This post is a followup of sorts to this one. I also apologize if I say stuff here that doesn't make sense or is impossible. I'm at college and am relating the update I was given over the phone as best as I can recall.

A few months ago, my mom's 2000 S40 began making some horrible screeching noises from the rear wheels. In park, the car could be rolled a few inches before rebounding back to the original place, but in the process it would make a terrible metal-on-metal sound. The sound persisted even when the car was driven and the brakes were not touched--with the windows up, things were quiet, but with them down, it became apparent something was seriously wrong.

The car was taken into the dealer's shop last week and got over $400 worth of repairs done on it. Apparently the rear brake pads were worn off completely, and they needed replacing along with the rotors. The noise was coming from metal contacting metal.

The car only has 26,000 miles, and it's a 2000 model purchased late in the model year. My mom isn't a demanding driver (as the mileage might indicate) and I see no reason why the brakes might have worn out like they apparently have. Has anyone experienced this problem with the brakes?

We had a problem earlier with the master brake cylinder. Also, the shoddiness of repairs that the dealership did on the car after it was crashed into in a parking lot (slightly under $20,000 of damage to the front, so pretty significant!) have cast even more doubts on the quality behind Volvo cars today, both from the factory and once they're out on the road. Mostly, though, there's no reason brakes should be wearing out this horribly four years after the car was bought, a quarter of 100K miles later.
--
'89 244 GL -- 108,900 miles (see profile for info on car)