I have read reports of 4 similar incidents posted on various Volvo-owner boards in the last 6 months. Thanks to those reports, I became aware of this design weakness and inspected my 2001 S80. Sure enough, there is a hard plastic air intake that protrudes approximately 2" below the bumper, and is mounted very close to the external ("serpentine") accessory drive belt. All that is necessary is to drive up to a high parking curb (very common in the USA) until the front tires are in contact with the curb. At that point, the damage will have been done. Evidently, once the drive belt breaks, the internal tining belt is also affected. I don't understand this cause-effect relationship, but if Volvo drives the timing chain from an external pulley to obtain a gear ratio without internal engine components, this is a terrible design. It would mean that any failure of the external serpentine drive belt will also damage the engine (with a subsequent repair cost of more than US$3000). Is anyone familiar with how the timing belt is driven in the I6 gasoline engine? Why doesn't Volvo warn of this possibility in the Owner's manual, and recommend frequent external drive belt replacments?

To prevent future problems, I substituted an input tube of soft rubber (found something suitable at a wrecking yard), and trashed the bad-design Volvo part. The installation is crude and not very attractive, but it works. My air intake can now flex and bend if I park at a high curb, and will not come in contact with the drive belt. Volvo should be making this change for all V70 / S80 owners. It might cost them all of US$3.00 to make a custom rubber duct in high volume.