Pressure Increases on Volvo to Pay to Replace Faulty Throttl

[kyoshojoe]

Check this out from brickboard.com-

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"G�teborgs-Posten 2005-05-06 15:10
Unclear how Volvo will handle malfunctioning throttles

G�teborg
Volvo Personvagnar has sold approximaltely 860 000 cars with the electronic throttle which is often subjected to failures
Approximately 120 000 cars with the throttle in question is in Sweden. Many more, 360 000, have been sold in the U.S.
The throttle is a part of the system that has replace the old carburettors
- The throttle controls the air flow to the engine, and therefore also the rpm. The failure may imply that the car goes down to idle while driving. This is the first the customer experience, the Volvo press chief Christer Gustafsson
says to TT.
Volvo Personvagnar has not yet decided how to act. Gustafsson do not want to exclude any alternative before the on-going discussions within the company are finished.

The most extensive is to recall and fix all the 860 000 cars. Another possibility is to give an extended warranty to the car owners. Different solutions on different markets can not be excluded. An answer from Volvo can be expected first within some weeks.
The company is not willing to give any calculation of the cost the failing throttles may cause. Considering the large number of affected cars, the economic effect can be expected to be significant, possibly billions (SEK)
- In Sweden, between 4000 and 5000 cars have already been repaired. In most cases within warranty, Christer Gustafsson says.
The failing throttles was delivered to Volvo by an Italian company. In the cars of model years later than 2001, the component has been bought from another source.
The throttles can either be replaced, or be fixed by changing the software that controls the function.

The problem affects five- and six-cylinder S60, V70, XC70 and S80 with petrol engines, and affects model year 1999, 2000 and 2001

TT "
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Maybe some justice after all????

[Guest]

Note the date on that is May '05. It's now Aug '05, any more word? Didn't think so, as the bean counters probably came back and told management it will bankrupt them, so let us know when '99, '00 and '01 Volvo owners get their recall letters for a free or greatly reduced cost fix.

[as3178]

I GOT A 2001 S60 T5 AND MY ETM FAILED WHEN I WAS DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY(I AM IN MALAYSIA). THE ENGINE SIMPLY STALLED WHEN I SLOWED DOWN AND I NEARLY GOT HIT FROM BEHIND. VOLVO HAS ALWAYS CLAIMED TO BE A MANUFACTURER EMPHASISING THE SAFETY OF THEIR CARS AND I THINK THAT IS REAL BULL. I TALKED TO THEM AND THEY WOULD NOT NEGOTIATE AND WANTED TO CHARGE ME ABT USD1000 TO FIT A NEW BOSCH REPLACEMENT UNT ( THE ORIGINAL WAS A MARELLI). I BOUGHT MY CAR WITH GREAT CONFIDENCE IN VOLVO AND BELIEVE IN ITS SAFETY PRIORITY BUT NOW I AM TOTALLY DISILLUSIONED AND PROBABLY NEVER BUY A VOLVO AGAIN. I WILL TELL THE STORY TO ALL MY FRIENDS.

[snabbt bil]

Lawyer's website for the class action suit here in CA: http://www.fazmiclaw.com/Volvo.html

LA Times article: http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=119&did=817

In depth discussion on why the 1999-2001 ETMs fail by retired engineer Don Wilson: http://v70xc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6026

The ETMs in question are ETMs (electronic) and not mechanical TMs as were used in pre-1999 models of Volvos. (i.e., 850s)

Remember Ford+Firestone? http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring0 ... stone.html

[Guest]

To the person equating Volvo and Ford:

If Volvo = Ford the price of this repair would be $200 and not nearly as many people would be complaining about the cost of the ETM replacement. At least Ford will publicly recognize a problem in their product and do something to treat their customers with respect. I guess thats why they sell so many vehicles.

[jaljamma]

FORD OWN VOLVO

[Guest]

To the person equating Volvo and Ford:

If Volvo = Ford the price of this repair would be $200 and not nearly as many people would be complaining about the cost of the ETM replacement. At least Ford will publicly recognize a problem in their product and do something to treat their customers with respect. I guess thats why they sell so many vehicles.

Point noted. But I was talking about the business ethics involved but you also seem to dispute that. I didn't realize Ford had become so ethical in recent years to admit mistakes and design flaws more readily than the Swedish Volvo Co. That's why, even though I would consider an American made GM Saturn these days for the first time since 1978, I'd still have to think long and hard about buyng another Ford after getting burned by the likes of the 1970s POS Pintos and Mustang IIs they used to foist on the public.

Also, no need to continue that Employee Discount I guess which I heard isn't quite as good as the other company employee discounts if Ford is selling so many cars... Stubborness and arrogance is not the best way to move product. Why have anyone "pay" for your mistake, regardless of cost? You should replace it for free.

[Guest]

If you are looking for a Saturn wagon, my wife has one for sale. Its a 2000 LW2 with the Saab V6 fully loaded with heated leather and all the goodies. 53k miles.

[Guest]

My first car was a pinto, it had 250,000 miles on it ...before I crashed it. It was a good, albeit ugly, car. It took many jumps, including over a friends oldsmobile.

[KBCobra]

I have just recently undergone the exorcising of the ETS light/throttle body and thought I would share my experiences.

My '99 S70 has ~90,000 miles on it and had the ETS light come on intermittantly ~ 1 month ago. I stopped the car and turned the car off and then on again and the light cleared. Then it came on a couple of more times, then reset when I stopped the car.

From this site (great site - BTW), I learned that this was going to be a big expense. I went to the dealer and of course they said the car was out of warranty, but they would be happy to replace the defective unit for ~$1,000 or so.

As I am very cheap - I decided to go out this another way. I went to the Volvo website:

http://www.volvocars.us/_Tier3/ContactUs/

and emailed the customercare people at:

[email protected]

In my email, I gave them my cars details (model, Vin, miles, etc.) and told them that I have owned Volvo's since 1986, but that this would be the last one due to what I believed was a design fault that they are aware of. I concluded by asking them to evalute my situation and let me know if they could help me out.

They came back to me after consulting with the dealer and offered a compromise. If I let the dealer perform the 90K service (~$500), they would throw in, under warranty, a new Throttle body and programming (worth ~$1,000 - they say). I decided to go ahead as I needed to have the 90k service done anyway (although I was originally going to go to my local mechanic for less).

FYI - I had to sign the the warranty form and noticed that the dealer was only charging Volvo cars ~$600.

Basically, I am satisfied with the outcome and hope that this new throttle body last another 90-100k miles.

Regards,