Painted Plastic Trim at Door Handle Failure

[dtlayman]

Anybody had problems with the painted plastic trim behind the door lever? My driver side door trim has an oval area about the size of a quarter right behind the lever where the paint has come off and revealed the material underneath. Has anyone been able to get it repaired? I believe it looks really bad. It seems like Volvo should offer a to repair this with trim that won't do this. Any suggestions?

Thanks

I had a '01 V70XC out for a weekend and it had the very same problem. Behind both front door inside release handles, the painted (a bit cheap for the class of the auto) black facia was scratched away revealing the faux burl wood finish beneath. Yes, it may have been the result of hundreds of collisions with a fingernail, but considering how inexpensive plastic is, one would think they would use a solid polymer shell adhered inside the grab cavity. Painting it black is a definite shortcut. Tsk-tsk..

Pat MacKinnon,
Soon to have Ash Gold '02 XC (next week....)

[harden]

I have the same problem, you would think they could come up with soemthing a little more durable in an area that is obviously going to see alot of wear.

Dan

I had to have both door panels replaced because the metal clips that hold it to the frame pinged off.  The driver door side started to peel off, but the pass. side is ok.  On closer review I noticed that there is a slight color variation in the wood tones of the replaced panels.  Naturally the service manager cannot see the differences.  I still continue to have slight vibration noises from the pass. door.

[giralda]

In my opinion, one of the only weaknesses of the car is the cheap plastic trim being used in the interior.  When I test drove one last week, I was surprised that for such a handsome car inside and out, the XC had such ordinary trim around the door handles, vents, dash, etc.  It sort of reminded me of the '85 Pontiac Grand Am I had in college.  I have a 2000 VW Passat, and its trim has that special matte, grippy texture that is feels and looks good.

Nevertheless, I am getting my nautic blue XC in a couple of weeks and am quite excited.

[wiz]

I have to say I didn't notice it at all.  I have a graphite interior so there isn't that much of a contrast between the trim and the surrounding areas.

Maybe these issues show up more on a car with brown or sand interior.