Hello - I am generally a satisfied Volvo Owner - but are now seeking help on Technical problem.
Quite simply my new (8000 miles - 5 months) Volvo V50 has twice suffered brake failure within 4 weeks and Volvo cannot offer a reason. The Servo assistance fails leaving only manual braking.
Has another Member had a similar problem?

:cat: Hi there DGA9633. :00000732: to Volvo forums.

:liebe011: for joining us.

I moved this topic to the V50 forum. Hopefully, somebody there shall reply to your question.

However, if it is the brakes-I suggest you do something very serious very soon. It will be too late after an accident.

Please keep us posted with your progress.

Cheers :right:

Unfortunately, dear DGA9633, I am not sure I can say I am a generally satisfied Volvo owner anymore. I was in the first 2 months after purchasing my V50 T5 2005 and before the car started to have problems.

Below is the list of issues I had with the car during the 7 months of ownership:

1. The radio didn't work as expected - software upgrade was performed and fixed
2. Cold start issue (SSS syndrome) - software upgrade was performed - it did not reocurr since
3. Radio interupts randomly over road bumps on AM only (FM and CD are fine) - not fixed yet; the dealer tries to figure out what's wrong
4. Key locked in the ignition switch, couldn' get it out - ignition switch had to be replaced
5. Fuel line had to be replaced due to recall
6. Engine rattling - had to replace a plastic air pipe
7. The cargo cover came without a handle and Volvo Canada says there is none even though the marking where to cut the hole and assemble the handle exists
8. The LCD on the central console went completely blank several times. It did not reoccur in the last couple of weeks or so

Not sure if I've missed anything else ....

Luckly I didn't have to pay for any of the above for the car is still under warranty. However, I have spent more time at the dealer in the past 7 months than I did with my Plymouth Breeze '99 in the last 6 years which has 220,000 km on board and runs indeed like a "breeze". I am very serious when I'm saying that I had less issues with the Plymouth than with the Volvo where the last one is a brand new car.

What bugs me is that I've payed $44,000 CDN for the Volvo compared to $14,000 for the Plymouth. I admit, the fun of driving a Volvo is unique, however, the quality of my V50 is below Plymouth's given the many issues and I don't think it is worth the money so far.

The only hope I have is that after all the fixes prior to the basic warranty worns out the car will be one reliable indeed. Thank God I got also the extended warranty! :amen:

I hope you're not going to have my issues :)

Cheers, Rasculatul

Hi,
My wife had a similar problem whilst driving down a steep hill!!
The dealer took the car away for 3 days and found no problem as it seemed to rectify itself whilst on the back of the tow truck???

Now there are several electronic errors on the dashboard which seem to appear and then disappear.......see my post on Jul 28th.

Up until now I have been very happy with such a well appointed high spec family car.

Obrien

Is this normal? I am interested in the V50 (this year or next year when we get rid of the jetta) and seeing the Volvo dealer is 20 minutes away I don't want to use up my 10,500 miles a year on driving back and forth to the dealer. I know they have Vallet service and loaners but still...

Bill

Hi There,

I just registered tonight to find out if any other volvo owners had suffered this same problem....!

I took delivery of my new 07 model V50 2.0D 6-speed manual on 29th March. After 2 weeks/1200 miles, the brake servo failed 1st thing in the morning leaving a rock hard brake pedal which I could barely work. The servo started working again after a few attempts at braking.

The car was recovered and I was loaned a brand new 07 model S40 2.0D Sport 6-speed manual while the dealer tried to discover the fault. Guess what.....the S40 has just done eaxctly the same thing this morning, again on first applctaion of the brakes! Car has done 1400 miles.

My dealer says that there is "no known problem" which I now find hard to believe because its happened to you twice and to me twice in different cars!

Before I found this forum, I Googled another web page which talks about about older model S40/V40 diesels where the brake servo vacuum pump failed and had to be replaced as a mod. Maybe these are suffering the same problem?

Thankfully, no one was hurt in my two episodes but my wife has some rather dirty underwear to wash! I will let you know what the dealer says. I am now in another brand new loan car V50 2.0 D Sport with 900 miles on the clock....I will be testing my brakes each morning when I set off!

Cheers

Hi guys, 1st post also...

I had the same problem with my MY2005 S40. It went to the dealer for this, but I was still having this problem from time to time (always just after I started the engine).

As I was worried about this, I asked Volvo to take it back and make me a proposal for a new one. They took it back about half the price I paid less than 2 years earlier, and I bought a brand new MY2007 V50.

An guess what? after 30.000km, I've already had this braking assistance failure 7 times this last month!

I have to go back to the dealer with it but I don't want to take a day off to go to the dealer without being assured they have a solution for this problem.

So... did anybody could have this repaired?

hi all.

Dealers seem to be as unreliable as ever.

20d v50 have the brake problem only on cold start. the fix is a new servo.