2000 Volvo S70

CAR BEGAN TO LOSE ACCELERATION ON 10-15-05 AND WOULD TAKE A FULL 2 MIN TO REACH 55 MPH WITH ONLY MINIMAL THROTTLE DEPRESSION (ANY MORE THAN ONLY THE LEAST WOULD CAUSE THE DRIVE TRAIN TO JERK AND REFUSE TO PROPEL THE CAR AT ALL). IF THE CAR WAS PULLED OVER AND RESTARTED THE PROBLEM WOULD CORRECT ITSELF FOR A WHILE (SOMETIMES THE GAP IN BETWEEN MALFUNCTIONS WOULD BE SEVERAL HOURS INITIALLY) BUT WOULD ALWAYS RETURN. RAN TROUBLE CODES AND THE OXYGEN SENSOR WAS INITIALLY FAULTY. REPLACED THEN THE ENGINE WOULD IDLE ERRATICALLY UPON STARTUP, BUT AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME (5-15 MINUTES) IT WOULD ALL OF A SUDDEN CORRECT ITSELF - RACING THE ENGINE SEEMED TO SHORTEN THE TIME PERIOD, BUT YOU WOULD HAVE TO DEPRESS AND QUICKLY RELEASE THE GAS PEDAL IN ORDER TO GET THE RPM'S SIGNIFICANTLY HIGH ENOUGH TO FACILITATE THE SMOOTH OPERATION. ONCE THE ENGINE RAN FINE, IT WOULD OPERATE WELL AS LONG AS THE CAR WAS NEVER SHUT OFF (IT WAS RAN ON A JOURNEY OF 1,000 MILES AND OPERATED PERFECTLY NORMAL). THE MOMENT IT WAS SHUT DOWN, EVEN FOR THE BRIEFEST OF SPANS, IT WOULD ACT IN THE SAME MANNER WITH THE IDLE FLUCTUATING WILDLY, BUT SEEMED TO BE PRONE TO STALLING WHEN THE ENGINE WAS WARM/HOT. VOLVO WAS CONTACTED AND RECOMMENDED DEALER DIAGNOSIS TO DETERMINE THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM. WHEN THE CAR WAS BROUGHT IN FOR SERVICE, I WAS ASSURED THAT IT "COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE THE COMPUTER(ETM)". HOWEVER THERE WAS A SOFTWARE UPDATE INSTALLED (HMMMMM.....COULDN'T POSSIBLY, BUT LETS ADJUST IT....HMMMMMM ) WHICH CORRECTED THE ROUGH IDLE INITIALLY. ONLY PROBLEM IS NOW THE CAR WILL NOT REACH OR EXCEED 4,000 RPM EVEN WITH THE CAR IN PARK (NOT UNDER LOAD) AND WILL STALL JERK AND REFUSE TO ACCELERATE UNDER HARD PEDAL PRESSURE AND WILL NOT DRIVE ABOVE ABOUT 70 MPH ON THE HIGHWAY WITHOUT PROTESTATION, LOSS OF ACCELERATION OR JERKING. ALL OF THE DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODES STILL INDICATE THAT THE CYLINDERS ARE WILDING MISFIRING AND I'M GETTING SICK OF TRYING TO FIX VOLVO'S ENGINEERING PROBLEM. *NM

THEELECTRONIC THROTTLE SYSTEM (ETS) LIGHT HAS BEEN ON DASHBOARD INTERMITTENTLY SINCE A 50,000 MILES. THE CAR CURRENTLY HAS NEARLY 95,000 MILES. ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS THE TACHOMETER REACHED INTO THE RED LINE WHEN CRANKED WITHOUT ANY USE OF THE ACCELERATOR. IN TRAFFIC, WHEN BEGINNING TO COAST AT CRUISING SPEEDS, THE CAR WILL SURGE SLIGHTLY WITHOUT THE HELP OF THE ACCELERATOR. THE ETS LIGHT WILL APPEAR AND THEN THE PROBLEM WILL CEASE. TOOK THE VEHICLE TO DON BEYER VOLVO-DULLES ON JANUARY 18, 2005, AND AFTER BEING TOLD THE WARRANTY ON THE THROTTLE MODULE WAS EXTENDED, THE DEALER REFUSED TO FIX THE PROBLEM STATING THE APPROPRIATE CODES WERE NOT EVIDENT. HOWEVER, THE SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE SAID THE THROTTLE BODY NEEDED TO BE CLEANED, AND THAT THE UNIT WOULD EVENTUALLY FAIL. HE SAID THAT WHEN THE UNIT FAILED, DEFINED BY HIM AS THE CAR FAILING TO START OR STALLING WHILE DRIVING, THE DEALER WOULD THEN REPLACE IT. UNTIL THEN WOULD HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE UNIT TO FAIL, PUTTING MYSELF AND PASSENGERS IN DANGER OF THE CAR MALFUNCTIONING IN TRAFFIC.*AK

