Exterior lighting: switch
Free remedy
ON CERTAIN PASSENGER AND SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME, THE HEADLIGHT SWITCH MAY CEASE TO FUNCTION.
25 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2000 Volvo S-Class cite exterior lighting, 4% of all 628 complaints for this model year. NHTSA also lists 2 recalls on this component.
“WHILE DRIVING MY 2000 VOLVO S80 ABOUT 20-25MPH ALL THE SUDDEN LOST POWER TO ALL MY GAUGES, DASHBOARD LIGHTS, POWER WINDOWS, & POWER LOCKS. THE RADIO WAS THE ONLY DEVICE THAT WAS WORKING. THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE WAS DISPLAYED SRS-AIRBAG SERVICE URGENT. I HAVE NOTICED A DIFFERENCE ON MY BRAKE PEDAL THAT IT DOES NOT RESPOND AS WELL AS IT USE TOO THERE IS A SHORT DELAY WHEN STEPPED ON. BEFORE THIS INCIDENT I HAD NOTICED A CLICKING NOISE ON THE DRIVER SIDE WHEN A CAME TO A STOP LIKE A RELAY CHATTERING & ALSO THE AC WOULD COME ON WHEN THE CAR IS TURNED OFF. AT TIMES THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE WOULD APPEAR FREQUENTLY ALARM NEEDS SERVICING. I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS CAUSING THIS MALFUNCTIONS BUT IF ITS A MANUFACTURING PROBLEM VOLVO SHOULD BE LIABLE ON CORRECTING THE PROBLEM & PROVIDE US WITH A SAFE VEHICLE. *TR”
“NOTICED BARE WIRES INSIDE HEADLIGHT ASSEMBLY, BOTH SIDES, WHEN CHANGING BULB. WRAPPED WIRES UNTIL I COULD FIND A WIRING HARNESS. LOW BEAM WAS WORSE THAN HIGH BEAM. CHECKED WITH VOLVO, TALLAHASSEE, FL AND THEY STATED THERE WERE NO RECALLS CONCERNING HEADLIGHT (OR SWITCH). RECENTLY BOUGHT TWO NEW WIRING HARNESSES AND INSTALLED BUT NOTICED THEY WERE ALSO NOT CORRECTLY INSULATED (PLASTIC) JUST LIKE THE OLD ONES (16 GAGE WIRE WITH PLASTIC, VS SILICON HIGH TEMP INSULATION.) ALSO, ON INSPECTION, NOTICED THE SAME HARNESS ON MY OTHER VOLVO, A 2002 VOLVO, HAD BEEN UPGRADED TO HEAVY DUTY WIRING WITH SILICON BASED INSULATION. DANGEROUS! BARE WIRES COULD HAVE SHORTED OUT HEADLIGHTS AT NIGHT! HAVE OLD HARNESS AND PICTURES. CAN SEND/EMAIL AS REQUIRED. *TR”
“TURN SIGNALS WILL STOP WORKING INTERMITTENTLY. WHEN IT HAPPENS NEITHER LH NOR LH TURN SIGNAL WILL ILLUMINATE AND NEITHER EXTERIOR BULB NOR DASH INDICATOR WILL ILLUMINATE. TURNING ON THE HAZARD LIGHTS WILL JUMP START THE TURN SIGNALS TO WORK AGAIN. TURN SIGNAL RELAY (UNDER DASH NEAR DRIVER KICK PANEL) HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH NO IMPROVEMENT. USED TO ONLY HAPPEN ON VERY HOT DAYS. NOW HAPPENS REGARDLESS THE AMBIENT TEMP. *TR”
