WHILE DRIVING ON A LOCAL STREET THE VEHICLE WITHOUT WARNING SUDDENLY SHUT DOWN, BRAKING THE VEHICLE TO A SUDDEN STOP AND LOCKING THE STEERING WHEEL IN THE MIDDLE OF MOVING TRAFFIC. THE VEHICLE CAME TO A SUDDEN COMPLETE STOP WITHOUT DRIVER INPUT NARROWLY AVOIDING A COLLISION. VEHICLE WAS UNABLE TO START OR BE MOVED AND HAD TO BE PLACED ON A FLATBED BY THE USE OF A DOLLY SYSTEM. IF THE VEHICLE HAD BEEN DRIVING ON A HIGHWAY CONTROL WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST CAUSING A VERY SERIOUS AND MOST LIKELY FATAL ACCIDENT. PLEASE ADVISE THE NEXT STEP IN THIS PROCEDURE AS I FEEL THIS CAR IS UNSAFE, IN THAT NO WARNING WAS PROVIDED IF A MALFUNCTION WERE TO AND DID OCCUR, WHY DID THE CAR COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN, STOPPING THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY AND LOCKING THE STEERING WHEEL. NO CONTROL WAS POSSIBLE DUE TO THIS SITUATION. AS STATED PREVIOUSLY IF THE VEHICLE WAS DRIVEN AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS AT THE TIME THIS WOULD SURELY HAVE BEEN FATAL. *TR
2012
STEERING
SUDDEN FAILURE OF THE POWER STEERING, AMONGST OTHERS, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A CROSSROADS. VERY DANGEROUS EMERGENCY STOPPING OF THE CAR, ENGINE STOPPED, ALL ALARMS ON, STEERING NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO USE WITHOUT POWER. HAD TO TOW THE VEHICLE TO SERVICE CENTER. VOLVO CLAIMS THIS IS NOTHING MORE THAN A COMMON PLACE ALTERNATOR FAILURE (THERE HAS BEEN A RECALL CAMPAIGN FOR SIMILAR PROBLEMS WITH AUXILIARY BELT TENSIONER). POWER STEERING FAILED ALTHOUGH BATTERY WAS FULLY CHARGED. FOUND ON THE INTERNET THIS OCCURRING SEVERAL TIMES TO OTHER XC60 DRIVERS. AS ALTERNATOR FAILURES WITHOUT ANY WARNING ARE SO "COMMON PLACE" AND AS THEY CAN HAVE SUCH VERY NEGATIVE IMPACT ON SAFETY, WHY ISN'T THERE ANY BATTERY-BASED POWER STEERING SURVIVABILITY AS ON MOST OTHER VEHICLES?