Wheel came off on freeway - the new car had 586 miles on it. Volvo USA said if the wheel wasn’t perfectly installed at manufacture the wheel would have come off at 5 - 10 miles not 586 - therefore it must have been deliberately tampered with. The dealer reported they did not check torque during pre-delivery inspection. Volvo USA said they have no responsibility as they have checked the records and there was no issues with the wheel in question. I have asked for the production facility equipment calibration records associated with this installation but have had no response from Volvo.
Couple of things - first I can’t believe if for example lug nuts were over torqued they would necessarily fail in 5 - 10 miles - same if they were slightly under torqued. How such an arbitrary number was derived escapes me. I have two engineering degrees although neither is related to automotive manufacturing - but regardless - their logic escapes me. They claimed to have checked the records on this vehicle - I would have thought calibration records for the equipment used to install the wheels would have been one item they would have checked - so it should have been easy to provide that data.
Basically I don’t believe there is a systematic problem here - this is a one in a million failure - but Volvo’s refusal to step up and make it right is a very deliberate failure to support their product and their client. In the greater scheme of things it would have cost Volvo very little to step up and make this right - they chose to leave me - their customer holding the bag - shame on Volvo.
Wheel came off on freeway - the new car had 586 miles on it. Volvo USA said if the wheel wasn’t perfectly installed at manufacture the wheel would have come off at 5 - 10 miles not 586 - therefore it must have been deliberately tampered with. The dealer reported they did not check torque during pre-delivery inspection. Volvo USA said they have no responsibility as they have checked the records and there was no issues with the wheel in question. I have asked for the production facility equipment calibration records associated with this installation but have had no response from Volvo.
Couple of things - first I can’t believe if for example lug nuts were over torqued they would necessarily fail in 5 - 10 miles - same if they were slightly under torqued. How such an arbitrary number was derived escapes me. I have two engineering degrees although neither is related to automotive manufacturing - but regardless - their logic escapes me. They claimed to have checked the records on this vehicle - I would have thought calibration records for the equipment used to install the wheels would have been one item they would have checked - so it should have been easy to provide that data.
Basically I don’t believe there is a systematic problem here - this is a one in a million failure - but Volvo’s refusal to step up and make it right is a very deliberate failure to support their product and their client. In the greater scheme of things it would have cost Volvo very little to step up and make this right - they chose to leave me - their customer holding the bag - shame on Volvo.
- Larry M., Coronado, US