Table 1 shows three common service brakes related problems of the 1996 Volvo 855.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Brake Light On problems | |
| Brake Sensor problems | |
| Brake Antilock Control Unit/module problems |
Abs brake system is not braking the vehicle properly. Brake light would come on/go out at random, and on two occasions the brake would turn to manual braking. Vehicle has been in/out of dealer shop on seven occasions, and condition has not been corrected. Dealer informed consumer that nothing could be found.
The abs sensor has come on and it is due to the failure of the abs control unit. This is a vary common and serious failure for the Volvo 850 and is a well know to Volvo. They offer repair but it is around $900.
My '96 Volvo 855 has intermittent abs failure. The abs light goes off intermittently. The car has 123,000 miles. After a brief search on the internet I found that this was too common problem with abs control module. It seems that Volvo does not admit it as a systematic problem and there is no recall campaign (that I know of). Just Volvo dealers making a lot of money to diagnose the problem and installing the new abs control modules. It is irresponsible to let many Volvo cars with either failing abs system or charge hundreds for the repair of a badly designed system.