Dealer repair gone bad....

peggysue · Post by **peggysue** » 09 Nov 2006, 16:18

I own a 1993 Volvo wagon. I had my airbag replaced by a Volvo Dealer. After the airbag was replaced the cruise control no longer worked and my high beams lever no longer clicked into the on position. The dealer said these break-downs were a coincidence and this coincidence will cost $1000 to fix. They said the servo for the cruise was bad and the high beams had relay issues. Considering both the cruise and high beam mechanisms are in the steering column, I have my doubts this is a coincidence. Can anyone help me sort this out?

Thanks!

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 09 Nov 2006, 18:07

Peg,
Where are you?
My recommendation is to find a good independent repair shop that knows Volvo's. Most of the time with at least FWD Volvo's (I know yours is RWD) the cruise control is a disconnected or damaged vacuum hose. The high beam could be a number of things but I do not suspect it costing anywhere near a grand.

Rule .308 · Post by **Rule .308** » 10 Nov 2006, 11:25

How 'bout a little more information on the nature of the repair, why was the driver's airbag replaced? I will agree that actual coincidences in this business are like hen's teeth but that does not mean that they owe you something. If they broke otherwise good parts while they were in there then for the most part they should be owner's on that. However, if your parts were on their last leg and they had to go in there to replace your airbag and the parts broke because of it then that should be your responsibility. They should not have to be responsible for your old, broken, worn out stuff. This is where the opinion of a competent, independent third party should come in. It is a lousy position to be in and I have definitely been there on either side of the situation. Let us know which way you go with it and how it turns out. If you'd like you could let me know your locale and I can see if one of my parts vendors has a shop in that area that he could recommend.

Mark

peggysue · Post by **peggysue** » 11 Nov 2006, 10:17

Thanks for the replys...I originally took my car in for repair because the SRS light had been on for at least a year. The dealer said I needed a new airbag. They replaced it, but the SRS light would not stay off. After three return visits to the dealer they replaced the SRS harness. Now the SRS light stays off. Naturally I am wondering if the airbag needed to be replaced.

The high beams repair was a headlight relay replacement for $129, but that left me with the $1000 cruise control servo motor that still needs to be replaced. My question is -- what are the possibiliites that during the questionable airbag replacement, the servo motor could be damaged or even shorted out? I do agree I need to take my car to an independent dealer. I live in mountains in Strawberry, Arizona. I am 2 hours from the valley -- Phoenix, Scotsdale, etc. If you have a referral for a realiable tech, that would be great. Thanks.

Peg

Rule .308 · Post by **Rule .308** » 11 Nov 2006, 21:48

Peg,
Let me hit up my vendors on Monday, I have no doubt that they will have someone in the Phoenix area. It is not likely that they shorted out the cruise control vacuum motor or the light relay for that matter.

As far as the question of the harness versus the air bag module goes, that is a tough one indeed. I had an 850 recently that did the same trick to me but experience on the product allowed me not to make that mistake. However the alternative to it was to remove the connector from the passenger airbag and replace it with the factory test tool that similutates the air bag. Send the customer off for a week and see if the light comes back on, it did, so I installed the much cheaper stub harness to see if that would fix it and it did. When dealing with the driver's airbag it just is not that easy and there are a number of parts that could give you an "excessive resistance" code.

On the cruise, if it is a back vacuum motor you may want to consider trying to source the part elsewhere like a bone yard or a Volvo specialty yard.

Mark