volvo.se

Near-death experience

Well, there's just no doubt we could have all died.Not that Courtesy Volvo Cars of Scottsdale (Arizona) gives a damn.One of their "mechanics" over-inflated the tires on our XC60 to 60 psi. Predictably, this caused a major blowout -- while we were driving west between Phoenix and Los Angeles on Interstate 10, in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles and too many hours from a tow truck.For the record, Volvo recommends the tires be inflated to 35 psi.The tire maker itself recommends filling its tires to no more than 51 psi.An overinflated tire is just as dangerous as an underinflated one.Here's what Firestone (the tire company) says about it:"Most seriously, overinflated tires are at greater risk for a blowout. A tire blowout can cause you to lose control of your vehicle and negatively affect braking distance, endangering yourself and others on the road."Additionally, many of the safety features on your vehicle, like your anti-lock braking system, are designed to work when tires are filled to the vehicle manufacturer recommendations."Overinflated tires could compromise some of your car’s driver assistance functions."Wow, right?In our case, the blowout of the driver's side front tire didn't trash just the tire. It caused damage to the driver's side front panel. (There were three of us in the car at the time and, yeah, it was more than unsettling).According to Courtesy Volvo, repairs would cost about $3,400.And no, they were definitely not interested in covering any part of that cost -- although at first they told us they'd buy a replacement tire.But, after all, we were told, there was no way for them to know that we hadn't gone out and overinflated our own tires after they had serviced the car.Oh, and the tire shop in Indio, Calif., that checked the pressure on the rest of our tires and found they, too, had been overinflated? Well, as Courtesy's service manager told us, who knows what kind of air-pressure gauge they were using??Heck, he said, it could have been one of those old-fashioned, "unreliable" ones that look like pencils -- the ones your Dad and his Dad used without a problem for decades.To us, this case illustrates a few nasty things: Negligence, incompetence, an uncaring corporation, disregard of anything but its own bottom line, and an absolute unwillingness to accept responsibility or accountability.Do business with these jokers at your own peril.We're taking our case to Volvo U.S.A. and will let you know.P.S.: We still love our Volvo, just not the people servicing them at this particular dealership.

Date of experience: Jun 13, 2023