Happy with how Volvo helped resolve my XC40's airbag issue: Experience

Credit to Volvo's service centre and their GM for listening, understanding and willing to give it a go for the benefit of the customer.

BHPian gismosin recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

This is a long overdue post, so remember the annoying SRS airbag warning, first time I sent it to Volvo they did a software update and sent it back and the error came back in a few days. So, I sent the car back again. This time they ran comprehensive diagnostics, and the conclusion was, that the driver-side curtain airbag was throwing a failure. It was reportedly receiving less voltage of power than it required, which meant it might not deploy when needed and had to be changed.

I was quoted Rs. 77,000/- for the replacement. But I pointed out that I had an extended warranty and the workshop technician said, “The warranty does not cover airbags.”

Now that’s where the back and forth began, I opened my extended warranty document, and the picture below was the only mention of airbags. There was nothing that specifically stated it was not covered, while I understand a deployed airbag not being covered, this was a purely faulty one.

I asked to speak to the manager and went the next day to the Volvo service centre and had a meeting with the GM of service, a fantastic gentleman with a lot of experience in the automotive industry, he listened to my issue patiently and why I thought it should be covered.

After our discussion we agreed on an action plan, they will first contact the warranty team to explain the issue in detail and if they still don’t cover it, they will give it to me in writing with the reason why and we will take it from there. I left the car in the workshop.

They had to open the side frame record everything including all diagnostics and then send it over to the Volvo team to take a look. A couple of days later the technician informed me that the part would be replaced under warranty as it was at fault, they placed the order for it and would take a month or so to be imported from Sweden.

Finally, in December the replacement airbag arrived and was promptly replaced.

Lessons from this experience:

• Do not delay when an issue starts occurring, I ignored the random SRS message until it became a constant occurrence, it is better to have it on record as soon as the issue happens.
• Extended warranty is a must on cars. Most cars today have a zillion sensors and electrical components, remember, the more the components, the higher the points of failures. Especially on expensive cars, the cost of components quickly adds up.
• Do not take the first response at face value, talk, discuss, or ask to speak to someone in authority but always be pleasant. I had more work done with pleasant conversations than shouting or losing one’s cool.
• Ask for things in writing, and make the dealer/service centre always double-check.
• Do your homework, and be ready with your documentation, I waving my handy extended warranty document which did not explicitly state airbags were not covered.

Also, credit goes to the Volvo service centre and their General Manager, they listened, understood and were willing to give it a go for the benefit of the customer, which is more than what most car companies do today.

I have stated this earlier; machines break down but the way they are dealt with and fixed counts…for now Volvo is doing a great job in this regard.

On a side note, it’s a little sad to see the XC 40 petrol being discontinued to make way for the electric one.

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