V50 General : "Miles to empty tank" accuracy

[Northview]

Originally Posted by Wonderboy

The other day I pulled out of a stop junction and the car just died on me. Fortunately there wasn't anything coming but it could have been dangerous.

This is precisely what worries me. A 'dead' engine in a situation like that could result in a serious accident.

My previous (non-Volvo) car was subject to a recall because of an intermittent fault in the windscreen wiper controller. They couldn't risk a failure of the wipers during heavy rain leading to accidents, so they pulled the cars in. This meant that they had to go to the expense of hiring cars from local hire firms to ensure that all their customers were able to keep mobile. In my case, I had a hire car for a month because of delays in getting the replacement part.

While that wasn't a situation that was pleasant for customers they felt it was the only responsible course of action in the circumstances, and while I (and many others) grumbled about it at the time, with the benefit of hindsight I'm glad they took that approach.

With the EGR valve problem (assuming that is where the problem lies), a failure at the wrong moment could be equally serious. The only reason I can think of why Volvo haven't issued a recall for this fault is that (a) it hasn't been reported as affecting a high enough percentage of cars, and possibly (b) there is no fix available that they are certain will resolve the problem. Either way, I hope it doesn't end up causing a serious accident.