My driver seat belt just locked up and I am unable to get it to release. All of the housing inside car appears to be cracking. I have had the two front windows repaired over and over again. And now I can't even let my front windows down. I have also paid to have the throttle body repaired. Not to mention how many times I have had to replace the O2 sensors.

- Chattanooga, TN, USA

Since I bought my car from the Volvo dealer last winter it has stalled on me at low rpms it also surges forward almost causing me to hit cars in front of me I brought it back to them and the dealers told me its normal because its fuel injected and they wont do anything about it.. this is very dangerous.

- Hugo, MN, USA

Driving on freeway at night, experienced a sudden loss of power. Engine check light came on. Fortunately coasted to a stop on an exit ramp. Upon stopping observed smoke coming through the edges of the hood. Turned off the ignition and exited the car. Noticed a flame under the engine compartment. Within one minute the front end of the car burst into flames and burned in a bright yellow fireball estimated to be 20 feet high. It burned until the fire trucks arrived 20 minutes later. The heat was extremely intense. The hood vaporized, metal parts of the engine melted, tires exploded. Car had a full tank of gas and strongly suspect malfunction of fuel system. Had we been trapped in the car on the freeway, there could have been four fatalities.

- Gig Harbor, Wa, WA, USA

Driving in the city and when trying to stop on a traffic light the brakes became hard and engine was not running well. When I tried to drive off in the green light the speed control of the gas pedal was very chaotic. I got a message of engine system service required. I took the car to the local Volvo dealer and he diagnosed a faulty throttle ETM asking 2000 $ to replace. After researching I found that there was already a recall on that by Volvo and when I asked the dealer he said that this was true but my car was more than 10 years old ( although he could have informed me about that in the first place). He informed me that a software service on the ETM of my car was done in 2006 ( after the recall?) but this did not fix the problem as apparently the problem is with the ETM design ( faltering potentiometer). This car is very dangerous and it will probably go to the junkyard, but we should be concerned by all Volvo remaining on the street with faulty ETM's, which the numerous complaints filed at NHTSA show.

- Greer, SC, USA

The contact owns a 2000 Volvo S80. While driving approximately 30 mph, the vehicle stalled. Upon restart the contact was able to continue driving but the check engine light illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle would also would not respond when pressure was applied to the accelerator pedal. The failures occurred intermittently until the vehicle would not longer start at all. The failure mileage was 130,000 and the current mileage was 136,000.

- Napa, CA, USA

2000 S80 Volvo electronic throttle body, car stalling of the freeway with children in car. Volvo malufactor defected part and they continue to charge their customer for parts and maintenance of this defected part.

- La Mirada , CA, USA

Driving along down an interstate I hit the gas to drive around a car when my transmission came out of gear and the service engine light came on I lost all power to the wheels and was almost rear ended I had no power to make it to the side of the road it is kicking back in but I can not drive above 20 mph or above 3000 RPM or it will slip out and red line also my engine mount has broken for the second time when it slipped out my S 80 T6 is becoming a paper weight.

- Montgomery, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2000 Volvo S80. While driving at an unknown speed, the contact noticed smoke and pulled the vehicle off the road. He opened the hood and noticed flames. He was unsuccessful at extinguishing the fire and called the fire department, who stated that the cooling fan caused an electrical fire. The contact's mechanic informed him of a recall regarding the cooling fan. The VIN and NHTSA campaign id number were unknown. The failure and current mileages were 78,000.

- Tuallatin, OR, USA

The contact owns a 2000 Volvo S80. When approaching a complete stop, the vehicle lunges forward. Secondly, the vehicle would stall while idling and then restart immediately. The engine light would illuminate simultaneously. He took the vehicle to the dealer and they stated that the exhaust manifold, turbo back field, and torque mount needed to be replaced, as well as perform a tc-B service all at the cost of over $3,320. The vehicle has not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 193,008. Updated 10/07/08. Updated 10/08/08.

- Highland Park, MI, USA

ETM (electric throttle module intake manifold) needs to be replaced! (Volvo only has a very limited extended warranty issued on 4/2006. The ETM was cleaned 3 different times since 8/8/02; and a software upgrade was completed on 10/19/06. My last 2 complaints to my Volvo dealership mechanic has resulted in denial on 10/19/06 and refusal to repair under the extended warranty on 8/18/08 due to unretrievable computer codes (Volvo admits the problem was still an ETM problem). [this has occurred every year for the last 6 years!!!] on several occasions, accidents almost happened because the vehicle either stalls on the freeway at 55-60mph, or vehicle suddenly surges at a red light or stop sign. According to vexedvolvo.com, the real cause is due to a wearing out of the "potentiometer films in the throttle position sensors". a simple ETM "cleaning" will not suffice.

- Flushing, NY, USA

Paperwork was completed, I was on my way out, the salesman said, "make sure you put some oil in the engine, it has no oil, we didn't have a chance to inspect the car." He went on to say, "bring it in sometime next week and we'll inspect it."car was brought in following week, they had no time to inspect it. It went on for three weeks. The engine temperature would rise very quickly, I pulled over and turned off the car. This happened five times. It was brought to a separate car repair shop and they concluded that the cars ECM (electronic computer module) isn't working correctly. None of the gauges are correct, including the gas and engine temperature gauge. They said that the engine could be overheating and it wouldn't show up on the computer, or it might not be overheating and it might show up as overheating. Then the dealer did their inspection and said that the car was "fine." I asked for diagnostic results and they said that they have no way of printing their diagnostic results. Later, the car started saying "high engine temp" again. I arrived at the dealership and told them the problem. One of the sales men took the car on a test drive. On the freeway, the car was doing just fine. Once the car was going about 35mph it started signaling overheating. Back at the dealership the salesman left the car running while the car was stating in the dash "high engine temp." They proceeded to let the car run. The salesman shut off the vehicle, opened the hood and smoke was rising out of everywhere and all the coolant pipes blew and coolant was leaking everywhere. I was in shock. They basically blew up my car. I walked inside and the salesman commented to me, "I did that so he [the dealer] would give you another car."the dealer refused to take the car back. They stated that the only thing that needed to be fixed was a "fan control" because the fan wasn't working properly.

