Driving South on I95 near clinton, Connecticut with two other SUV's for about two hours - medium to heavy flow traffic conditions. Driving normal speeds in the left lane when the car felt like it was starved for fuel and wouldn't react to the throttle control. Top speed was only about 35-40 mph and an indicator light flashed "performance degragation" or something like that. The car was able to get into the right lane, but then died and would not start for a period of time. A state trooper did pull up behind all three cars and lended some traffic assistance. After a while the car did start again and we were able to get to the nearest exit. Since we were still 2 hours from home and aaa couldn't get us physically home, we waited 1 hour and tried our luck. The car did get us home, but there was a very slight misfire present most of the way home that might have gone unnoticed in different circumstances. The next day Volvo of westport fixed the car and said it was the electronic throttle system - they replaced it, but said they couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't happen again in the near future. We love our Volvo XC90 and purchased it for safety only, but this problem is a serious concern for us, especially since we had 7 adults and three kids ranging from 16 months to 6 years of age stranded on I95 during heavy traffic!!!!! the car is a Volvo XC90 2001 - I was assured by the westport dealer that the problem was fixed in the 2003+ models and we are considering an upgrade - if we can trust Volvo again.

- Norwalk, CT, USA

For about a week the car was running rough with hesitation and a jerking feeling of loss of power. Then as my wife was driving home with our children the night of the 27th of July the car started to lose power completely to the point where she was forced to pull the car off the road. The information center on the car indicated "performance reduced" but offered no other information and the manual offered no other narrative. The car was taken to tom wood Volvo in indianapolis where the technician had a hunch right away that it was a faulty ETM. Item was replaced with new which resulted in a bill of $1100. Since the problem I have been made aware that this is a common problem with this vehicle.

- Arcadia, IN, USA