I was told volvo s40 brake pads don't have wear sensors on them. Can this be true?
No Volvo has ever had a wear sensor - I can't understand why. Other cars have used pad sensors to turn on a warning light on the dash, it seems like such a good idea for so little extra cost.
From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is Mike F: Not so sure; doing proper servicing is surely a better idea. To my mind, the need for a wear sensor implies poor servicing. Checking the brake pads by eye, involving taking the wheel off, means that much else in the wheel/brake assembly can get looked at at the same time. A sensor would only a good idea when servicing is not being carried out at all, and in that circumstance, to rely on a fallible sensor of some sort cannot be a good idea. And besides, I've always found that the loud grating noise (often followed by the sound of bending metal) that you get when the pads need replacing is ample warning. -- Stewart Hargrave Faster than public transport For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name
Well, there's no doubt proper inspections and servicing is better. I personally have no problem, especially since the cars I've had for the last 15 years have all had 5 spoke wheels with openings large enough to quickly do a brake inspection whenever I want. However, most people aren't like you and me, they need something to tell them when something needs attention on their cars. And a light on the dash is a good way to do that. And since BMW, Mercedes and Porsche (and others I don't know about, I'm sure) all use sensors and lights, then there becomes an expectation that other cars will also have the same feature, and as you say, people start to rely on them.
Volvo is the only car I've had that doesn't have pad wear wiring, and come to think of it, my old 240 and both my 740's don't or didn't have low fuel warning either. I do have low washer fluid warning, low brake fluid warning in the SE tho, but no brake or fuel. It is odd but there must be a "Volvo" logic behind it. maybe they just ran out of space on the instrument panel !!! Stuart.
