- the contact owns a 2001 Volvo S40. The vehicle hesitated when accelerating. The vehicle idled roughly. The dealer could not find anything wrong. The check engine light started turning on. The failure mileage was 36,000. The dealer replaced the O2 sensor the vehicle continued to hesitate, and the check engine light still came on intermittently. The failure mileage was 29,000 and the current mileage was 86000.

- Princeton Junction, NJ, USA

: the contact stated the windshield wiper linkages are out of sync and lock together which causes a loss of visibility. This problem occurred on both the driver and passenger side windshield wiper linkage arms. After the first incident the contact called the manufacturer's customer service department. They instructed the contact to open the housing on the windshield wiper linkage arm and tighten the bolt. The contact did as instructed on the driver's side and this corrected the problem. Afterwards, the problem returned to the passenger side linkage. The contact took the vehicle to an independent repair shop, and they performed the same repair that was instructed by manufacturer's customer service department. However, the problem recurred. The engine would hesitate when the consumer attempted to accelerate. The dealer replaced the oxygen sensor. Updated 01/25/06.

- Staten Island, NY, USA

I own a 2001 Volvo S40. In early April 2005, my vehicle was diagnosed as being in need of oxygen sensors, which was the reason for my "check engine" to be activated. The problem is that my car had approximately 25,000 miles on it. As of mid October 2005, the "check engine" light has been reactivated and the vehicle was recently diagnosed at the Volvo dealership as needing new oxygen sensors-again. Currently, my car has 32,000 miles and is going on its third set of oxygen sensors. The parts and labor that are required to fix the problem are truly expensive. All my complaints to Volvo have fallen on deaf ears. I truly believe that this problem is a result of poor engineering skills, or worse yet, intelligent engineering that is intended to keep the customers spending on costly repairs.

- San Marcos, CA, USA