8 week old S60 - electrical problem not covered by warranty
 

So my S60 issues with a Christmas tree of dashboard warnings go on - leading to a "brake failure, pull over" message and the car coming to a halt. The dealer looked at it, charged the battery overnight, and went out in it again and the problem remained. Volvo suggested they lift the carpet to check for water ingress. End result is that they have found an earthing point bolt which looks like it has been tampered with (i.e., unbolted potentially to fit something like a tracker or dash cam I guess). They state the battery looks like it is being drained by something in the car and have verified the battery has no issues.

I have done nothing of that respect to the car in the 8 weeks I've had it from new. Wouldn't even know where to start lifting the carpet or attaching electrical items. However, as it looks like it been tampered with, any further investigation and repairs will not be under warranty. I get where the dealer is coming from, but where do we start on resolving this?! It's 8 weeks old and I've not touched anything. There's no evidence of the problem actually being caused by this anyway surely - it's just a "it's been tampered with therefore warranty null & void"?

Case now raised with Volvo Customer Care as don't really know where to go with this one!

Anyone else had similar? Picture of the earthing bolt below.

Tampered with because you can see marks where a sockets been on it?

Obviously it’s been loosened/tightened to fit the white bit - or that would have paint on it also?

Yeah - if it was sprayed after the bolt was fitted, the white plastic would be red too - doh!

However, the white plastic bit might clip over the nut rather than be screwed down by it. I guess it's just an insulating cover of sorts.

Nope - now I think about it - the connectors must have been attached after the car was painted otherwise the connectors would have been red also - they are clearly underneath the bolt and not red.

If you didn't touch it and its only 8 weeks old I'd be kicking up a right stink if they tried to fob me off like that !!

DP for Dealer and if he doesn't play ball I'd want a manager in customer care to be looking at it same day.

I called Volvo Customer Care about 30 minutes after the conversation! They will come back to me on Tuesday after speaking to the 3 dealers the car has been through (PDI was done at one dealer, the sale was at another dealer, the problem has been looked at by another dealer). Meantime, I have no car.....they cancelled the On Call hire car as it's no longer a warranty issue.

I would agree. Chassis and bolt have been painted together, then at some point the bolt has been unfastened, the cables connected at the wiring stage and the bolt refastened. Something doesn't stack up. Edges of the bolt look damaged is this why they have said it has been tampered with? Seems like they are trying to pass the buck far too early. Hope you get it resolved without too much hassle, I would be furious if it was my new car, not so much because of the problem but the being accused of tampering remark. Be interesting to see where this goes.

Yes - as the paint has been broken on the nut and there are paint flakes on the white plastic cover, that is why they are saying it has been tampered with.

It was made in South Carolina - maybe the US workers are a bit more "heavy" with the nut guns... :)

I've asked they lift the carpets on another S60 in their stock and take the same photo.

Simple.
Look at others in the showroom or dealership to see if they are the same.