2000 Volvo ("V") S40.on below date I exit. Hwy after driving normal&within speed limit&park at a gas pump.I was at pump for 30 sec. When I heard "bang", "pop", "hiss",& front passenger side of car dipped down.tire had gone flat in 2 seconds.I & employees tried to change tire. We could not pull tire free. Coil around strut snapped&when unwinding (I assume), coil went through one side of back of tire & came out other side.tire was being held onto car by coil. Car was towed to nearest garage about 50 ft. Away.wasn't towed to nearest V dlr for many reasons Inc. Dealer was at least 15 miles away, was 3:00 am by the time I could get a tow, & dlr had damaged my car on at least 2 occasions when I brought it there for service.tire that was punctured was less then 2 mon. Old because dealer had punctured it when I brought my car in for recall.I asked garage to keep detailed records of repairs, take pics if they had a digital camera, &save all parts so they could be exam. To determine why they failed.garage replaced pretty much the whole front end suspension on both sides.mechanic couldn't say why coil failed, but said (bearings were missing from top of strut (?)).I cld V on 8/2/04 & talked to sam. Told me that V wouldn't be able to determine how failure occrd since I had not had car fixed at V & that V would not reimburse me for over $1300 in repairs cuz I did not go to a V dealer. I told him V needed to find out why coil snapped because failure is virtually unheard of on other cars. Told me he would look into sending a field rep out to look at parts, all of which I saved.NHTSA needs to investigate complaints V has rec'd about this dangerous problem so it can be corrected. Had failure occurred 60 seconds sooner, I probably would not be alive right now, or would be very seriously injured. V does not seem to be taking this prob. Seriously & should investigate to determine if there is a common defect in part & reimburse me for having problem fixed.

- Basking Ridge, NJ, USA