More of a rant than anything...just need to get this off my chest - hope you all don't mind...


My wife and I brought home a 2002 v70 T5 last July thinking we could finally own a reliable luxury car. We were able to turn a blind eye to the leaky sunroof, loose plastic moldings, rings and rattles, and the occasional engine deaths as just new car break-ins (that the service people mostly fixed). But what I am fighting with Volvo right now is the seat adjustor that has broken on the passenger seat.


A friend was moving the reclining portion of the passenger seat when the adjusting knob broke off. Since the car was just 1 year old, I assumed that Volvo would replace it under warranty, but I was notified that it would cost over $400 to replace this little piece!!! Of course I was fuming - the service manager offered to provide the service for free but the part alone still cost more than $200. I contacted Volvo Corporate who gave me the run around like you wouldn't believe - trying to first push me off back to the local service people, then finally saying that because the piece was broken due to 'outside circumstances', they wouldn't cover it under warranty.


In my short 32 years of life, I have NEVER heard of this seat adjustor breaking off. To me this is clearly a factory fault. Is this just what I get for buying a $50K car?