I'm new here, but I have been lurking for awhile now I have a serious issue now, though. I took my 1999 S80 T6 to my non-dealer mechanic to have the timing belt replaced and the power window on the pass. side repaired. He called me today and said that he got out of the car, closed the door, and the airbags in the car deployed. He said he called Volvo to see if they would do anything about it...they won't even talk to him about it. Apparently, the car's interior is in pretty bad shape now from the impact, and he's trying to see if his insurance will cover it.

Anyone ever seen this happen before? Should Volvo be responsible for something like this (even though we are waayyyy out of warranty)? Help Pleeease!!

Thank you

 

Wow I don't even know what to say.........are there any other shops around you?

 

Why would you believe that Volvo would repair something that they had no control over? Apparently your air bag system was fine until you allowed a non Volvo mechanic to "work" on your vehicle. You bet that the mechanic who worked on your Volvo is responsible for the deployment of the airbags. It would be covered under his garage keepers legal liability policy.......................if he purchased one.

r.

 

It is the shops problem not yours.

 

I wasn't thinking Volvo was responsible, but the mechanic called them...that's why I was asking. I agree that the mechanic's insurance should cover it. Just wanted to get everyone else's opinion. Thanks!! We're just so glad that we weren't in the car with our babies when it happened!

 

it sounds like he messed up some of the airbag sensors and when closed the doer they engaged this is a first time see that for me volvo airbags are not easy to set off it takes a very large impact to set them off a fenderbender wont do it he probable nocked the sensor in pass door loose slammed the door pissed off at how aggervating volvos are to work on and poof airbag deluxe he is at fault and he has to fix it period.

 

Haha! I'm sure that's a very likely scenario, indeed. We still need to get the details on what he was doing when it happened. Maybe when we take it to Volvo they can check the computer for any messages indicating impact. This should be interesting...I'll keep you guys posted.

 

I thought that I would add a post script to my earlier posting. I truly was not attempting to allude that an independent shop was not proficient in repairing Volvos................for instance TECH is an independent. I was merely suggesting that Volvo North America was not going to honor a repair that was not made in a Volvo dealership.................not that they would honor their mistake either. Nashville is not that far from Florida...................next time drive to TECH's shop?????????????

r.

 

Yup, he must had said "piece of sh*t" and slammed the door. Yup, it will cost him. I'm sure he'll never work on a Volvo again nor recommend it to anyone.

However, I didn't noticed any impact sensor in the driver side door when I had to change the door lock assembly. I don't think there's any sensor in the door itself. Even though I was working on the driver side, but if there's one on the passenger side, I'm sure there would be one on the driver side.

 

Volvo came and got my S80 from the mechanic and fixed it. Volvo Corp. picked up the tab, which they said was over $3000 in parts alone. And it was only the drivers' side curtain airbags that were deployed. The diagnosis was a "faulty airbag sensor". They also insisted on providing us with a loaner car while our Volvo was in the shop. (It took two weeks for the new driver's seat to come in).

I didn't know if anyone was still interested in this, but I thought I would update just in case it could help anyone else in the future.

Thanks everyone for replying to my post!!

 

thats great..... Would you bring your car to that mechanic again or any other independent mechanic?

 

Sure, we'll use him in the future. He's done work on all our cars, and he's always been honest with us. Plus...it wasn't his fault this happened.

 

A sensor doesnt just go bad and deploy airbags, the airbag deployed and caused that code when the ignition cycled, in our volvo training, there have been RARE cases where a door has been slammed shut so hard it deployed the airbags, Also 850's have a problem that in RARE cases if the driver and pass get out of the car and shut the doors at the same time, the airbags could deploy

 

Well, I don't know much about airbags. That's just what Volvo told us. Hmmm.

 

Sounds like a good deal Glad Volvo helped you out on it!!!

 

Another thing most ppl dont know is that when a SRS light is on, that doesnt mean the SRS wont work, what it means is that there is a fault in the system, and that the airbags could deploy at anytime. thats why when a car is brought to a dealer and has a SRS light on, the cust is NOT allowed to pick the car up or leave with it without signing a consent for knowing what could happen

 

Glad it worked out for you. Thanks for the update. Something to look for just in case.

regards


jim