VOLVO Complaints

1999 VOLVO S80 T6, SUDDEN LOSS OF SPEED WHEN DRIVING IN HIGHWAY TRAFFIC, WITH SUDDEN PARTIAL AND AT TIMES COMPLETE STALL W/OUT WARNING. THIS HAS HAPPENED FIVE TIMES, TWICE I HAD TO BE TOWED. EXTENSIVE WORK HAS BEEN DONE ON THE ETM BY TWO VERY GOOD VOLVO SERVICE DEPARTMENTS, BUT THE PROBLEM PERSISTS AND IS A MYSTERY AS TO WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. THIS IS VERY FRUSTRATING - I NEED THIS CAR TO WORK!! *JB

I DRIVE A VOLVO V70XCSE. AT TIMES THE CAR DOES NOT ACCELERATE PROPERLY. THE PROBLEM IS MOST EVIDENT ON HIGHWAY DRIVING. THIS MORNING I HEARD ABOUT AN INVESTIGATION INTO VOLVO WAGONS STALLING. I AM CONCERNED ABOUT MY VEHICLE. *JB

DT: CONSUMER OWNED A 2004 VOLVO S60. ON GOING SINCE APRIL OF 2005 ENGINE REBUILT DUE TO STALLING. VEHICLE STALLED IN TRAFFIC AND DID NOT ACCELERATE PROPERLY. ALSO, VEHICLE SLOWED DOWN AT ONCE FOR NO REASON. WHILE DRIVING AFTER THE ENGINE WAS REBUILT AND WAS MERGING ONTO I87 NORTH AND VEHICLE STALLED. CONSUMER PULLED OFF THE RAMP ONTO THE SHOULDER. THEN PAUSED FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES TO REGAIN COMPOSURE AND THEN RESTARTED ENGINE. VEHICLE RESTARTED WITH NO PROBLEM. CONSUMER SAID THAT STALL ONLY HAPPENED TWICE. DEALER REPLACED MASS AIRFLOW SENSOR, BUT VEHICLE STILL DID NOT OPERATE CORRECTLY. CONSUMER THOUGHT THAT VEHICLE DID NOT OPERATE PROPERLY BETWEEN 2000 AND 3000 RPMS. THE MANUFACTURER SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM WHICH WAS VERY DANGEROUS. CONSUMER WORRIED ABOUT HER LIFE WHILE DRIVING VEHICLE.*AK

I WAS DRIVING ON THE INTERSTATE AT ROUGHLY 70 MPH IN MODERATE TRAFFIC WITH MY WIFE AND 2 YOUNG BOYS WHEN THE ACCELERATOR NO LONGER RESPONDED. THE VEHICLE WOULD SURGE WHEN I STEPPED ON THE GAS THEN "STALL". THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT APPEARED WITH A MESSAGE "PERFORMANCE REDUCED". FORTUNATELY WE ROLLED OFF THE HIGHWAY OVER THE MEDIAN AND ONTO THE FRONTAGE ROAD AND INTO A PARKING LOT WHERE WE STOPPED THE CAR AND RESTARTED IT. WE CALLED THE DEALER WHO INSTRUCTED US TO BRING IT IN RIGHT AWAY TO HAVE IT DIAGNOSED. THIS WAS ACTUALLY THE SECOND OCCURRENCE OF THIS FAILURE THE FIRST BEING A WEEK EARLY ON JULY 9TH WITH SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES. IN THE FIRST ONE OUR STEERING WHEEL LOCKED UP AS WE ENTERED A GAS STATION. WE WERE TOLD WE NEEDED A NEW THROTTLE BODY APPROXIMATELY $900 TO REPLACE. WE ONLY HAD THE VEHICLE FOR 6 WEEKS SO WERE OBVIOUSLY UNHAPPY. ALTHOUGH NO ONE WAS HARMED IN THE CASE OF OUR FAILURES THERE CERTAINLY WAS THE POTENTIAL GIVEN THE HIGH SPEED OF TRAVEL AND TRAFFIC SURROUNDING US. WE ARE FORTUNATE TO HAVE BEEN DRIVING IN THE RIGHT HAND LANE IN BOTH INSTANCES. THE VOLVO DEALER RETAINED THE OLD ETM. *JB

DT: A 2001 VOLVO V70. THE ENGINE STALLED ON 7-30-04 WHILE DRIVING. THE PERFORMANCE DECREASED AND WARNING LIGHT CAME ON. CONSUMER CONTACTED THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY TOLD HER NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT SINCE THERE WAS NO PERFORMANCE DECREASE AT THAT TIME. THE NEXT DAY VEHICLEWOULD START BUT WOULD NOT ACCELERATE. THE ENGIN STUTTERED AND THEN STALLLED. WITHIN A WEEK THIS OCCURRED AT LEAST 6 TIMES. CONSUMER TOOK VEHICLE TO THE DEALERSHIP, BUT, SHE DID NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID. SERVICE RECORDS WERE AVAILABLE. THERE WERE NO MORE PROBLEMS AGAIN UNTIL 1-2005. THIS TIME THE DEALERSHIP COULD NOT FIND THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM. THEY DID NOTHING TO ALTER THE VEHICLE. AT THIS POINT THERE HAVE BEEN NO OTHER PROBLEMS WITH THE VEHICLE. *AK

