Congrats!

Now if only I could get Volvo Canada to admit fault to a wiring harness problem but it's not likely to happen. The main and secondary ($1600CDN and $800CDN, labour $1100CDN plus parts unknown yet) wiring harness in my '98 V70 AWD has suffered a melt-down from some short. I've since found other owners with similar problems. The case i'm bringing to Volvo is that the fuse should have protected the circuit, but it did not and therefore my opinion is it's a design fault. The repaires will be completed on Dec 31/01 (car towed to dealer Dec 3/01). The dealer has been instructed to save all parts removed from the car. My next move is to find a testing lab that can determine if the wiring was substandard (ie: below current capacity of fuse rating). I've done this before when I worked as a hardware design engineer and required independent verification of design problems. Amazing what these labs can uncover. Back in the '80, Volvo had a recall for wiring harness after class action law-suits. It seems they didn't learn from that experience.

This is only one of many problems I've had with this car. I'm in the process of designing a Web page (with a hit counter) that will outline my problems, including other owners, and show the world. I'm going to register the site with as many search engines as I can find and also email Volvo of it's existance.

Just starting my campaign.

Regards,
Nick

I bought a '98 V70 in June of 97, and by October 97 it legally qualified as a lemon. It indisputably qualified for the lemon law, and I talked to Volvo before getting a lawyer. Volvo told me they would upgrade me to a new V90 at their cost, or I could hire a lawyer to represent me, go through legal proceedings, and get my money back. I opted for the upgrade (which is a whole other story because it was just as unreliable as the V70, except it never qualified as a lemon). I had to sign a similar agreement, which I had interpreted as a covenant not to pursue further legal action against Volvo. I tracked my old car, it was sold on the used car lot of the same dealer without a lemon title. I looked it up later on Carfax, and there is no acknowledgement of a lemon title. I'd guess the same will happen to your car.

What was wrong with the C70, coupe or conv ? If a convertable..........say no more as I understand :) They suck! (putting it mildly)

I too will NEVER buy a new car UNLESS it's a "cool car" like a new 'vette, Porsche turbo 911 type, Viper or Saleen S7 providing that the money falls out of the sky someday ;)

As for what'll happen to that "lemon" car, yes....it'll just be resold like all the others. They're never scrapped or sent back to where they came from with a letter like "try again!!!" which is how things should be, but not in the real world.

I feel the same way about new houses too as I hear similar new house horror stories as with new cars. At least with the older car or house, you see what you're buying and understand the fact that it's used and thus might need a little TLC to make it as you'ld like. With new stuff, you're paying premium $$ and expect perfection, which rarely happens anymore in this world.

Appreciated your post and also to the below "S40 Sucks" thread -wherein VCNA swapped a new S60 for an S40 - and the "My Car Is A Lemon" thread. Makes me wonder if maybe, just maybe Wolfgang Ritzle is doing something and there is some hope for Volvo NA....

First would be Customer Service. Now if they can just bolt the things together a little better.

-Groundhog

'98 V70T5M, 84k