NHTSA Complaint #10070561 — 2000 VOLVO V70

I READ ABOUT YOUR COMPANY IN THIS PAST SUNDAY'S PHILADELPHIA INQUIERER. THE AIR CONDITIONING IN MY VOLVO NO LONGER WORKS, AND I NEEDED TO REPLACE THE THROTTLE BODY CONTROL. THERE ARE TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETINS ON BOTH OF THESE ITEMS. I HAVE NOT MADE THE AIR CONDITIONING REPAIR YET BECAUSE THE ESTIMATE IS $1600. I WROTE VOLVO A LETTER ON 5/15/03 ABOUT THE AIR CONDITIONING PROBLEM & ASKED THEM TO CALL ME. THEY WROTE ME A LETTER DATED 5/19/03 & ESSENTIALLY DENIED ANY RESPONSIBILITY. I REPLIED ON 6/5/03 & AGAIN ASKED THAT THEY CALL ME, BUT THEY DID NOT. I CALLED VOLVO ON 7/8/03 AND THEY SAID THEY WOULD NOT CHANGE THEIR POSITION. IN LOOKING FOR THE TSBS ON MY AIR CONDITIONING PROBLEM, I ALSO FOUND ONE ON A THROTTLE CONTROL PROBLEM THAT I HAD PREVIOUSLY REPLACED. THERE WERE DEFINITELY DRIVABILITY PROBLEMS WITH THE THROTTLE BODY BEFORE I HAD THE REPAIR MADE. THE PROBLEM WAS ONCE I STARTED GETTING UP TO AROUND 55-60 MPH, THE DRIVING WOULD HESITATE. I ORIGINALLY THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE A TRANSMISSION PROBLEM, AS THE PROBLEM DROVE SIMILAR TO A TRANSMISSION "SLIPPING". THEY REPLACED THE THROTTLE BODY, NOT CLEANED IT LIKE THE TSB MENTIONS. MY FEELING IS THAT IF THESE TWO ITEMS ARE DESIGN FLAWS, FOR WHICH THE DESIGN HAS SINCE BEEN CORRECTED, THEN VOLVO SHOULD REPAIR MY VEHICLE REGARDLESS OF THE FACT THAT IT WAS OUT OF WARRANTY. I BOUGHT MY VOLVO NEW ON 3/16/2000 AND IT CURRENTLY HAS 88,000 MILES. THE WARRANTY WAS FOR FOUR YEARS/50,000 MILES.