UNEXPLAINED, INVOLUNTARY ACCELERATION FROM LOW SPEED. 2000 VOLVO MODEL S70 PASSENGER CAR, AWD. DURING A SLOW-SPEED TURN THE VEHICLE ACCELERATED AT FULL THROTTLE. IMPACT WITH RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURE SEVERED A WHEEL AND BENT THE FRONT FRAME 90 DEGREES. WHAT HAPPENED: DURING A SLOW TURN INTO A NEIGHBORS DRIVEWAY, SPEED ABOUT 5 MPH, TURNING RIGHT, TOUCHING THE ACCELERATOR, THE CAR ENGINE ACCELERATED AT FULL SPEED. DESPITE FOOT FULLY INTO THE BRAKE THE CAR CONTINUED TO ACCELERATE 40-50 FEET UNTIL IMPACTING THE FOUNDATION OF THE HOUSE. SPEED A TIME OF IMPACT 40+ MPH. TRIED TO TURN OFF IGNITION BUT HIT HOUSE FIRST. CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE TO HOUSE AND CAR, WHICH WAS TOTALED BY THE INSURANCE COMPANY. REPORTED THROTTLE ACCELERATION PROBLEM TO VOLVO IN NEW JERSEY, THEY STATED NO SUCH PREVIOUS COMPLAINTS ABOUT UNEXPLAINED ACCELERATION. KNEW OF THE NHTSA RESEARCH INTO ACCELERATOR MODULE SLOWING UNEXPLAINED TO 5 MPH, BUT THEN SAW A NEWS REPORT ABOUT UNEXPLAINED ACCELERATION AND WANTED TO INCLUDE THIS CASE IN YOUR LIST. *JB

NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION: #1: IN EARLY 2005, AN INTERMITTENT PROBLEM BEGAN OCCURRING WITH THE IGNITION AND STARTING OF THE VEHICLE. #2: UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION THROUGH LOCAL VOLVO DEALERSHIPS, THE PROBLEM WAS IDENTIFIED AS THE IMMOBLIZER (ANTENNA RING) WHICH READS THE COMPUTER CHIP WITHIN THE KEY TO DETERMINE IF THE CORRECT KEY IS BEING USED TO START THE VEHICLE. INITIALLY, THE PROBLEM WAS INTERMITTENT BUT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY WORSE WITH AN INABILITY TO START THE VEHICLE. #3: VOLVO "IS" AWARE OF MY PROBLEM, HOWEVER, THE ONLY ASSISTANCE THEY HAVE PROVIDED IS TO TURN THE KEY BACK TO THE START POSITION, REMOVE THE KEY, TURN 180 DEGREES, RE-ENTER THE KEY AND THE VEHICLE SHOULD START. ALTHOUGH THIS IS ONE SOLUTION TO A RECURRING AND ON-GOING PROBLEM, IT DOES REQUIRE REPAIR AS THIS PROBLEM IS OEM EQUIPMENT INSTALLED BY VOLVO AND I BELIEVE REPRESENTS A SAFETY ISSUE. PLEASE HELP US...*NM

NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION: #1: IN MID/LATE 2003, THE INTERIOR LEATHER DOOR PANELS BEGAN TO "BUBBLE" OR PULL AWAY FROM THE DOOR FRAME. HAVING PURCHASED A FOUR DOOR MODEL, EACH DOOR HAD NOTICABLE DEFECTS WHICH BECAME SIGNIFICANT OVER A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. #2: UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION THROUGH LOCAL VOLVO DEALERSHIPS, THE "BUBBLES" WERE ACTUALLY DUE TO A POOR QUALITY ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY GLUE FROM EUROPE, THAT WAS USED TO ATTACH THE INTERIOR LEATHER DOOR PANELS TO THE DOOR FRAMES, WHICH VOLVO DID NOT APPARENTLY TEST IN THE UNITED STATES. AS FOR MY MODEL, THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE DEFECT RESULTED IN SEVERE FAILURE OF THE INTERIOR LEATHER DOOR PANELS. ALTHOUGH MY MODEL YEAR IS A 2000, I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS HAS ALSO HAPPENED ON BOTH EARLIER AND LATER MODEL YEAR VEHICLES. #3: VOLVO "IS" AWARE OF THIS DEFECT AND HOW EXTENSIVE IT HAS AFFECTED ITS VEHICLES INCLUDING THE MODEL YEAR 2000. IN SPEAKING WITH LOCAL VOLVO DEALERSHIPS, VOLVO MADE A SUBTLE ATTEMPT TO CORRECT THE PROBLEMS INCLUDING SUPPLYING THE DEALERSHIPS WITH A REPAIR KIT THAT EACH DEALERSHIP WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLETING. ALTHOUGH INITIALLY REPORTED TO VOLVO, MY COMPLAINTS WERE NOT IDENTIFIED AS SAFETY RELATED ISSUES BUT RATHER COSMETIC AND REQUIRED APPROXIMATELY TWO YEARS BEFORE FINALLY AGREEING TO A THREE WAY SPLIT IN THE COST TO REPLACE THE INTERIOR LEATHER DOOR PANELS. ALTHOUGH THE DEFECT IS COSMETIC IN NATURE, IT WAS TO OEM PARTS THAT VOLVO INSTALLED WITH THE VEHICLE AND NOT OPTIONAL UPGRADES ON MY PART. PLEASE HELP US...

THE ELECTRONIC THROTTLE MODULE ON MY 2000 VOLVO S70 MALFUNCTIONED CAUSING INABILITY TO ACCELERATE. MILEAGE = 61,694. THE ETS LIGHT CAME ON THE DAY PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT. ETM WAS REPLACED. AFTER THE ETM MODULE WAS REPLACED, THE ELECTRONIC WINDOWS WOULD NOT FUNCTION. I WAS INFORMED BY THE VOLVO TECHNICIAN THAT THIS WAS A COINCIDENCE AND NOT RELATED TO THE ETM REPLACEMENT. PRIOR TO ETM REPLACEMENT, I HAD NO PROBLEMS WITH THE ELECTRONIC WINDOWS. LAST WEEK WHILE I WAS DRIVING ALONE IN MY 2000 S70 VOLVO, THE PASSENGER SEAT FULLY RECLINED ON ITS OWN. THIS INCIDENT REMINDED ME OF A SIMILAR SCENARIO ONE WEEK AFTER PURCHASING THE VEHICLE. THE DRIVER'S SEAT FULLY RECLINED WITHOUT ANYONE TOUCHING THE ELECTRONIC SEAT CONTROL. IN DECEMBER 2000, THE TURN SIGNALS AND HAZARD LIGHTS SWITCH WAS FOUND TO BE FAULTY AND WAS REPLACED UNDER THE WARRANTY. THEN, IN MAY, 2001, THE DRIVERS TURN SIGNAL STARTED BLINKING RAPIDLY WHICH WAS REPLACED UNDER THE RECALL CAMPAIGN 101A AND 101B. THIS MAKES ME BELIEVE MY ENTIRE VEHICLE'S ELECTRONIC SYSTEM WAS DEFECTIVE FROM THE DAY I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE. *NM

REPEATED FAILURE AND REPLACEMENT OF ELECTRONIC THROTTLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. SINCE THE MOST RECENT REPLACEMENT 3 MONTHS AGO, THE CAR HAS STUTTERED WHEN ROUNDING TIGHTER CORNERS. NOW, THE CAR STALLS ON TIGHT CORNERS, CAUSING A LOSS OF POWER STEERING AND BRAKES LEADING TO A LOSS OF VEHICLE CONTROL. A CRASH WAS AVOIDED BY NEARBY VEHICLES WHEN THE CAR STALLED MID CORNER, SENDING THE CAR AND DRIVER INTO THE OPPOSITE LANE. THE DEALER/MANUFACTURER CONTINUES TO OFFER REPLACEMENT, BUT THE REPLACEMENTS QUICKLY WEAR CAUSING SIMILAR RESULTS. *NM