Beware 2010MY XC60 Owners Manual IMPORTANT Error

[dodgyken]

Originally Posted by ChrisE

Dodgyken,

who are you asking for "the facts"?

As far as the MY2010 XC60 is concerned I have given them - I thought - clearly.

XC60 pricelist either viewable on the Volvo website or available by post gives the XC60 205hp 4wd manual towball weight as 75kg.

XC60 owners manual either downloadable from the Volvo website or as supplied with the vehicle gives the towball weight as 90kg which Volvo now say is wrong.

I was asking Dazzler. But the latest web brochures are showing 90kg - which matches against those of the V70. I can't see any reason why a D5 XC60 would have a lower noseweight than a V70.

Something doesn't add up - especially when you have a look on the Ford site and see that the Mondeo has similar towing capabilities to the V70 (although there is no mention of noseweights). The Mondeo can only manage a 75kg roof rack (V70 100kg).

The latest Swiss brochures still state 90KG

[Dazzlev70r]

Ken again ive no idea

Just came out of a solicitors office

I towed a 1400 kg max caravan to Spain
whilst over there an incident caused the caravan to be written off in my case
The insurance on the caravan has been invalidated as according to them I was towing more than reccomended by Volvo

Clearly my hand book and Volvos figures that were published showed this is not the case

In fact on my towbar fitted by volvo is a riveted plate of conformity showing the car it was fitted to can tow a max 2000Kg yet in a written responce from Volvo to my insurance company they accept the caravan was too heavy for the car

In UK this is a massive thing, dealers snubbing calls and refusing to comment
Volvo UK refusing to accept any liabilty or refusing to confirm actual manufactures guidelines

Ive a letter from VCUK stating its all misprints and its the dealers fault.
The dealers say they sell cars from the information given to them by VCUK

you can rack up thousands, im personaly at present down 5 grand and its that bad the finance company have agread to terminate the lease without penaltys in my case

I of course loose the private money I spent on accesories and packs I purchased.

So can any one stand up and state what car can tow what be in max, kerbwieght or nose wieght?

These cars are tow cars of the year ffs and no one can actualy say what they can tow and put there name to it

SO its a serious problem, it must affect resale values and worse if your in an accident like I was you can find these figures you show was published are not endorsed or to be relied on

Volvo should put this matter to bed, they wont as so many will back there cars if they got wind, when BBC watchdog publish there story (if there is one) then things will become clear

But in UK there are no brochures any more, just websites with claims
and disclaimers stating the information on them are subject to change.
End of day its all down to manufactures reccomended guidelines, you cant work it out yourself dependent on weight of tow car etc

And currently the manufactures guidelines conflict with each other

Anyone remember something similar years ago with Land rover?

also Ford owned isnt it? how many bought big 4x4s and later found they couldnt tow that much lol
is this Volvos turn now

[Dazzlev70r]

http://

[ChrisE]

DazzleV70R

I think that there might be a confusion here. The weight plate that is attached to the towbar relates to the towbar and not the vehicle that it is attached to. Thus in the XC60 case the towbar will show 90kg noseweight because that is what it will have been tested to because SOME XC60's can cope with a 90kg noseweight.

For those XC60's that are 75kg noseweight limit it is still fine because the towbar is rated for more than the noseweight limit for the specific car to which it is fitted - but it does not change the noseweight limit for that specific car which remains at 75kg DESPITE the 90kg label on the towbar.

It is an obvious extra source of owner confusion when both your handbook and towbar are saying 90kg but the legal reality is 75kg!

DodgyKen
The latest UK XC60 broshure which I have just looked at shows the 75kg manual & 90kg automatic that I refer to throughout this topic & which Volvo say is correct. It is the owners handbook which is wrong.

[Dazzlev70r]

Originally Posted by ChrisE

DodgyKen
The latest UK XC60 broshure which I have just looked at shows the 75kg manual & 90kg automatic that I refer to throughout this topic & which Volvo say is correct. It is the owners handbook which is wrong.

Chris is 75kg for a manual the actual legal specification set by Volvo?

as so far despite a lot of mails no one anywhere will put there name on record
in fact if its a simple misprint why havent Volvo informed the owners after all thats simple to do

And why is the european specs diffrent from UK?