- Reno, NV, USA

The contact owns a 2000 Volvo S80. While driving 35 mph, all of the dashboard warning lights illuminated and the engine completely failed. The contact was able to pull to the side of the road. The vehicle would not restart and was towed to the dealer. The dealer stated that the engine needed to be replaced and that the cause of failure was a failed timing belt tensioner. The current and failure mileages were 97,000.

- Alexandria , VA, USA

I get performance reduced messages on my 2000 Volvo S80 message console, and the car will slow down almost to a stop. This has happened more than 100 times to me - even at highway speeds. I have to put the hazard lights on, and make my way off of the road on to the shoulder. If I turn the car off, and restart the car, (often several times), the car seems to "reset" and I can often drive on. Westside Volvo of cleveland, Ohio has quoted me between $1,200 and $2,000 to fix this problem, and has told me it is the "ETM". my car has 106,000 miles on it. The dealer has told me that the unit was "designed only to last until 100,000" miles, and that only a Volvo dealer can replace it - because of computer software that must be encoded on the part. I purchased this car used with 59,000 miles on it, thinking I would get a car that might last me ("Volvo - for life..." happens to be the company's marketing slogan). However, I cannot currently afford the repair, and I cannot afford to get another car. I am forced to drive this car and it is unsafe. I have had more than 5 incidents where there was almost a crash - mostly due to this "performance reduced" happening at highway speeds on multiple lane highways in heavy traffic. Please do something about this - please help me. Thank you.

- Amherst, OH, USA

2000 Volvo S80 T6 sedan - car began to jerk as though missing; got progressively worse, even after complete maintenance update. Has essentially gone to no power and I'V had to coast to the side of the highway - turn off- wait - restart and then run awhile longer. Local mechanic says its a throttle module or my main computer and must be fixed at dealer (220 miles away) because no one else can program the new module when replacing.

- Idaho Falls, ID, USA

This car (2000 Volvo S80 turbo) has been in my family since it was brand new. First it was my mother's when it was purchased in 2000. Then in the summer of 2005, it became mine. Both while my mother owned it, and now while I've owned it there have been a number of problems. The car has never been in an accident of any sort. Stalling is the biggest problem. Unpredictably the car when decreasing speed will just stall and the car stops. Every time this has happened if the car is put into park, turned off, and then turned back on it works fine, however it is very dangerous for something like this to happen. Also, twice since I have had it there has been no oil in my car. No lights come up to warn me and thankfully both times I got it checked out before my car over heated. Another instance, there was a leak in the automatic steering. Today I went to start my car and a warning message came up saying "low battery voltage" and my car did not feel right when I drove it. I never left any lights on or anything of that matter that would cause a drain in the battery and the battery was just replaced not too long ago. I think that was my breaking point with this car. For a car that is only 5 years old, and is supposed to be that great of a car. Its awful.

- Cape May, NJ, USA

My 200 Volvo S80 stalled intermittently in 2003, so I had the throttle body 2000 cleaned at 48,989 miles when my car was still under warranty. A service on April 19, 2005 showed "no codes" though my car has been stalling periodically again since March of this year in a variety of dangerous settings: Pulling up to a crowded curb at my kids' school, attempting to stop at a stop sign in a crowded intersection, driving 40 mph on a busy street, driving around a traffic circle in a mountain town, etc. My car has stalled 10-15 times since March. Each time, it was extremely difficult to steer, to brake and attempt to put my car in neutral and restart it when it stalled. Almost all of the times it stalled, it created a dangerous situation for me, for other drivers around me and for pedestrians. A visit to the service center today reveals that I need to spend $1,150 to replace the throttle body. I understand that, in time, the new throttle body will have the same problems as the old one. This is an extremely dangerous situation; I try to avoid driving near Volvo if possible.

- Greenwood Village, CO, USA

The engine shut down suddenly with loss of power steering and power brakes once while on a ramp entering the expressway and a second time while on the expressway. Each almost caused an accident. I was able to re-start the engine. This happened shortly after buying the car and the ETM and maf were replaced then. Several times over the years since there has been a variation of engine speed while driving at high speed. The dealer was never able to identify the problem. I just had this fixed (at a cost of $1,326.68) since it is no longer under warranty.

- Boston, MA, USA

The contact stated the vehicle intermittently stalled/died and lost power due to throttle body failure.

- San Fransico, CA, USA

I was traveling on interstate 20 from atlanta, ga headed to charleston, SC. Between augusta, ga and columbia, SC, the car lost power as if someone were applying the brakes while I had my foot on the gas pedal. Suddenly, I had a warning light come on that said "performance reduced". I wound up having to locate the local Volvo dealer in columbia where I left my car for repair and had to proceed to charleston in a rented vehicle. This happened late in the day on Friday and I had to be in charleston for a meeting on Saturday morning. The "throttle body control" was deemed to be the problem and the dealer replaced it at a cost of close to $1,000. When I asked what would have happened if I had continued to drive I was told that the car eventually would have lost total power and died. Unfortunately, I do not have the part that was replaced. When I read about your investigation, I was outraged that this is obviously a dangerous and fairly common problem.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

The vehicle was a 2000 Volvo S80. The vehicle stalled and lost power on three occasions.

- Sandy , UT, USA