general problems of the 2004 Volvo S40

Dear sir or madam, I bought the Volvo S40 for its safety record. This one is a 2004 Volvo S40. At that time, it had about 43k miles on it. Now, it has 53k miles on it. On 23rd February 2009, the steering wheel completely froze up on the interstate making it very difficult to change lanes, etc. With great difficulty, we managed to bring it home. The next day, it was still frozen and we could not turn the steering wheel at all. I believe this may be a safety issue since I travel with my kids in this car. I want to bring this to your attention to see if: 1. Volvo should be asked to recall and fix this problem if it pertains to all their cars. 2. A safety warning should be issued to alert the public. I have had the car towed to a repair shop and they don't seem to understand how or why it happened. I searched online but found very limited references to this type of problem. I am requesting you to kindly take the necessary action at your earliest convenience in order to prevent any untoward incident from occurring because of this problem.

Dashboard went crazy, fading in and out. All panels were unreadable, speedometer, radio, temperature gauge. Car accelerated on its own, without my foot on the pedal. Cd was shot into the backseat landing in my child safety seat. All of this occurred while driving on the highway. In all 3 instances the message indicator stated to not drive the car. I had the car towed to 2 different dealers. The first time they said it was the software and reinstalled. The second time, they replaced the alternator and the car was in the shop for over a week, the third time, the replace the cem module and radio. The the fourth time the car wouldn't read the key and had to be towed and they replaced the steering module. This car has been in the shop 3 times in less than 6 months for 3 electrical related issues the car only has 42,000 mile.