This isnt a new thing by the way these misprints have gone on for a fair while now

And how is a misprint in the XC60 handbook linked to misprints on the V70 range?
Why have all brochures been removed yet the website remains unchanged in many cases

Im also aware website disclaimers do stand up where a disclaimer in brochure and handbook dont
The dealers if pressed will only quote figures that are given now on the website, wont pick the phone up and ring there contacts

If its a string of genuine misprints thats cool, inform people etc but this isnt happening here in UK
Many are paying fortunes in solicitors trying to get a correct answer
In my case VCUK are now arrogant and rude even refusing to talk about this
In my case after 6 months my supplier of the vehicle has given up trying to get a definitive answer and ended the contract I know of a couple of others in my boat

The topic starter clearly at wits end after what seems similar encounters.
Im suprised so many of us are oblivious as it goes
Theres serious consequences as ive found out should your insurance be voided because of all this
Resale values and not to mention buying something unfit for the purpose should be a consideration
Im not going to be part of a hanging squad but something clearly is very wrong in a lot of areas
Customer service skills now to be fair has to be failing and a recall or at least a letter of informity should of been issued to owners of these cars informing them of the situation
Again the same cars in Europe remain unchanged, in fact newer models still carry the "misprints"

My question is where does genuine misprints and mistakes stop and blatant misrepresentation start?

[cumbrianmale]

Dazzle

Have I got the jist of this?

You leaseed a V70 thinking it had a 90kg noseweight, you then towed at that limit and had an accident which wrote your caravan off. When you claimed on your insurance they wrote to Volvo who then said "no it's 75kg noseweight" and your insurers voided your claim?

If this is right and your owners handbook stated 90kg, then any reasonable man would reasonably believe this to be true. In this case I would sue my insurer in small claims court (up to £5k) as you acted in good faith and could not have reasonably known of the misprint.

I would also be speaking to VOSA as clearly this is a safety issue and I would expect that VOSA should insist that VCUK sends an addendum page, to place in the handbook, to every registered keeper of the models affected.

Has anyone looked to see what limits are issued on Focus, Mondeo, and Kuga models as these are the counterparts using the same platforms? Noseweight should be dictated by chassis strength and axle limits as opposed to towing weights which rely on engine output, and train weight also.

[Dazzlev70r]

You almost got it bang on Cumbria although in my case to be fair will be slightly diffrent to others in the fact im disabled so the car is leased via motability leasing and insured through them as well underwritten by RSA

This has gone on for months now and solicitors in my case have made very very little progress as Volvo wont share anything unless firstly the solicitor actualy obtains an order to do so

The poor lady at motability actualy cried other day shes worked constantly to gain an answer and to liase with insurance company only to constantly hit brick walls

In my case it stepped up after a reseacher for watchdog spoke firstly to me then to motability and Volvo
within 24 hours ive been offered a full refund of deposit and a new car from VW bieng super rushed through to replace my V70 normaly a 12 week wait im told to expect it in 2 - 3 weeks

I was going to say nothing and not contribute to this thread after all clearly 99% of us dont want to read this and after all im ok jack as they say

Then i felt for original poster and the others also affected by this, I remember the phone calls of hostility from VCUK
I remember the smarmy dealer who sold me the car now no longer returning my calls
I still paying for solicitors costs, everyone who knows my case states im not in the wrong I done everything a member of public can do yet im paying HP on a caravan that been written off and still Volvo can and have written informing the insurance I was over wieght yet wont reply to me actual figures

Not bieng mean i applaud the mods who made this sticky and wish like everyone the topic will go away, but it wont unless Volvo after a year of snubbing everyone actualy lay this dog to rest.

Its an extremely serious issue, just say you kill someone in an incident and find your insurance invalid
Im told ignorance is no defence in UK law, im also told showing the judge the documents you believe to be accurate at the time but later proved wrong is also no defence

Its down to us to almost daily observe any changes in regulations

Simply UK versions do not hold a stand up in court or VOSA reccomendation, the figures out there at present are way below european specs

Sorry someone is ****ing on our backs and telling us its raining, maybe Volvo do know there customers better than we think
Tell them nothing and treat them ignorantly and like fools we will (because we have) got away with it

A car is the 2nd biggest purchase we make in our lifes after our houses yet I wonder if you buy a £300 oven that burns all food after a misprint in the settings how long wed keep it
30K on a car and we ignore the issues thats ok i respect that but i do wonder why more are not shocked and i offer a pint to those who have gone through what i have with Volvo and wish them all the best

[ChrisE]

Originally Posted by Dazzlev70r

Chris is 75kg for a manual the actual legal specification set by Volvo?

as so far despite a lot of mails no one anywhere will put there name on record
in fact if its a simple misprint why havent Volvo informed the owners after all thats simple to do

And why is the european specs diffrent from UK?

