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I've seen so many ABS light failure messages posted. I've got another angle on the problem I'd like to explore.
My wife took our 1998 S70 T5 to our dealer here in Atlanta (Chris Volvo) last November to have a check engine light problem diagnosed/corrected so that the car could pass inspection. This time, the problem was something other than "gas cap" related and they charged an exhorbanent fee to fix. The car had 80K miles on it at the time and beyond the regular bulb replacements, dead batteries, and "gas related" check engine light problems the car has performed beautifully. Two weeks after getting the car back from Chris Volvo for the "check engine" light fix, the ABS light began to intermittingly come on accompanied by the typical symptoms so often recounted on this site (shuddering brakes, temporary loss of break control, etc....). It sounds to me like an ABS controller problem.
I'm certainly not the conspiracy theorist type. But I'm also not a big believer in coincidences (nor in crop circles). My suspecion is that the dealer figured that since they took us for so much on the "check engine" light repair, they could certainly soak us for an ABS controller repair so they replaced our perfectly good controller with a faulty one...to get us back for another repair. The timing of the ABS light problem seems just too coincidental.
I've now got to locate a trustworthy place to have my ABS problem repaired in Atlanta. There are easier tasks! One thing I won't do is deal with Chris Volvo again for any reason. Also, this is the last Volvo I'm going to buy. I'm going to suffer with this one until it dies and then switch to Japanese cars. I don't know about anyone else but I just can't afford disposable cars like Volvo's.
Volvo....the safest car on the road. That is if you can survive with only a limited number of working tail lights and break lights, learn to work the emergency brake with reflexes that rivel Sea Biscuit out of the starting gate (e.g., when your ABS suddenly fails), and have survival skills that enable you to escape the downtown after dark when your Volvo battery suddenly decides to die and leave you stranded at mid-night in the middle of nowhere. Other than these things though...I'd say it's a pretty safe car.
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