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Dear c.miner,
May this find you well. I'm no expert on automotive electrics and I'm not a lawyer. My comments are aimed at helping you to get your car into working order. The repairs are likely to be pretty expensive, if only because of the labor costs.
You took your car:
(a) to get repaired a minor problem (some lights not working);
(b) to a place specializing in electrical system repairs.
Apart from these non-working lights, the rest of the car was fine.
They diagnosed the problem: a faulty hazard warning light switch, which they replaced. The result: a fire, that you put out, thanks to your quick wits and handy water bottle.
Either their diagnosis was faulty - there was an underlying, larger problem that they missed - and/or the technician did some damage, while trying to fix what was actually wrong, and caused the fire.
I note that the technician did not have a fire extinguisher handy, which suggests that he did not realize there was any fire risk.
Unless the car suffered collision damage - which required repairs in dashboard area or which displaced major structural elements and so damaged the wiring harness - I think it is pretty unlikely that the short occurred as a result of "wear and tear".
While ground failure on Volvos is common due to corrosion, Volvo engineers are pretty careful about how wires/tubes/pipes are routed. You should try to find out if for your car, there are any Technical Service Bulletins relating to wiring. If so, they might shed light on the problem. It behooved the repair shop to be aware of any such bulletins: that is not your responsibility.
I can't recall ever having seen any similar post regarding an electrical fire of this sort.
You should insist that they replace the damaged harness. If that requires dash removal, you should "suggest" (i.e., insist) they take it to a Volvo body specialist for that.
Removing the dash is a non-trivial operation (I have the Volvo manual that covers this). You might want to point out to them that dash removal/replacement will be even more expensive if they damage the trim parts. Further, as an automotive electrical shop, they are not likely to have anyone, who actually has removed a Volvo dashboard.
If they recognize that they do not have anyone able to replace the harness, then they should cover the cost of having it done by a Volvo dealer or an independent Volvo MasterTech.
Hope this helps and that you're soon rolling.
Yours faithfully,
spook
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