30th Mar 2014, 19:25
Really? Like Volvo is the ONLY car manufacturer to try and save product recalls... You're really telling me that you won't buy a Volvo because of safety reasons? Probably the safest car builder in the world... OK, let's all go and buy a Ford who cuts costs in EVERY area, or a Toyota who can't appear to build a reliable car anymore either. We could buy a Merc, but will be paying through the nose to keep it maintained, or a GM car (whose gearboxes have ruined the reputation of the S80/XC90 because of their failures).
I would have an S80 and travel in comfort and safety without paying high costs all day long. The ETM's fail - we all know they do, so just change them. It's not a big job and parts are getting cheaper as the car gets older.
By the way, we are talking about cars over 10 years old here!!! If I had bought a 2001 Merc, it would have rusted away by now, whereas the Volvo would be pretty much rust free - so which manufacturer is penny pinching there?
29th Mar 2014, 12:00
The electronic throttle module you refer to is made by Magnetti Marelli (the Italian prince of darkness). The ETM actually has advanced diagnostics to audit performance and it throws a warning light and goes into limp-home mode when it detects a threshold of significant errors. That's when you pony up the big bucks to get the ETM replaced, and they are 100% failure so it's not a matter of if but when it fails.
You are mistaken concerning Volvo replacing ETMs in the US. Volvo conducted a service campaign that involved reflashing the ETM firmware to permit the ETM to accept a higher threshold of errors before it determines that something is wrong and goes into limp-home. What this means is that the car will be running with significant ETM drivability malfunctions, yet it won't trigger a warning light and Volvo can tell customers and the government that everything is OK.
You need to ask yourself if you're good to accept a car company that avoids any responsibility for the mistake in your driveway.