Hi, I drive a yr 2000 Volvo V7 which I have had since 2002 at 15,000 miles. It is now 129,500 miles and the only major repair has been a replacement A/C unit about 4 years ago. Now the ETS also known as ETM light has come on and my garage repairer told me only a main Volvo dealer can fix it as it requires software and linking up to a special computer programme. The local dealer has quoted £GBPounds 390.30 including 20% VAT. however in reading about this I see that very often the throttle simply needs to be cleaned and sometimes it only needs a new software download.

I also see that in 2005/6 Volvo admitted that there was a fault in the ETS of these Volvos and circulated owners offering to replace the ETS free of charge if it was under ten yrs old and/or had less than 200,000 miles on the clock. This was not offered to UK owners.

Under the sale of goods act and various other UK laws however, Volvo are liable for supplying a vehicle with a faulty part knowing that it will have to be replaced. The consumer laws (not applicable to businesses) make it quite clear that if a product has a known fault at or after the sale regardless of warranty or insurance conditions the supplier/manufacturer is liable.

My simple question is do I:

1 Write to Volvo UK and ask them to replace the part FOC pointing out that they didn't write and inform me of the problem when it became known in 2005/6

OR

2. await their resounding No Way and then set the lawyers on to them ( I'm covered for £100k legal costs)

I have bought three other Volvos all under 12,000 miles in the last ten years and they are all running with no problems so far.

 

the car is 12 years old already with 129k miles and has performed wonderful for you since 2002. So why are you complaining? The ETM warranty only applied in the USA, if the ETS light was on, less than 200k miles and less than 10 years old. Even if you were in the USA, you are out of luck with the warranty

You need a new ETM, cleaning it probably won't help you, but try it yourself.

If you are keeping the car for several years, then send the ETM to Xemodex and upgrade it for life. Not cheap, about $600 us dollars but does not require software download.

So save some aggravation and money and avoid writing letters and going to lawyers, you"ll loose.

 

Thank you for your reply.

My point is that Volvo knew about the fault in 2006 and did not advise UK Volvo owners . Under English law they would have been and still are liable for the fault regardless of time. Had the fault not been recognised as a generic fault and manufacturing error then I would not have a case but the proof that it was known by Volvo is in the USA correspondence.

I won't be wasting anything by using a lawyer as my legal insurance will cover costs. I would prefer Volvo to do the right thing and replace the part FOC.