All Volvo trucks with ’07 engines will come with instant access to technical expertise and round-the-clock service support as standard features. Three years’ worth of Volvo Link two-way satellite communications and Volvo Action Service (VAS) 24/7 roadside assistance will be standard on Volvo trucks with 2007 engines. They’ll be sold starting in the first quarter of next year.

“This combination puts a Volvo technician in the cab with each driver,” says Volvo, “while also putting a wealth of information about truck and driver performance on fleet managers’ desktops.”

There’s an added benefit to Volvo as well, by way of real-time status reports on how the new engines are performing.

Volvo Link is a proprietary satellite communications system. The necessary hardware is integrated into trucks during assembly and uses a network of 30 low-earth-orbit satellites. Drivers send and receive messages using the display in the truck’s gauge cluster. Messages transmitted from trucks are received by ground stations and are sent to Volvo customer support or fleet terminals via the Internet.

Sentry is a special feature of Volvo Link that reads fault codes involving the truck or engine electronic control units and then transmits that information to Volvo’s VAS. It allows VAS to take action before the driver does, if the situation requires it. When a fault code is received from a specific truck, the tech support people review the situation and determine what, if any, corrective action should be taken. Then they’ll contact the driver, either by cell phone or through the display in the truck’s gauge cluster, to provide recommended actions. Sentry was first introduced in August 2005 for Volvo’s flagship, the Volvo VT 880.

Model-year 2008 Volvo trucks come with three years of Sentry and VAS coverage standard. Customers can purchase the services after that period, as can second owners of the vehicles.