low impact speed, the airbag will
not necessarily be triggered.
How loud is the inflation?
The noise of the inflation is certainly loud,
but it is very short-lived and will not damage
your hearing. For a short time afterwards
you could experience a buzzing noise in
your ears.
Most people who have experienced it
cannot remember the noise of the inflation
at all – all they remember is the noise of the
crash.
Can you still use a child seat in the front if a
passenger airbag is installed?
Definitely not!
Children can be killed or seriously injured
by the airbag
The BACK SEAT is the SAFEST place for
children 12 and under or shorter than
55 inches (140 cm)
ALWAYS use SAFETY BELTS and
CHILD RESTRAINTS
NEVER put a rear-facing child seat in the
front
Sit as far back as possible from the airbag95_US_M08.book Page 40 Friday, May 11, 2007 1:06 PM
ProCarManuals.com
66 Instruments and controlsCheck fuse 1 (radiator fan) in the fuse panel
under the hood, see page 220.
If the needle repeatedly enters the red zone,
stop the car as soon as it is safe to do so and
check the coolant level by looking at the
level visible through the plastic tank – do not
remove the cap. If the coolant level falls below the MIN mark,
the Saab Information Display (SID) will
display the message
”Coolant level low.
Refill.”.
Pressure gaugeThe turbo gauge indicates the air volume for
combustion, which is equivalent to the
engine load.
Under certain barometric conditions, the
needle may enter the first part of the red
zone without necessarily indicating that a
fault has arisen.
If the needle repeatedly enters the red zone
and the engine at the same time loses
power because the monitoring system is
limiting boost pressure, you should contact
a workshop immediately. We recommend
that you contact an authorized Saab work-
shop.
NOTEIf the needle, despite the above action,
enters the red zone, stop the car immedi-
ately, let the engine idle.
If the needle stays in the red zone, stop
the engine.
WARNING
Never open the cap of the expansion tank
completely when the engine is hot, open
with care. The pressure in the cool-
ing-system can cause hot coolant and
steam to be released. Failure to heed this
warning may result in personal injury.
IB3852
95_US_M08.book Page 66 Friday, May 11, 2007 1:06 PM
ProCarManuals.com
86 Instruments and controlsCalibrationCalibration is carried out automatically after
a certain number of starts if the ignition has
been switched off for more than 2 hours.
If the battery has been disconnected or has
run flat, the system will need to be recali-
brated.
Calibration is started manually as follows:
1 Start the engine.
2 Press and at the same
time.
When manual calibration starts,
”ACC:CALIBR.
STARTED”
appears in SID.
Calibration takes approx. 30 seconds.Useful tips(before taking the car to a workshop. We
recommend that you contact an authorized
Saab workshop.)
If the battery has been disconnected or
has run flat, the system will need to be
recalibrated. See "Calibration" above.
If front seat heating and/or rear window
heating do not function satisfactorily, see
"Adaptation of ACC" on page 85.
Condensation waterWhen the A/C system is running, the intake
air is dehumidified, and the resultant con-
densation is drained off through two outlets
underneath the floor of the car, in the vicinity
of the front doors.
It is therefore perfectly normal for water to
be seen dripping from these outlets when
the car is parked. The warmer the ambient
air and the higher the humidity, the more
condensation water will form.Formation of ice and mist in
extreme weather conditionsIt is only in the most extreme conditions that
icing and misting of window glass are likely
to be a problem, e.g. in torrential rain or
severe cold coupled with high relative
humidity, or when passengers are perspir-
ing heavily or wearing wet clothes.
The following measures are recommended
if such problems should occur:
1 Select AUTO and 21°C for both temper-
ature zones.
2 Select Defroster.
If this is not enough...
3 Increase the fan speed.
If this is not enough...
4 Select a higher temperature.The following measures are recommended
if the occupants feel that it is cold and
draughty in the car:
1 Make sure that all the air vents are fully
open, including the center rear vent. If
this is not enough...
2 Direct the air flow away from the body. If
this is not enough...
3 Raise the temperature setting a degree
or two. If this is not enough...
4 Lower the fan speed.
Troubleshooting and care, see page 246.
95_US_M08.book Page 86 Friday, May 11, 2007 1:06 PM
ProCarManuals.com
97 Saab 9-5 Audio System
XM
TM
3
33 3 Radio Messages
Radio Display Message Condition Action Required
XM Updating Updating encryption code The encryption code in the receiver is being updated an no action is required.
This process should take no longer than 30 seconds.
No XM signal Loss of signal The system is functioning correctly, but the vehicle is in a location that is blocking
the XM
TM
signal. When you move into an open area, the signal should return.
Loading XM Acquiring channel audio
(after four second delay)The audio system is acquiring and processing audio and text data. No action is
needed. This message should disappear shortly.
Channel Off Air Channel not in service This channel is not currently in service. Tune in to another channel.
Channel Unavail Channel no longer
availableThis previously assigned channel is no longer assigned. Tune to another station.
If this station was one of the presets, choose another station for that preset button.
No Artist Info Artist Name/Feature not
availableNo artist information is available at this time on this channel. The system is work-
ing properly.
No Title Info Song/Program Title not
availableNo song title information is available at this time on this channel. The system is
working properly.
No CAT Info Category Name not
availableNo category information is available at this time on this channel. The system is
working properly.
95_US_M08.book Page 97 Friday, May 11, 2007 1:06 PM
ProCarManuals.com
126 Interior equipment and trunkPower Outlet3
33 3You can use the electrical socket to charge
a mobile phone, for example.
Glove compartment The glove compartment can be cooled by
the air conditioning (ACC) system. Cold air
can be directed to the glove compartment
for keeping drinks cool, etc.
Slide the cover to open/close the air inlet. Storage facilitiesAdditional storage facilities are provided
(see next page).
WARNING
The maximum combined load for the two
power outlets is 240 W (20 A).
WARNING
The glove compartment must be closed
while travelling. An open glove compart-
ment door could cause leg injuries in the
event of a crash.
IB1286
Sliding cover in glove compartment to
admit cold air
95_US_M08.book Page 126 Friday, May 11, 2007 1:06 PM
ProCarManuals.com