You are working from the premise that all replacement parts are of the best quality if they come in a Volvo box which is quite defensible. On this board we try to get at the basic knowledge necessary to sort out the qualities that support that premise and make distinctions among them.

In your experience, perhaps the quality of the installer must be considered. Many of us are our own installers, and in a large number of cases have learned themselves the hard way, not all repair failures are to be blamed on the part manufacturer. Splicing wires under the car sounds like a task anyone can do, but is indeed full of pitfalls. The quality of this job can vary magnitudes more than the quality of the sensor itself. All that black smoke you had certainly speaks to a fudged installation, not an inferior part.