BEAR'S, & LEE'S, GUEST BOOK

9/9/11

VOLVO TRUCKS NORTH AMERICA

Dear Bear,

This is an acknowledgment of the letter that you wrote to Staffan Jufors. He sent it to us here in North America for resolution. We understand that you have had hard times with your Volvo and we regret that this has happened. But we appreciate the improvement feed back that you suggested. These will be forwarded to our planning group.
We were also told that you have turned your truck over to the dealer to be resold.
We regret that the difficult times have forced you to do this and we send you best wishes for the future.

Best regards,

Debbie Smith

9/8/9

Staffan Jufors
President and CEO
Volvo Truck Corporation_
Gropegårdsgatan_SE-405 08
Göteborg_Sweden

Dear Mr. Jufors

All my life, in North America, `on' has been up and `off' has been down.

Every light switch in every home, or office, and every control in every truck, or car; Ford, Mack, Chev., Kenworth.

But the big Swede is opposite.

I can't tell you, since I bought a Volvo, how many times I have turned something off when I was trying to turn it on, or vice versa.

In every truck I have ever driven, and I have driven virtually every brand out there, from GMC to Freightliner, there is a lever on the right hand side of the steering column, just below the steering wheel, much like the shift lever on a car.

This lever is to supply air to the brakes on the trailer. Connected to the lever, in the air system, is a gauge, on the dash, to tell you how much pressure you are applying.

When coming down a hill, particularly in winter, a driver applies 5 or 10 pounds of pressure to the trailer, before he takes his foot off the throttle.

When you take your foot off the throttle the engine brakes, commonly called Jacobs, or Jake, brakes, come on. If the engine brakes come on before the trailer brakes the engine slows down the driving tires but not the trailer. Therefore the trailer is pushing the tractor. You don't notice it in the summer but the tractor tires are actually scuffing the pavement. If you slow the trailer first, you avoid this and extend the life of the tires on the tractor.

More importantly, in winter, you prevent the trailer from pushing the tractor on ice. A little snub to the trailer brakes and then let the jakes come on and the tractor controls the trailer. If you don't, the trailer controls the tractor and you can kiss your ass goodbye.

In Canada, particularly in logging, we do a lot of driving on steep hills with very tight corners, many switchbacks, and hairpin turns. In these cases we set the trailer lever for 5 or 10 pounds of air pressure and leave it there until we have reached the bottom.

However, on the Volvo the lever is spring loaded and when you let go of it, instead of staying where you put it, it springs back to the off position. If you have to keep one hand on the trailer lever you don't have that hand free to be shifting gears.

It is one of the reasons you won't find Volvos in the logging industry.

However the biggest problem with their lever, in a Volvo, is, it is not where it should be. Instead of being on the steering column, it is on the dash. In its place there is a lever that operates the windshield wipers. This is a very dangerous situation.

I can't begin to tell you, especial after dark, how many times I have reached for the trailer lever and turned on, or off, my wipers. Then I have to fumble around, frantically, for the trailer lever,

Several times I have come close to having an accident and sooner or later I am going to miss that dash mounted brake lever at a crucial moment.

However, I suppose, I can rest in piece, with the consolation, that when I go through the windshield it will be clean.

Yours truly

Bear

Many Other Reasons WHY I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER VOLVO

The truck is only 2 years old how can it be worn out already?

- AERODYNAMICS - The design is such that the wiper throws the stuff off the windshield and the wind throws it onto the face of the mirrors.

- AIR COMPRESSOR - On the top of the air compressor there is an elbow that connects to the air intake for the truck. I lost a half day of work while I got it replaced. It turned out that it didn't need replacing. It only needed to be re seated and re clamped. When the factory installed it they didn't hold the clamp in tight against the elbow while they tightened down the clamp and it let the elbow pop out. Lord only knows how long my compressor has been sucking un-filtered air. Now I suppose the compressor will pack it in.

- AIR DRYER EXHAUST - The air dryer exhausts at a very strong force, straight down, directly under the drivers seat. Dust and gravel completely engulf the cab. If it has just been washed it needs to be washed again. If the cab doors or windows are open the inside is now filthy. If you or a passenger happen to be standing outside, getting in, you or they are now filthy.
There is no reason why this exhaust could not be aimed to the rear, instead of down.

- AIR HORN - The sir horn does not sound like any truck I have ever driven. The control for the air horn is where the electrical horn control should be and there is no chain or cord from the roof to operate the air horn. It's embarrassing when children, standing along side the road, pump their fists for you to blow the air horn and you have no cord to pull. When I do honk they are disappointed with the strange noise.

- BED LADDER - The fold away ladder for the bed in a 780 is useless unless your legs are five feet long. The steps are much too far apart and much too narrow. (they are hard on a bare foot.)

- BUGS GET IN - When I am reading at night, with all the windows closed, bugs get in, attracted by the light. Some where you have holes that are not screened.

- COLD ON THE FEET IN WINTER - There is a draft coming in from under the fridge and main closet. It is really notable when you are parked and the temperature is 30 below.

- CRUISE CONTROL - The cruise control should be a keypad in the center of the steering wheel so you don't have to spend a lot of time with your eyes off the road. just key in the speed you want to travel at. Also, the cruise should be able to hold the truck at speeds as slow as 20 MPH for construction zones.

