NHTSA Complaint #10142444 — 2000 VOLVO S80

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. *JB