ON JULY 12, 2005 MY VOLVO V70R AWD WAGON STOPPED WITHOUT WARNING WHILE IT WAS BEING DRIVEN. IT WOULD NOT START AGAIN AND HAD TO BE TOWED TO THE DEALER. THE DEALER SAID THE MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR HAD TO BE REPLACED. THE COST WAS $385.19. THIS WAS AN EXTREMELY SCARY EXPERIENCE AND COULD HAVE BEEN LIFE-THREATENING IF WE HAD BEEN DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY. WHEN I HEARD ABOUT SIMILAR PROBLEMS WITH 1999-2001 VOLVOS, I THOUGHT MY YEAR CAR MAY ALSO FALL INTO THIS GROUP. VOLVO CLAIMS TO BE THE BEST WHEN IT COMES TO SAFETY BUT THIS EXPERIENCE HAS MADE ME FEEL THAT MY CAR IS NOT RELIABLE AND IS UNSAFE. *NM

(1) CAR RAN ROUGH IN ANY GEAR WHEN TRYING TO MAINTAIN SPEED (2) I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE I COULD NOT STAND IT (3) $1409 REPAIR TO REPLACE THE ELECTRONIC THROTTLE MODULE. I WAS TOLD IF I DID NOT REPLACE IT THE CAR WOULD STALL AND BE UNDRIVEABLE. *NM

VOLVO S70 1999 MODEL, 3 TIMES HAS STALLED WHILE DRIVING..ETS WILL LIGHT UP ON THE CONTROL PANEL AND IMMEDIATELY THE CAR WILL NO LONGER MOVE FORWARD. I SWITCH OFF THE IGNITION AND THEN WAIT FOR THE LIGHT TO GO OFF SO I CAN ONCE AGAIN DRIVE. THIS HAS HAPPENED 3 DIFFERENT TIMES AND LUCKILY I WAS NOT REAR-ENDED WHILE MOVING OVER TO THE SHOULDER OF THE ROAD. I REPORTED IT TO VOLVO OF CLEAR LAKE WHO REPORTED NOTHING WRONG WITH MY CAR. THE CAR COMPUTER DID HAVE IT RECORDED THAT A PROBLEM HAD HAPPENED WITH THE ELECTRONIC THROTTLE CONTROL SYSTEM, BUT AFTER AN INSPECTION BY VOLVO, NO REPAIR WAS MADE TO THE SYSTEM. I AM FRIGHTENED TO DRIVE IN ANY FREEWAY LANE THAT IS NOT NEXT TO A SHOULDER....I MUST ALWAYS BE ABLE TO PULL OVER AT ANY TIME. NO SPECIAL EVENT HAS LED/CAUSED THIS FAILURE. I ALWAYS TAKE MY CAR INTO THE VOLVO DEALER FOR THE REQUIRED MAINTENANCE AND SERVICE. *NM

I AM WRITING JUST TO SUPPLY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR ONGOING INVESTIGATION PE05041. DURING THE FIRST FEW YEARS THAT I OWNED MY 2000 VOLVO S70 GLT SE, I EXPERIENCED SEVERAL ELECTRONIC THROTTLE CONTROL FAILURES, WHICH GREW PROGRESSIVELY WORSE. THE VEHICLE WOULD SUDDENLY LOSE SPEED WHEN ACCELERATING AND BE UNRESPONSIVE WHEN THE GAS PEDAL WAS DEPRESSED. THE CAR WAS STILL UNDER WARRANTY WHEN THESE FAILURES OCCURRED, SO VOLVO REPLACED THE ELECTRONIC THROTTLE CONTROL MECHANISM AT NO CHARGE. TO DATE, THE REPLACEMENT MECHANISM HAS NOT FAILED, BUT I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING WHAT THE AVERAGE FAILURE AGE OF THE REPLACEMENT PARTS HAS BEEN. I HAVE TWO SMALL CHILDREN WHO ARE FREQUENTLY IN THE CAR WITH ME. *NM

DT: 2001 VOLVO S80. THE VEHICLE SHUT DOWN/STALLED. THIS HAPPENED THREE TIMES. EACH TIME THE CONSUMER STATED THAT THE VEHICLE JUST STALLED. STALLING OCCURRED ON 10-18-04, 5-30-05, AND 7-1-05. CONSUMER WAS DRIVING D WHEN THE VEHICLE STALLED. . THE FIRST TIME SHE TOOK IT TO THE DEALER THEY REPLACED A PART, CONSUMER WAS UNSURE OF WHAT IT WAS. THE SECOND TIME THE DEALERSHIP HAD TO REPLACE ANOTHER PART. AGAIN THE CONSUMER WAS UNSURE OF THE NAME, AND THE THIRD TIME THE VEHICLE STALLED, AND BY THE TIME IT WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALERSHIP IT HAD STARTED AGAIN. THE STEERING AND THE BRAKES WERE STILL USABLE. DEALER WAS STILL UNABLE TO FIND THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM, AND CURRENTLY VEHICLE IS STILL AT THE DEALER. *AK