VOLVO Complaints

DT: THE CONTACT'S DAUGHTER STARTED THE VEHICLE AND IT ACCELERATED FROM ZERO TO 40 MPH WITHOUT DEPRESSING THE ACCELERATOR. THE FIRST TIME THE VEHICLE HIT A CONCRETE PARKING BARRIER. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A SERVICE DEPARTMENT. THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM COULD NOT BE DETERMINED. THE VEHICLE'S BODY DAMAGE WAS REPAIRED, AND THE VEHICLE WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE. THE ACCELERATION PROBLEM OCCURRED ONCE AGAIN. THIS TIME IT CAUSED THE DRIVER TO CRASH INTO A WALL. IT WAS TAKEN TO A SERVICE DEALER WHO STATED THE INCIDENT WAS CAUSED BY A PROBLEM WITHIN THE ENGINE. *AK UPDATED 12/16/2005 - THE DEALER LATER FOUND THAT THE THROTTLE CABLE HOUSING HAD SEPARATED FROM THE CRIMPED END AT THE THROTTLE VALVE. AS A RESULT THE CABLE HOUSING HAD SLID OUT AND WAS HANGING UP, CAUSING THE VEHICLE TO ACCELERATE WHEN IN GEAR. *NM

RECENTLY WHILE DRIVING MY ELDERLY MOTHER IN MY 2001 VOLVO XC 70 FROM OREGON TO CALIFORNIA WE HAD A VERY UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE THAT COULD HAVE COST US OUR LIVES. ALL OF A SUDDEN WE LOST TOTAL POWER IN 70+ MPH TRAFFIC, HAD TO SIT ON A VERY BUSY FREEWAY FOR 2 HOURS IN 100 DEGREE HEAT (UNABLE TO RUN THE AIR CONDITIONER) UNABLE TO GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE DUE TO HEAVY TRUCK TRAFFIC FLYING PAST US. MY DEAR MOTHER AND I WERE FINALLY RESCUED AND TOWED TO SAFETY SOME 70 MILES TO THE NEAREST VOLVO DEALER. THERE WE WERE TOLD THAT OUR ETM HAD FAILED. I AM CONCERNED ABOUT THIS VERY DANGEROUS PROBLEM AS I HAVE NOW BEEN TOLD THAT THE PART THAT THEY REPLACED (A $1200.00 REPAIR) IS SIMPLY ANOTHER OF THE SAME KNOWN FAULTY PART. MY ETM FAILD AT ONLY 50,000 MILES AND COULD HAVE CAUSED A MAJOR FATALITY. WE WERE REALLY LUCKY BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT TIME? FROM NHTSA WEB SITE.

ADD TO NHTSA ACTION NUMBER : PE05041 I WOULD LIKE TO ADD MY COMPLAIN TO ABOVE CASE. FIRST TIME MY CAR JUST STALLED ON A HIGHWAY. LUCKLY FOR ME, I MANAGED TO AVOID AN ACCIDENT. IT HAPPENED BACK IN FEBRUARY OR MARCH OF 2003, WHEN MY CAR HAD APPROXIMATELY 65,000 MILES. LAST WEEK "CHECK ENGINE" LIGHT CAME OFF AND I TOOK MY CAR FOR A CHECK-UP. DEALER TOLD ME THAT ETM IS FAILING. MY CAR NOW HAS 104,000 MILES, THUS LESS THAN 40,000 SINCE LAST FAILURE. DEALER REFUSED TO FIX THIS AND QUOTED ME REPLACEMENT COST OF APPROXIMATELY $1,100. NOW I HAVE TO DRIVE EVERYDAY AND WAIT IN FEAR WHEN ETM WILL FAIL AGAIN.

1999 VOLVO V70 ENGINE STARTS AND THEN STOPS SUDDENLY. SOMETIMES WILL HAVE TO RESTART ENGINE 3 OR 4 TIMES BEFORE IT CONTINUES TO RUN. DEALER HAS BEEN UNABLE TO FIND AND/OR REPAIR THIS PROBLEM. *JB

MY VOLVO 2001 V70XC BEGAN TO HAVE A ROUGH IDLE AND WOULD STALL OR BOG DOWN WHEN STARTING OUT FROM INTERSECTIONS. THIS LED TO OUR BEING STUCK PULLING OUT INTO TRAFFIC AND SUDDENLY HAVING A STALLED ENGINE OR A CAR WITH MINIMAL PERFORMANCE AND A "PERFORMANCE REDUCED " MESSAGE. I TOOK THE CAR TO THE DEALER, HE REPLACED THE ETM FOR ABOUT $1200. CAR RUNS FINE NOW. THIS EVENT HAPPENED NUMEROUS TIMES, FIRST IN EARLY 2005, PART REPLACED IN OCT 2005. *JB

I WAS ON A LONG TRIP BACK HOME ON 11/29/05 WHEN I NOTICED MY 2001 VOLVO STARTED SURGING AFTER ABOUT 20 MINUTES OF THIS IT SHOWED ME A CHECK ENGINE LIGHT AND A MESSAGE APPEARED SAYING " PERFORMANCE REDUCED ". THE CAR WAS BASICALLY SHUTTING DOWN. I WAS DOING 75 MPH AT THE TIME AND HAD TO PULL OVER TO THE SHOULDER FROM THE LEFT LANE 4 LANES OVER TO THE RIGHT. THIS WAS A LITTLE SCARY DOING 75 MPH. I SAT ON THE SHOULDER FOR ABOUT 2 MINUTES AND TRIED RESTARTING THE CAR. I SEEMED FINE SO I CONTINUED ON. THE SAME THING HAPPENED 2 MORE TIMES ON THE TRIP HOME. THE FOLLOWING MONDAY 11/1/05 I BROUGHT THE CAR TO A RAMSEY VOLVO TO HAVE IT LOOKED AT. THEY TOLD ME THE ETM NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. I HAD THEM REPLACE IT. THE PROBLEM I HAVE IS THAT IT SEEMS AS IF THIS IS VERY COMMON AMONG VOLVO'S WITH THE ETM AND IT IS QUITE DANGEROUS WHEN THEY FAIL. IF AS MANY FAIL AS I SEE ON THE INTERNET I FEEL VOLVO SHOULD RECALL THE ETM AND FIX IT.*JB

