Volvo Help (or lack of it)

[tonic110]

hang on a mo folks, I wasnt SLAGGING volvo, indeed I will still buy Volvo in the future. I am just very dissapointed that volvo wont help even though they know the part to be potentialy defective (North America proving the point). I KNOW my motor has done high mileage, but then again isnt a volvo supposed to? The ATM failing can become a life threatening situation, and because I have done lots of miles, does that mean that my life and that of my family is worth less than someone who has only done 50k?

Cheers
Tony

[Rufe]

no its a good and valid point, my point was that they have to draw the line somewhere, its the same with all manufacturer's

[tonic110]

Heyup Rufe !
Like I say I was not slagging Volvo, they did not after all manufacture the part. What I WAS trying to say was , as Volvo are always thinking of safety first and foremost for their customers, and as the ETM could become a safety hazard (those of faulty design that is) why did Volvo not do a recall, rectify the problem and recoup the cost from the manufacturer of the part ? Don`t tell me , I KNOW I live in dreamland LOL.

Cheers
Tony

[After_Shock]

The problem could well be with the part manufacturer, they may well have refused to replace the item as the amount of them they have supplied would probably bankrupt the company.

If Volvo didnt care about safety they wouldnt fit £3k+ worth of safety systems into every car would they and they are continually improving those systems.

[Rufe]

i keep hearing of people worrying about what it will be like if it go's at 70mph on the motorway (a fair point, definitely), but is volvo right and this is not a safety issue? dont get me wrong, i hope it isn't myself, as like i said, i have ETM on mine, which has never been changed and im around 100k, but out of all the cases i have heard of them going, the light comes on, cars runs like sh*t, especially at idle, and they come into the dealer to get a new one. i havent heard of anyone actually being killed or injured though, and i hope it stays that way obviously. if there have been no injuries or deaths and yet had an extremly high failure rate can that then mean that volvo may be right and its not a safety issue?

and as for volvo not doing a recall on this, they have often done recalls on safety related parts, look at how many fan recalls they did last year on the V70 range... we were doing 3 or 4 a day easily, basically, when ever a car came into the dealership they were getting the fan changed. that must have cost volvo millions in total (a good £300 or so per job, and that was for the bulk of the larger volvo's made over the last few years), so i dont believe that they would be avoiding a recall if there was a genuine safety concern here.

dont want to defend something like this if i thought they were wrong, but i can see it from both sides here. what im saying is that if Volvo genuinely thought it was a safety issue, they wouldnt be avoiding a recall, as they have proved many times in the past.

[After_Shock]

Theirs currently a re-call on Xc90's with regards to suspension bushes or links, cant remember which and theirs shed loads of them getting done.

With regards to ETM's being a high failure rate I disagree, ive only ever seen 3 get done and asked and the service people say they only get one every other month and theirs other stuff which fails alot more often than that on cars of the ages and mileages involved.

[Rufe]

after shock, if i think back to a couple of years ago, in work we were doing a couple of the ETM's a day sometimes. they were a much bigger problem then, but once they have been changed, i havent really seen any come back in again

[ahhpigsy]

As i have just had to replace the ETM and the MAF at the same time (£1000) i know the effect this failing has and i would say it is a safety issue.
The failure is not instant and it can be a few months of varying symptoms b4 it gets bad. Mine was looked at by main dealer and independant on many occasions whilst starting to fail and they did not know the cause, thought is was coils, petrol pressure etc. The safety issue comes into play on a motorway, you can be cruisng at 70, put your foot down to overtake at say 80- 85 get half a length past the other car and your power goes to zilch, if there are cars behind following your moves they panic and slam on the anchors, then the usual chain reaction behind them etc.
Another problem is that as the power goes you automatically put your foot down to try and get back to speed then all the power comes on at once and you shoot forward at a rate of knots, in traffic that is quite scary.
Volvo should address this problem, it should not be one rule for N America and one for Europe, if no one got compensated that would be an end to it but when some are it does not seem fair.
I am trying to get some of my grand back off volvo as 70k miles with full history but will not hold my breath.

Steve