Table 1 shows one common engine and engine cooling related problems of the 2021 Volvo XC90.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Engine And Engine Cooling problems |
Unintentional acceleration. First, I was in line at car wash proceeding slowly ahead as directed in line. Foot on accelerator lightly moving, when car surged rapidly hitting back end of Tesla about 6-8 ft ahead (2/26/26 12:30pm) impact strong enough to push Tesla into truck hitch damaging it front of it as well. Applied brake, but impact was too rapid. Second incident with my Volvo was a month later(3/22/26 about 10:30 am) and my husband was driving. . Made right turn on green light and started to accelerate when it revived and surged forward until applied brake. Dealer could not replicate. No codes but repair shop had to recalibrate after 1st incident and may have lost code on 1st incident(wreck). Now that insurance knows what happened, I don't know if they will intervene. Hopefully. No warnings went off or messages. Airbag did not deploy. I believe that this is an unintentional acceleration, especially occurring twice now. Dealership says car is safe and they will monitor. I guess it means when we have another incident. Hopefully not fatal to us or anyone else. Dealer says it is a transition from hybrid electric to gas. But I have had this car 4yrs10months and this never happened until now. And the transition never has thrown me back in my seat or had the engine rev. The battery was replaced last August because of bad cell and recall on it for fire hazard. Maybe this could have an affect. On first incident I was in shock so thought maybe in hit accelerator instead of break, but when second incident occurred and it was exactly like first except no collision. Thatshow I originally reported to insurance and police as my fault. But that's not true. Now I called insurance to report dual incidents, two different drivers with unintentional acceleration. Sr-1 filed.
The erad (electric rear axle drive) transmission on my 2021 Xc90 t8 recharge has suffered an internal failure at approximately 112,550 miles. The vehicle makes loud grinding and slamming noises from the rear drivetrain and locks up when attempting to drive, making the vehicle completely undrivable. The dealership (Volvo cars gilbert, az) diagnosed the erad clutch as slamming and suspects internal gears are missing teeth. A software update was attempted but did not resolve the mechanical failure. The erad transmission needs full replacement at a quoted cost of $5,211. 56 (part number 32324105-9). This is a known failure point on the t8 platform and Volvo has redesigned this component (erad2) for newer models due to reliability issues with the original design. This failure presents a safety concern as the rear drivetrain can lock up unexpectedly during driving. This erad failure occurred alongside two other hybrid system component failures within a 3 month period: the high voltage coolant heater (hvch) and the vehicle batteries (vcm and main), suggesting a systemic hybrid system reliability problem.
My 2021 Volvo Xc90 recharge has experienced multiple hybrid system failures under Volvo's factory 8-year/100,000-mile hybrid warranty, with fewer than 45,000 miles on the odometer. The high-voltage battery modules have failed multiple times, directly related to recall r10312 (NHTSA 25v-179), which identifies a supplier process deviation in lg battery modules creating a risk of internal short circuit and thermal runaway — an acknowledged fire risk. Critically, my vehicle has suffered two actual battery module failures, not preemptive recall replacements. This places my vehicle in a substantially higher risk category than others in the recall population with no prior symptoms. A vehicle that has already experienced the exact failure mode identified in a safety recall presents a materially greater ongoing safety risk. Additionally, my vehicle suffered a complete erad (electric rear axle drive) failure — a known defect that Volvo acknowledged by releasing a redesigned erad2 unit, confirming awareness of this systemic issue. These repeated failures left my vehicle un-drivable and parked at the dealership for more than 6 months, with replacement parts repeatedly placed on backorder, causing severe and prolonged loss of use. I filed a formal complaint with Volvo customer care requesting a vehicle buyback. After months of inadequate communication, Volvo declined to buy back the vehicle or offer reasonable trade-in accommodation. Instead, Volvo offered a nominal monetary concession contingent on signing an nda, which I declined as insufficient given the documented safety risk, repeated failures of a recalled component, extended loss of use, nor out of pocket car rental expenses. I am filing this complaint to ensure my vehicle's actual failures are part of the NHTSA record for r10312/25v-179, and to request NHTSA evaluate whether Volvo's response to owners who have experienced actual failures — rather than preemptive recall repairs — warrants further regulatory scrutiny.
I plugged my usb to usb-c charging cable into my iphone 20 seconds after starting the vehicle. I proceeded to exit my driveway when the infotainment screen went completely blank and the same thing to the driver's display 10 seconds later. I drove to the end of my street to a stop light where the car completely shut off and automatically restarted within a few seconds. I was traveling with my wife and [xxx] daughter. I have yet to reproduce the problem but have an appointment scheduled with the dealership later this week. Zero warnings or messages were present before, during or after the incident. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).
On two separate occasions, while driving car on highway at high speed, the car has gone into a special shutdown mode, where a turtle icon lights up on the dash and the car begins to shut itself down rapidly, limiting maximum speed of vehicle to 35mph. There is no warning or advanced alert. Suddenly the car reduces speed and feels like it is dead, and the systems begin to alert you that they are going into a reduced function mode. This was extremely scary thing to happen at highway speeds with flowing traffic. I had to crawl to side of rose at very low speeds. I could have been injured. I took the car to dealer for service and they said it was a software issue. A few months after, this happened yet again, also while at highway speeds. I have read that others are having similar issues with the Volvo Xc90 model. This is so dangerous and the dealerships are writing it off as a software matter! it is extremely dangerous.
Vehicle is lurching on slow acceleration in hybrid mode. For example, lurching occurs when pulling away from a stop sign, pulling out into traffic, pulling into a parking spot. Issue started beginning of January 2023. In February fields Volvo service diagnosed issue as a software problem (code iem-p287100) and that Volvo hasn't written the software yet. Fields Volvo service said software update should be available in quarter 2. Advised that I do not drive my car in hybrid mode. I own a hybrid vehicle that I have been told not to drive in hybrid. Unfortunately, hybrid is the default mode so upon each start I have to manually change mode to awd. There is also lurching in awd on slow acceleration (not as bad as in hybrid). On several occasions while driving in awd the vehicle will spontaneously change the mode back to hybrid resulting in decreased or no acceleration and lurching. This has happened several times in parking lots (minimal fear for safety) but also several times while pulling into traffic (e. G. , making left hand turns which require acceleration) and acceralerating on onramps to the freeway (definite fear for safety). Problem has been experienced by sales staff at fields Volvo because we are trying to get rid of the car because it is still under warranty (36,000 miles). Fields Volvo has not gotten back to us as to whether they will buy back the car. Volvo USA has been contacted via phone and email about the issue. I have received no response.