I PARKED MY VEHICLE IN MY DRIVEWAY ON THE EVENING OF FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2005. I LEFT ON VACATION THE FOLLOWING MORNING LEAVING MY VEHICLE IN THE DRIVEWAY. I RETURNED FROM VACATION LATE ON THE EVENING OF AUGUST 21, 2005. THE FOLLOWING MORNING WHEN I WENT OUT TO LEAVE FOR WORK, THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT START. I CALLED AAA IN ORDER TO HAVE THE CAR JUMPED. IT WOULD NOT JUMP. I THEN CALLED THE VOLVO DEALERSHIP AND THEY TOLD ME TO CALL THE VOLVO HOT LINE FOR A TOW. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE GENGRAS VOLVO DEALERSHIP IN EAST HARTFORD, CT ON THE MORNING OF AUGUST 22, 2005 AND IT REMAINS THERE AT THIS TIME. THE DEALERSHIP SERVICE DEPARTMENT REPORTS THAT ALL OF THE COMPUTERS ARE MALFUNCTIONING. THEY REPORT THIS TO BE "AN ACT OF GOD" AS IN THE CAR WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTENING. I WAS ADVISED TO REPORT THIS TO MY INSURANCE COMPANY WHICH I DID. AN APPRAISER WAS DISPATCHED TO LOOK AT THE VEHICLE AND THEN SPECIAL ENGINEERS FROM NORTH EASTERN TECHNICAL SERVICES. INC IN FALL RIVER, MA WENT TO THE VOLVO DEALERSHIP TO VIEW THE VEHICLE. THEY REMOVED TWO COMPUTER MODULES WITH PERMISSION OF THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT AND MICROSCOPICALLY EXAMINED THEM TO DETERMINE IF ANY CONNECTORS, CIRCUIT BOARD OR COMPONENT DAMAGE WAS PRESENT. NEITHER MODULE SHOWED ANY INDICATORS OF DAMAGE. AT THIS POINT THE CLAIM HAS BEEN DENIED BY MY INSURANCE COMPANY SAYING THAT THE PROBLEM IS A WARRANTY PROBLEM. VOLVO DISPUTES THIS SAYING IT IS "AN ACT OF GOD". THE VEHICLE IS LESS THAN TWO YEARS OLD AND HAS LESS THAN 24,000 MILES ON IT. I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO DRIVE THE VEHICLE SINCE AUGUST 12, 2005. IT DOES QUALIFY FOR THE LEMON LAW, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, I FOUND THAT THERE HAVE BEEN OTHER REPORTED ELECTRICAL SYSTEM FAILURES OF THIS MODEL. I AM CONCERNED THAT THIS IS INDEED A PROBLEM WITH THIS PARTICULAR MODEL AND THE VOLVO IS TRYING TO COVER IT UP. *JB

DT: THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED THE VEHICLE STALLED. THE COMPUTER SHOWED REDUCED PERFORMANCE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A MECHANIC ,AND THEY WERE UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM.*AK

CRACK IN UPPER TANK OF SENDING UNIT RESULTING IN GAS LEAKAGE. 15 MONTH OLD DAUGHTER MAY HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE TOXIC FUMES. *NM

I WAS DRIVING DOWN A US HIGHWAY WHEN I NOTICED MY CAR WAS 'LURCHING' FORWARD THEN WOULD LOOSE SPEED ALL TOGETHER KIND OF LIKE IT WANTED TO STALL. I WOULD PUSH ON THE ACCELERATOR AND NOTHING WOULD HAPPEN, THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE CAR WOULD DRIVE NORMALLY. I WAS ABOUT A MILE FROM MY WORK, SO I DIDN'T PULL OVER IMMEDIATELY. THE NEXT TWO STOP LIGHTS I ALMOST STALLED, BUT DIDN'T. AT THE THIRD TRAFFIC LIGHT ON ANOTHER US HIGHWAY, I WASN'T SO LUCKY - MY CAR STALLED AND WOULD NOT RE-START. I HAD TO CALL FOR A TOW TRUCK. MY SERVICE REPORT STATES THAT THE CODE ECM-130A WAS DETECTED. I FIGURED FOR SURE THIS WOULD BE COVERED UNDER MY EXTENDED WARRANTY. VOLVO SAID NO AS IT WAS 'JUST A DIRTY THROTTLE UNIT'. THEY SUPPOSEDLY TOOK IT APART, CLEANED IT, REPLACED A GASKET, UPGRADED THE ECM PET, AND PUT IT ALL BACK TOGETHER AND TOLD ME TO BE SURE TO USE PREMIUM GASOLINE BY ONLY A REPUTABLE GAS STATION, AND ONCE EVERY FEW MONTHS USE A FUEL SYSTEM CLEANER AND I SHOULDN'T HAVE ANY MORE PROBLEMS. *NM