Vehicle Speed Control Problems of Volvo 850

Runaway accelerator ? on entering interstate, I quickly realized that the accelerator was locked into the floored position. I had a runaway situation with traffic. I was unable to slow the car or release the accelerator. Fortunately, I had the knowledge and sense to slow the car. Pumping the brakes did not help. I managed to hold the brakes while downshifting into the low and then lowest gear in automatic transmission. I managed to negotiate the car toward the shoulder and eventually threw the transmission into the park gear. The car jolted, then stopped. This was a life threatening situation for me and others on the road.

See all problems of the 1996 Volvo 850 🔎.

In a parking garage I turned my wheels towards the left to drive into a parking spot; I gave the car a little gas while driving over a speedbump and suddenly the car accelerated and shot forward at a high rate of speed. Thankfully the car went into that parking spot and hit the cement wall and stopped. I thought it was a one-time occurrence but with all the reports of Toyota acceleration problems, now I wonder if this can occur in any car at any time. I have a 1997 Volvo station wagon. With speed bumps on many streets near schools, if this can happen on almost any car, then the potential for major accidents is unlimited. I will always keep my foot on the brake pedal while going over any speed bump from now on, and am just thankful that I was just a couple of feet from a cement wall and had already turned my wheels. For those reasons, no damage was done to either the wall, my car or the occupants. (in the mileage and speed info. On this form I can only guess at the mileage at the time of incident and the speed at which the car accelerated. ).

See all problems of the 1997 Volvo 850 🔎.

Odometer/speedometer does not work, v this problem appears to be a flaw in Volvo's manufacturing. Consumer wants name and concern shared with Volvo. Consumer states Volvo knows of this widespread era in their cars. On may 18th 2005 consumer sent a letter to Volvo about the odometer problem, along with a follow up letter on June 9th 2005. Consumer states that failure is due to a small plastic gear in the speedometer.

While in driveway in park, put car in reverse and it started spinning madly in reverse, turning in circles, and engine was racing really high. Consumer had no control, and vehicle ended up in a ditch.

Engine constantly surges (idles up and down) with or without airconditioning on. Car will leap ahead on occasion when engine revs up, driver has to be vigilant and able to step on brake to stop car at any time. This has been reported to a Volvo dealer and in the dealer's repair shop 4 times and still has not been fixed. Much care has to be taken when parking to make sure not to impact other cars or objects when the car decides to leap forward. Engine idle is constantly going up and down, will not idle at a constant rpm.

See all problems of the 2000 Volvo 850 🔎.

While driving approx. 45 mph the car begin to race, as though it were stuck in gear, I applied my brakes, but they did not respond. The car continued to accelete (up hill) on it's own. I attempted to apply the brakes, but to no avail, the car continued to accelerate. I steered the car to jump a curb and applied the emergency brake, the car continued to accelerate. I was no longer in control of the car, so I took off my seat belt and ejected from the car. The car went head on into a truck and was subsequently totalled.