This isnt a new thing by the way these misprints have gone on for a fair while now

And how is a misprint in the XC60 handbook linked to misprints on the V70 range?
Why have all brochures been removed yet the website remains unchanged in many cases

Im also aware website disclaimers do stand up where a disclaimer in brochure and handbook dont
The dealers if pressed will only quote figures that are given now on the website, wont pick the phone up and ring there contacts

If its a string of genuine misprints thats cool, inform people etc but this isnt happening here in UK
Many are paying fortunes in solicitors trying to get a correct answer
In my case VCUK are now arrogant and rude even refusing to talk about this
In my case after 6 months my supplier of the vehicle has given up trying to get a definitive answer and ended the contract I know of a couple of others in my boat

The topic starter clearly at wits end after what seems similar encounters.
Im suprised so many of us are oblivious as it goes
Theres serious consequences as ive found out should your insurance be voided because of all this
Resale values and not to mention buying something unfit for the purpose should be a consideration
Im not going to be part of a hanging squad but something clearly is very wrong in a lot of areas
Customer service skills now to be fair has to be failing and a recall or at least a letter of informity should of been issued to owners of these cars informing them of the situation
Again the same cars in Europe remain unchanged, in fact newer models still carry the "misprints"

My question is where does genuine misprints and mistakes stop and blatant misrepresentation start?

As I understand it 75kg is the legal maximum towball load for a UK spec MANUAL XC60. The Volvo product manager, I am told, got this definitively from Volvo.

Why the UK might be unique I have no idea. I had not realized that it was.

I can't see this relates directly to the V70 at all except that if they regularily get it wrong it might just tell us something about the care they take in preparing documentation.

The brochures have not been removed - they are still on the UK web site & they will send you one if asked. They are no longer held in dealers to save waste - well that is what a dealer told me anyway

I agree that Volvo should contact owners to tell them of the mistake. As I posted this the very day that both Volvo & I found out I think they might need a little time. They will argue, I guess, that it was the catalogue that sold the vehicle & that it is correct. The handbook only comes into play once you already own an XC60 so the 90kg in the handbook could not have influenced your buying decision. As it is available on the website I am not so sure.

If Volvo consistently get towing weights wrong I am amazed as they used to be the standard caravan towcar although this is no longer true.

I am so sorry for the problems that Dazzle70vr is having. Unfortunately it probably takes a disabled person & motability for this to get any priority.
I will be very interested to hear what comes out of a Watchdog item.

[dodgyken]

Dazzle - can you clarify the following:

1) What model of Volvo do you have? Model/Gearbox/Engine?
2) What is stated nose/max tow weight?
3) What were you towing (nose + weight) at the time of the accident?

There are a couple of V70s whose max tow weight is <1400KG:
2.0 manual/auto - 1320
1.6D manual/auto - 1200
2.0F manual - 1320
2.0F auto - 1000!!!!

The 2.0D is stated as 1600KG with a nose weight of 90KG

[Dazzlev70r]

mine is a 2.0D R design manual

Motability im told have replaced a couple of v70s recently after reading the V70 forum as it goes.

In my case the supplying dealer has been amazing towards me, its not there fault and they have always gone out of the way to help me in any way they can and ill stand and argue that point in no way is this the dealership fault

As for the brochures bieng recalled back at end of April yep this could be a green reason lol

Im happy now to let things go as they are, ive known of issues myself since April and anyone who brave enough who knows can testify these issues pre date when I knew ( one of there get out of **** clauses quoted to me internal memos were flying around last xmas time and they informed the dealerships on february 12 2009 and as I ordered my car on 25 Feb 2009 I was according to them aware of misprint issues)

Lifes far too short to worry about things, let solicitors etc sort it all out or a judge to finaly have final say

Just some on here feel despondant at the fact Volvo isnt listening and who cares and felt it right to say someone does care and more to point someone is doing something