- CURTAIN RESTRAINTS - There are only three curtains but there is no consistency in how they are held in place when folded back.

- CURTAIN SLIDES - The little plastic glides on the front, and over head, curtain are too small for the track and fall out or they jam and rip out of the curtain. Also they are not replaceable and you have to buy a whole new curtain.

- DELPHI RADIO AND CD PAYER - This amazing piece of electronic gadgetry won't release, eject, my CD. I am told I have to buy an entire new unit because with the cost of labour it is more expensive to repair than to replace.

- DIPSTICK COLOUR - The dipstick is the same colour as the oil. How are you supposed to tell what the oil level is.

- DOOR FOB - When I first bought the truck the remote fob would open the door from 20 feet. Within a few weeks it was down to standing right beside the door. I put a new battery in then gave me a few feet of range but shortly I was down to 2 feet.
I have had more than one Volvo dealer look at it. and the fob will not work unless you hold it against the hood. Now I can't trust it. I can't use it in case I get locked out.

- FRIDGE DOOR LATCH - I realize this is not made by Volvo but it is an inconvenient system, a peg through two loops, is that so you can use a padlock to save your Tuborg?

- FRIDGE DRAIN - The fridge has no drain. If you are parked for a few days and the batteries go low the fridge defrosts and you come back to your truck to find water all over the floor.

- FLOOR INSULATION - What kind of weird stuff is under the carper? When you step on it it takes an imprint of your foot and the floor is no longer smooth.

- FRESH AIR VENT - If you turn the switch from recirculation to fresh all you get is hot air from the engine compartment. It is summer and I want fresh air on my feet.

- GLOVE BOX CATCH - Twice now I have put foam padding under the hinge of the glove box but it keeps shrinking and then the catch doesn't catch and the glove box falls open.

- HEATER EXHAUST - The exhaust for the heater is directly over the fill cap on the fuel tank. There is a label on the tank saying that you should open the tank if the heater is running. Is there some reason the exhaust could be twisted so it exhausts over the drive shaft?

- JOCKEY BOX DOOR CATCH - I am tall and have fairly long arms but I really have to stretch to release and open the doors on the jockey boxes. I don't' know how short people manage it.

- OVERHEAD LIGHT SWITCH UNDER STEERING WHEEL - The main switch for the main interior light is where you can't reach it if you are not sitting at the wheel. It should be near the center of the cab.

- POWER STEERING DIP STICK - Trying to remove this little rubber capped stick is beyond my abilities. I simply unscrew the large fill cap.

- ROOF LEAK - Three times I have had to take the truck to a Volvo dealer and have the roof resealed. The truck is barley 2 years old and only has 500,000 Km on it. yet 3 times I have gotten wet while driving. Actually only twice. The third time I was parked and the rain comes in from somewhere.
Make that four times. The other day I went through a small rain squall and my knee got wet.
I took it into Volvo when I got back and they said they couldn't fix it. They told me to take it to a window shop. I took it to Brocco Auto Glass, they replaced the seal. They said it had been improperly installed at the factory, the sealant wasn't consistent around the window and hadn't adhered properly.

- SHOULDER STRAP HOLDER - I am fairly tall and if I wear the shoulder strap it cuts into my shoulder because I can adjust the bracket on the wall to a higher position.

- STAIRS TO ACCESS WINDSHIELD - There is no place to put your feet or hands to climb up to clean the windshield tr to change the wiper blades.
Did you know there are vibrators for windshield wiper blades. To knock the snow off. A company in Canada makes them and distributes them through Ford. It worked fairly well until I accidentally left the switch on overnight and burned out the little motor that mounts on the wiper blade. The unit comes with a push switch that won't stay on but the previous owner of the truck connected it to one of the auxiliary switches on the dash.

- SUN VISOR - EXTERIOR - I think it is called a sun visor. It is outside, above the windshield but it is not solid to the cab sand therefore snow and rain still gets on the windshield. Also it is too low and I am unable to see the signal lights at an intersection. or the stars at night.

- TRANS SPLITTER NOT COVERED BY WARRANTY - NOT WATER PROOF -This winter I had to have the splitter replaced under the transmission. Recently I received a bill saying the splitter was destroyed by ice and or salt. and therefore wasn't' under warranty. If someone designed a splitter to sit under a transmission and didn design it to be salt and ice proof they should be fired.

- TRANSMISSION SCREAMS AT HIGH RPM - I have an automatic transmission. The truck apparently has two stages in the engine brakes. They tell me there is not a third position but when I reach 2,200 RPM, going down a steep hill with a heavy load the transmission screams like the main fan on a freightliner and holds the truck at that speed???

- TV AREA SHELVES - The space to put a TV or microwave is of good size but if it is not used for that purposes it is a lot of wasted space. In both compartment I have run metal straps down from above and fashioned wooden shelves. Adjustable shelving in all the cupboards would be handy.

- WATER LINE - The cheap rubber that is used by your supplier is crap. It Cost me $800 to have a service man come out and replace a small water line on the side of the block. The side of the line was such poor quality that I could put my thumb through it.