“2000 VOLVO S70 (50,000: WHILE CHANGING LEFT LOW BEAM HEADLIGHT, NOTICED THE INSULATION WAS FLAKING OFF THE WIRES. INSPECTED THE OTHER SIDE. IT WAS WORSE WITH MAJOR BEAR SECTIONS OF WIRE. ALSO NOTED THE WIRE IS VERY THIN GAGE FOR HEADLIGHT CIRCUITS, ESPECIALLY IN SUCH A HOT, HIGH USE AREA. HIGH BEAM OK. CHECKED VOLVO FORUMS. FOUND THIS WAS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH VOLVO AND A MECHANIC POSTED A REPAIR PROCEDURE. BESIDES THE SAFETY HAZARD OF SUDDENLY LOSING HEADLIGHTS, FLASHING OF A CIRCUIT OF THIS MAGNITUDE MIGHT HAVE OTHER AFFECTS ON COMPUTER RELATED CONTROLS. *TR”
“NOTICED DECREASED VISIBILITY DRIVING AT NIGHT. THE AIMING MECHANISM ON BOTH HEADLAMPS HAS DISINTEGRATED CAUSING LOSS OF THE HEADLAMP CALIBRATION AND ALLOWING THE HEADLAMPS TO AIM DOWNWARD TO A POINT APPROXIMATELY 30' IN FRONT OF THE VEHICLE. THE FAILURE IS CONTINUOUS, RESULTS IN REDUCED VISIBILITY. NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM. REPLACEMENT PARTS ARE PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE AND VOLVO CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS DISAVOWED ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FAILURE DUE TO THE AGE AND MILEAGE OF THE VEHICLE, (2000 S40 WITH 130K MI.) THE SERVICE MANAGER AT MY LOCAL VOLVO DEALERSHIP HAS SAID THAT HE HAS SEEN THIS FAILURE ON OTHER VOLVOS OF SIMILAR AGE AND MILEAGE INCLUDING ONE OWNED BY HIS SON. *TR”
“1) ENGINE IDLES ROUGH, PROBLEM BECAME SO BAD THAT CAR STALLS AT LOW SPEEDS, LOST POWER STEERING & "ENGINE DIES" AT LOW SPEEDS (UNSAFE!). LOCAL MECH REFERRED TO ETM WARRANTY PROGRAM TO RE-PROGRAM FAULTY ETM MODULE. TOOK CAR TO DLR, RE-PROGRAMMED ETM CAR DIED AGAIN! TURNS OUT BAD BATTERY AS WELL: SEVERAL HUNDRED $$$ TO REPLACE BATTERY. CAR DOES NOT ACCELERATE SMOOTHLY, LARGE "SHUDDERS" PRESENT WHEN MERGING ONTO HWY, DURING TRANSMISSION/GEAR SHIFT. NOT GOOD! 2) AIRBAG "SRS-URGENT SERVICE" WARNING INDICATOR LIGHT IS ON. GOOD LOCAL MECH. STATES THIS IS A $1000 REPAIR. 3) "CHECK BRAKE LIGHT" WARNING INDICATOR LIGHT TURNS ON WHEN DEPRESSING ON BRAKE PEDAL: GOOD LOCAL MECH. STATES THAT THIS IS "NORMAL" REQUIRES EXACT MATCHING ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE OF ALL BRAKE LAMPS TO ENSURE THAT "CHECK BRAKE LIGHT" WARNING DOES NOT OCCUR (IN ACTUALITY THE BRAKE LIGHTS WORK FINE, THE BUILT-IN-TEST IS FAULTY). 4) "CHECK ENGINE LIGHT" COMES ON 2-3 TIMES IN LAST 3 MONTHS. MAJOR SERVICE WAS REQUIRED. ONE FAULT WAS ISOLATED TO FUEL TANK GAS CAP: IF NOT SECURED PROPERLY "ECM-4308 (LEAK DIAGNOSTIC) LARGE LEAK" OCCURS...REMEDIED BY TWISTING FUEL CAP 3 FULL ROTATIONS, AFTER RE-FUELING GAS…”
Showing 6 of 25 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
ON CERTAIN PASSENGER AND SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME, THE HEADLIGHT SWITCH MAY CEASE TO FUNCTION.
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. THERE COULD BE INADEQUATE CONTACT BETWEEN THE BULB AND SOCKET WHICH COULD CAUSE THE FRONT TURN SIGNAL NOT TO FUNCTION AS DESIGNED.
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.