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Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

myvolvoex90.com

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Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#161

Post by xyx0826 »

asciii wrote: post #45

Volvo may not want to replace the car for the guy...but from a marketing standpoint, they truly picked the wrong hill. The site is very nice and pretty thorough. Makes me not want to get this car or any Volvo!

I applaud his efforts to document this what must’ve been a nightmare of a case for him. But it felt like a lot of the wording is speculative or hyperbolic in nature and aggressively tries to paint Volvo in a bad light. For example:

“Analysis of Volvo's Final Response: This response … confirms Volvo's complete abandonment of customer responsibility…This is Volvo's definition of ‘customer care’ in 2025.”

“Center Display Failure - Critical Interface Blackout: Main Controls Inaccessible”

“Climate Control Malfunction - Climate System Override: Controls Unresponsive Despite Interface Status”

“Complete Center Screen Malfunction - Total System Breakdown: Hard Reset Failed to Restore Screen”

I know little about Volvo or this case; I’m choosing to offer them some benefits of doubt. Comms and decision making are prone to break down on the corporate ladder. Volvo had no doubt fumbled his case badly but I’m not convinced it is indicative of the company’s overall customer support policy. Sure, the main touchscreen had failed. But how is this an “override” of HVAC or a “total system breakdown”? And what’s the “system” anyways? On top of all that, these subtitle summaries smell like AI.

I don’t deny that Volvo has a lot to answer for. Though the choice of these instigating descriptions might not be the best one giving the author is actively pursuing litigation.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#162

Post by rectang »

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #97
rectang wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't say "reliable", say "opportunity for enshittification".

if it has software it will be enshitted. sadly true

I was a bit surprised to see the the "software" criteria in your reply, as I'd always thought of enshittification's inevitability as a capitalist phenomenon whereby a quality brand is wrung out for near term gains by management incentivized to get their cut before riding off into the sunset.

But after reading up a bit, I've found that software platform lock-in was important in enshittification's original formulation — it's not just that quality goes to crap, but that users have nowhere else to go.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#163

Post by jonplackett »

I’m just happier and happier with my ‘dumb’ car.

It has physical buttons for the aircon.

No wifi = no speakers listening to me and selling my personal data (yep that’s a thing)

I have to press a button on the key fob to open it so it can’t be stolen by relaying the signal.

It’s pretty cheap to run because I hardly drive anywhere anyway.

But when I do I just buy this stuff called ‘petrol’ that’s all around the place and takes like 30 seconds.

I also still get to feel smug because the environmental cost of producing a new electric car is WAY greater than the petrol I’m burning.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#164

Post by Malakun »

rich_sasha wrote: post #157
PaulHoule wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a long time Consumer Reports has ranked cars as Japanese > American >> European, European cars have some luxury cachet but if you want a car that starts when you turn the key look elsewhere. American cars came a long way since the 1970s when they really were trash.

"European" cars are not really a category. French/Italian/Spanish cars are very different from German/Volvo, and even these groupings are a stretch. Then you have Dacia too, and I have no idea where to even put it. Plus you have some luxury British cars, which are again veery different. In-group std is greater than between-group std.

> Spanish cars are very different from German

The only spanish car maker is SEAT and it's part of VAG group. SEAT are more expensive than Skoda, but cheaper than Audi.

And using the country card with these automaker corporations is very tricky, because they have factories everywhere. You can buy an Audi made in Spain or a VW made in Slovakia.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#165

Post by tcshit »

jonplackett wrote: post #151
eckelhesten wrote: post #12

Volvo sadly no longer stands for Swedish quality and safety. What you’re buying is essentially an overpriced Chinese car with Volvo stickers. And I’m saying this as a Swede. Buy German cars, specifically within the Volkswagen auto group (Audi, VW, Skoda etc) if you want reliable quality.

I’m already boycotting VW for emissions-fraud, Tesla for Nazi-salutes… gonna run out of car brands at this rate

i agree on that emission-fraud. but, haha, you know there are loads of videos of your favorite blue colored ones doing the same salute? if that is what keeps you spinning you ran out of car brands long time ago...

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#166

Post by bdamm »

jonplackett wrote: post #163

I’m just happier and happier with my ‘dumb’ car. It has physical buttons for the aircon. No wifi = no speakers listening to me and selling my personal data (yep that’s a thing) I have to press a button on the key fob to open it so it can’t be stolen by relaying the signal. It’s pretty cheap to run because I hardly drive anywhere anyway. But when I do I just buy this stuff called ‘petrol’ that’s all around the place a…

It doesn't take much driving for a new EV to balance out the environmental cost of harvesting, shipping, pumping, and burning all that petrol. As I understand it, about 20k km or 15k miles, on average.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#167

Post by chaosprint »

ls-a wrote: post #147
dexzod wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree 100% the website is very well layed out. The information is presented in very readable format. After a single scroll I was able to fully understand the issues and conclude that the guy has a valid case. Too bad for Volvo for having a horrible customer support

I was thinking about the site too. It looked like a perfect example for AI, then I found the lovable badge.

Lovable is really good at this kind of use case and experience. Ironically it's also Swedish philosophy based, no much hardcore tech(the heavy lifting is claude ) but focus on the experience. Similar to Volvo not promoting speed and handling but emphasize safety. But we know now that speed and handling in many ways show the tech of that vehicle and it reflects on safety to a large scale Imho

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#169

Post by belval »

xyx0826 wrote: post #161
asciii wrote: post #45

Volvo may not want to replace the car for the guy...but from a marketing standpoint, they truly picked the wrong hill. The site is very nice and pretty thorough. Makes me not want to get this car or any Volvo!

I applaud his efforts to document this what must’ve been a nightmare of a case for him. But it felt like a lot of the wording is speculative or hyperbolic in nature and aggressively tries to paint Volvo in a bad light. For example: “Analysis of Volvo's Final Response: This response … confirms Volvo's complete abandonment of customer responsibility…This is Volvo's definition of ‘customer care’ in 2025.” “Center Displa…

Eh the author is coming from a place of emotion (considering the effort put into the website) so I would definitely cut them some slack on the fairness of their reporting. The owner is telling their story, not a journalist.

> But how is this an “override” of HVAC or a “total system breakdown”?

Complete failure of the throttle would fall within total system breakdown to me.

> Comms and decision making are prone to break down on the corporate ladder.

Businesses do not deserve the benefit of the doubt, they aren't human. If their support ladder broke down to this point that it is fair game to name and shame and up to them to do a PR push and fix their support.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#170

Post by butlike »

prmph wrote: post #129
runako wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, Honda. Not sure if Hyundai & Kia are quite as reliable, but if not it's on them because they have some of the best warranties in the industry.

Mazdas too. I find Toyota's suspensions and driving dynamics terrible. Mazda represents a perfect combination of good Japanese reliability and good handling dynamics. I also like that they still offer a proper automatic transmission in their cars (as opposed to the CVT epidemic in other makes), as well as naturally aspirated engine options (whereas many other makes only offer turbos now). The days of their collaborat…

Yessss. Happy to hear this. A Miata has been on the wishlist for a while now.
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