NHTSA Complaint #10320607 — 2004 VOLVO XC90

IN AUGUST OF 2009 I BEGAN NOTICING THAT MY VOLVO XC90 T6 WAS SLOW TO SWITCH GEARS OR WOULD CHUG BEFORE SWITCHING. IT WOULD NOT HAPPEN ALL OF THE TIME AND WHEN I MENTIONED IT TO MY HUSBAND HE SAID HE HAD NOT NOTICED IT. I FIGURED IT WAS NO BIG DEAL OR THAT IT WAS RELATED TO A COLD ENGINE. DURING THE MIDDLE OF OCTOBER 2009, I WAS COMING HOME FROM WORK AND MERGING ONTO A TWO LANE BRIDGE WHEN MY VOLVO REFUSED TO SWITCH GEARS AND WOULD NOT GO OVER 20 MILES PER HOUR. THE TRANSMISSION LIGHT WENT ON. THANKFULLY NO OTHER CARS WERE AROUND AND MY LACK OF SPEED DID NOT CAUSE AN ACCIDENT. AFTER ABOUT 10 MINUTES I WAS ABLE TO SPEED UP AND MADE IT BACK HOME. THE CAR IS IN NEED OF A NEW TRANSMISSION. IT HAS SAT IN MY DRIVEWAY FOR 5 MONTHS BECAUSE I CAN NOT AFFORD IT. I'VE GOTTEN ONLINE ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT I AM NOW A MEMBER OF A RAPIDLY GROWING CLUB OF FRUSTRATED VOLVO OWNERS. IT FRUSTRATES ME THAT THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THIS YEAR/MAKE OF VOLVO'S. MY CAR HAS 40,000 MILES ON IT. THE TRANSMISSION PROBLEM IN THESE CARS NEEDS TO BE FORMALLY ADDRESSED. IT IS A HUGE SAFETY HAZARD WHEN A CAR ALL OF A SUDDEN JERKS AROUND AND WON'T ACCELERATE TO SAFELY MERGE INTO FAST MOVING TRAFFIC. *TR