Consumer was driving on the highway at 75-80 mph and rear ended the vehicle in front. When this happened the driver side air bag did not deploy.

- Auburn, AL, USA

I was driving North on the garden state parkway when the side curtain airbag on the driver's side of the car spontaneously deployed. The car was a lease that I had just agreed to buy that morning, so I called Volvo Consumer Affairs the next day (4/16/04) and was told to bring it to the smythe dealership so that they could send an inspector to investigate. I also told Volvo that I had no intention of buying the car anymore since the car was defective. I left the car at the smythe dealership on 4/17/04 and explained to them the situation and that Volvo would be sending an inspector. I called Volvo on 4/19/04 to let them know the car was there and available for inspection. I was told it would take 10 days to investigate. It took Volvo until the first week of June to get back to me with results of the investigation. I followed up with them several times and they gave me several different excuses like they did not know the car was at the dealership and that the dealer mistakenly sent the car to milwaukee. In the end once they found the car and investigated, Volvo told me that they could not determine that it was product failure because the car had passed through too many hands. I said that it was their fault it passed through too many hands. I also said an airbag should not deploy unless their is impact. They said that this was untrue and sometimes they deploy due to problems with the sensors. I then said that sensors are also part of the product and if there is a problem with a sensor it is product failure. They said that external forces could affect the sensors, so it is not product failure. They have done nothing to correct the failure except tell me they would pay for my disposition fee and overage miles if I lease another Volvo. When I had decided to buy the car in April, I would not have had to pay either of those, so basically vovlo is doing nothing for me because in their opinion the incident was not product failure.

- Union, NJ, USA