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Why is a Saab's ignition key down between the seats?
Where you'd expect the key
Most cars put the key on the steering column, so a Saab's floor slot can look like Swedish weirdness. Pictured: a 1974 Saab 99, with no key on the column.
A crash decision, roughly
In a frontal crash, a driver's knees swing toward the area under the dash. Saab's reason: a key by the steering column sits right where a knee hits.
Source: Jalopnik, 2009
The 99 moved it to the floor
The Saab 99, shown in 1967 and sold as a 1969 model, launched with crumple zones, a double-jointed safety steering column, and the starter switch on the floor between the front seats.
Source: Saab Museum; Marque News, 2021
The key also locked the gear lever
On manual Saabs like the 99 and the 1999 9-3, removing the key locked the gear lever in reverse. Saab's 9-3 workshop manual says so, and it kept a parked car locked in gear.
Source: Saab WIS, 9-3 manual, 1999; Marque News, 2021
It confused plenty of drivers
Marque News says it irritated many drivers. Jalopnik reported thieves who gave up on a Saab 99 because they couldn't find where to start it.
What you'd notice: Reaching down by the handbrake, and a gear lever stuck in reverse.
Source: Marque News, 2021; Jalopnik, 2009
It became the Saab signature
Saab had put the key on the transmission hump between the seats since 1969. GM moved it onto the 9-7X's console, a TrailBlazer-based SUV, to feel like a Saab. The Subaru-based 9-2X never got it.
Source: Jalopnik, 2018
Sources and assumptions
- SaabMuseum.com – Saab innovations: The 1967 Saab 99 had a double-jointed safety steering column, a safety body with crumple zones front and rear, and 'the starter switch on the floor between the front seats'. (checked 2026-10-06)
- Jalopnik – How Old Saabs Trick Boneheaded Carjackers (Dec 21, 2009): 'every proper Saab has its ignition switch between the front seats as a safety measure to prevent knee damage in the event of a frontal collision'. Also the story of thieves who couldn't start a 1970s Saab 99 and gave up. (checked 2026-10-06)
- Jalopnik – Putting A Floor-Mounted Ignition Switch On The Saab 9-7X Didn't Make It A Real Saab (May 21, 2018): Saab had put the ignition on the transmission hump between the seats since 1969. GM moved the key to the center tunnel on the TrailBlazer-based 9-7X but didn't on the Subaru-based 9-2X. (checked 2026-10-06)
- Saab WIS (Workshop Information System) – 9-3 1999 manual gear selector, system overview: 'The car is equipped with a gear lever lock which means that the gear lever is locked in the reverse position when the key is removed from the ignition switch.' (checked 2026-10-06)
- Marque News – Saab 99 (David Pike, Oct 2021): The 99's ignition switch was on a console between the seats next to the freewheel control, 'irritated many drivers', and 'the key could not be removed without engaging reverse'. Public sale from European autumn 1968 as the 1969 model. (checked 2026-10-06)
Assumptions:
- The knee-injury rationale is the reason reported by Jalopnik (2009) and repeated across Saab histories. I found no surviving Saab press release that opened, so the slides should say 'Saab's reasoning' or 'the reason Saab gave', with no injury statistics.
- The reverse-lock quote comes from the 1999 9-3 manual-gearbox workshop documentation. For the 99, Marque News supports it. Say 'manual Saabs' and don't claim it for automatics.
- Date wording: the 99 was shown in 1967 (Saab Museum) and sold from autumn 1968 as a 1969 model (Marque News). Jalopnik's 'since 1969' matches that model year.
- The knee diagram is a rough illustration of why a column key sits in the knee zone. It makes no claim about how often injuries happened.
- Not every Saab-badged car had it: the Subaru-based 9-2X kept a column key (Jalopnik 2018).
Photos:
- Photo: User Ballista on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
- Photo: Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
- Photo: Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
- Photo: Alatrace, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
- Photo: Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
- Photo: Liftarn, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
The short version
- Saab's reason: keep a key out of the knee zone.
- The Saab 99 put the key on the floor.
- On manual 99s and 9-3s, the key locked the lever in reverse.
- The slot became a Saab signature.
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