I have Volvo S40 2000 which I purchased in October 1999. I brought my car to service regularly, it was serviced while in warranty by the royal motor sales who sold me this car. On the second service I have been told that my rear brakes completely worn out and they have to change not only brake pads but also rotors and something else, I ended up paying $1000+ for that "service". interestingly enough I have been told at dealership that it is very common problem for my car kind to have rear brake pads wear out quickly and they have to be changed every 5000-7000 miles (no information on that in the owners manual, either nobody warned me about that on the first service, better yet they did not even checked rear brake pads nor tell me how much of it left). Now when my warranty is over I noticed very loud metallic banging noise that comes from under the hood. I took the car to independent Volvo mechanic since I do not trust dealer any more. Mechanic fixed actually 2 different parts that were making some noise. I paid $330 and took my car home, just to find that loud noise is still there when I was going over bumps in the road. I took my car back and mechanic ordered yet another part which only came 2 weeks later. Now my car is at the mechanic's who called and told me that there more parts to be changed and that his friend at dealership told him that it is very common warranty repair on my car kind. Well they got lucky in my case, I am over on my warranty by 2000 miles. But will I buy Volvo ever again" - no way!!! will I suggest to anyone to buy a Volvo" - only to someone I dislike!.

- San Francisco, CA, USA

Rear left brake pads worn through at 26,000 miles. I have also been informed this situation is normal although it seems hard to believe that pads can be worn on cars this quickly. I have followed their maintenance requirements also. In addition, I live over 100 miles from my nearest dealer and replacement pads are not available through automotive parts stores.

- Marietta, OH, USA

We purchased this Volvo S 40 on June 22, 2000 and have already had to replace the front and rear brake pads although the vehichle has less than 30,000 miles on it. The rear rotors had to be replaced as well due to the rear pads wearing out completely in approximately 22,000 miles. Our understanding is that the brake pads on most vehicles last approximately 50,000 miles or more. When we complained, we were told by union park maintenance and sales that the brake pads on the Volvo S 40 are not expected to last more than 15,000 to 20,000 miles. My husband and I consider this premature brake pad degredation to be built-in obsolence and expect better from Volvo. When we addressed our complaint to a sales manager at union park we were told to "get in line" with other S 40 owners, leading us to believe this is a widespread problem. To date, Volvo has not acknowledged the problem or our complaint.

- Newark, DE, USA