NHTSA Complaint #10482003 — 2004 VOLVO XC90

WHILE DRIVING BETWEEN 65 AND 70 MILES ON A MAJOR INTERSTATE MY 2004 VOLVO XC 90 HAS A SEVERE "THUMP" IN THE FRONT END, WHICH IS THEN FOLLOWED BY A VERY BRIEF (SPLIT SECOND) INTERNAL (MEANING ALL DASHBOARD LIGHTS, HI-FI, DOME LIGHTS, RADIO AIR CONDITION, OIL GAGE, FUEL GAGE CLOCK ) POWER FAILURE. WHILE TRYING TO PUSH THE GAS THE CAR WOULD NOT ACCELERATE. AT FIRST I HIT SOMETHING ON THE HIGHWAY. A MINUTE OR TWO LATER THE "THUMP" WAS HARDER AND THE LIGHTS INTERNALLY COMPLETELY WENT OUT, HAZARD LIGHTS COULD NOT BE TURNED ON, BLINKERS COULD NOT BE SWITCHED ON, HI-FI WENT OUT, THE DOOR LOCKS WOULD NOT WORK, THE WINDSHIELD WIPERS WOULD NOT CUT ON OR THE ELECTRIC WINDOWS. I PULLED OVER IMMEDIATELY AND TURNED THE CAR OFF, WAITED 10 MINUTES AND RESTARTED IT. THERE WERE 3 MESSAGES ON THE DASH, THE YELLOW EXCLAMATION POINT DASHBOARD ICON/ALERT LIT UP, A SERVICE MESSAGE FLASHED REFERRING TO THE ANTI-LOCK BRAKE FAILURE, THE SRS NEEDED TO BE CHECKED, AND CHECK ENGINE. THE NEXT DAY I TOOK IT TO A VOLVO DEALERSHIP, THEY COULDN'T DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM. THEY ASSURED ME THAT THE CAR WAS OK TO DRIVE. FOUR DAYS LATER THE PROBLEM STARTS AGAIN. SO AFTER DOING A LITTLE RESEARCH I FIND OUT THAT THIS IS A COMMON OCCURRENCE ON THE VOLVO XC 90 AND THERE WAS AN INVESTIGATION ON THIS SAME ISSUE IN NOVEMBER 2010 IN WHICH VOLVO IS FULLY AWARE OF AND "ACKNOWLEDGES A PROBLEM AFFECTING SOME SUBJECT VEHICLES INVOLVING WATER SEEPAGE INTO THE PLENUM BOX AREA IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT. WHEN THIS OCCURS WATER MAY ENTER INTO THE INTERIOR PASSENGER COMPARTMENT AND TRACK ALONG THE WIRING HARNESS FOR THE CENTRAL ELECTRONIC MODULE, THE DEVICE THAT CONTROLS MANY OF THE VEHICLES ELECTRICAL FUNCTIONS INCLUDING WIPER OPERATION, LIGHTING, AND TRANSMISSION OPERATION. IF THE WATER REACHES THE CENTRAL ELECTRONIC MODULE CONNECTOR ELECTRICAL FAULTS MAY RESULT." THIS IS A $1200.00 REPAIR WHICH VOLVO SHOULD PAY. *TR