Equipment Problems of Volvo XC90 - part 2

Rear driver's side door has the door lock motor fail and the door is unable to be opened from either the inside or outside. I was not in an accident, but had I been this would have been incredibly dangerous for passengers in the back seat of the car. Per discussions with my repair shop, this component should not fail and they have done numerous repairs on this problem on other cars of the same model.

See all problems of the 2016 Volvo XC90 🔎.

The rear passenger door will not open.

See all problems of the 2017 Volvo XC90 🔎.

My rear door, driver-side, will not unlock. I cannot open it from inside nor outside. I have cycled door and child-lock actuators and no change to the condition. This is definitely a safety concern as whatever happened to the driver-side mechanism can happen to the passenger side also then how would passengers exit quickly?.

The left rear door of my vehicle flew open while we were moving with my 10-year-old daughter sitting adjacent to the door. Fortunately, she had her seat belt on otherwise the result would have been tragic. On January 14, 2024 my daughter got into the back of my vehicle, suddenly, her door flew open, I immediately stopped the vehicle. My daughter was unable to shut the door and after many attempts I got the door to shut. When we arrived at home both rear doors would not open and my now trapped daughter exited through the front door. On January 15th, I went to Volvo in rochester NY and explained the situation expecting the service person to be extremely concerned. Much to my surprise he said “that happens all the time” and that when it gets cold out sometimes the latches don’t respond. I anticipated that my car would go in immediately but was told “how is Thursday to bring your car in. ” I dropped my car off and received a call that afternoon with “great news” that the issue was a faulty door latch, the part was in stock and came with a “lifetime warranty. ” he told me the cost was $734. 00 per door meaning with sales tax the cost would be over $1,500 and I would still have two doors at risk for flying open in the future. I asked how this life safety issue which has failed on countless other vehicles is not covered by the manufacturer nor has there been a recall. He said Volvo has recognized the door latch safety issue and designed a fix. When the door latch fails, this new replacement part, that the consumer pays for, solves the problem. Volvo recognized a safety problem, designed the fix, yet has chosen not to recall the vehicles that have these problems but rather waits until the door latch fails before the consumer must pay to replace it. I arrived the next day to pick up my vehicle, sat down with the service manager who was empathetic, but reiterated this is an issue that has repeatedly occurred. This needs to be addressed and not paid by consumers.

Low engine coolent alert started and when we got home we noticed that the coolant had leaked.

It started with the right rear passenger door not opening from the inside or outside of the car. At first you could lock the doors from the inside and then open the door, but now the door will not open at all. My left rear passenger door has started to do the same thing this week. It will only open about 50% of the time. The door handles are in good order, and this is not related to an accident. This is an extremely dangerous situation for my kids! if we were in a car accident or if there was a fire in the car they would not be able to escape. I have attempted to contact customer service, but have not been able to get a hold of them.

Doors do not latch. Started in the winter. Car has to warm up some so far. It might pop open. This is reported all over the internet.

Both of the rear doors fail to unlock and open from the inside or outside. This is a safety issue, as in a fire or accident, I would not be able to remove my children from the back seat of the car.

Chrome plated trim peels away from the surface on middle console and exterior door handles and is extremely sharp causing deep cuts, seems to be a common and known issue but Volvo will not repairs or address the issue.

See all problems of the 2018 Volvo XC90 🔎.

Car had a known issue regarding inappropriate oil consumption and was awaiting repair by Volvo dealership. While merging onto highway and accelerating, car lurched, check engine light came on, and shortly after there was a warning regarding reduced performance. The car was maneuvered to the closest exit and parked. During this time, approx 90secs, all major warning lights came on and smoke started coming up from engine. We quickly pulled to the side of the road (was unable to put car in park) and exited the vehicle as smoke was entering the cabin. There was a fire under the engine compartment that quickly engulfed and consumed the front of thr car.

The electrical rear axle system fails at around 39k miles in the Volvo Xc90 with little notice. I purchased my pre owned 2020 Xc90 recharge in Jan of 2023. The failure of the erad system caused complete power failure instantly and the engine to cease operating at a high rate of speed (55mph) on the highway in flowing nyc traffic . After researching, I have found hundreds s of complaints of this issue as most happen just after warranty expiration . Leading me to believe that Volvo is knowingly selling cars with one product defects that could result in injury or death.

See all problems of the 2020 Volvo XC90 🔎.

There are many form online stating that Volvo has an issue with water leaking/water drainage line from the sunroof. The water leaked into some components of the airbag and electrical system. After the first time taking to the dealership they were no issue with the system and the vehicle was fine that incident happened back in 2020. The same issue happened again where water was leaking in from the sunroof area (I am assuming because it looks the same as last time) this time the water is in the driver side, and there was a puddle of water forming where the gas and brake paddles are. After noticing the water puddle I try to close the sunroof and turns out the sunroof no longer functions with the electronic control right in front of the sunroof. I also took the initiative to open some of the trims where the side air bags are and it turns out that the area are completely soaked. I do no know if this will cause an issue to the airbag or not but I am worries that prolong exposure to water will compromised the integrity of the airbag system. What's was is that since it affected the electronic for the sunroof what if it affect the sensors for the air bag system.

See all problems of the 2019 Volvo XC90 🔎.

I owned a 2016 Volvo xc 90 in very good condition. In early September 2023, I took it for an oil service. Shortly thereafter, I noticed a warning light for low coolant and was surprised that I had to pour more than a half gallon to refill (this soon after service). A few days later, I took the car to have brakes changed and they also needed to replace an oil/air separator part. After getting the car back, it sat on driveway for week. Upon returning from our trip, my wife drove the car and it started smoking from hood while on i90/94 in chicago, no warning lights seen. She was able to take an exit ramp and find an empty curbside space to pull over. Within minutes the smoke turned to fire and vehicle burned extensively before the fire department arrived (~15 minutes later). The insurance company (state farm) declared it a total loss and settled our claim, however we do not believe they took any further action on investigating the reason for fire. We believe the fire was likely related to issue with coolant system. We noticed a puddle on driveway where the car was parked that looked like oil, but it dried quite quickly so was more likely to have been coolant. On searching the internet for fire related issue for Volvos, we found a forum that discussed a series of fires (10-12) for 2016 Volvo Xc90 related to coolant system issue. Apparently there was a recall for this, though appears to be focused on european diesel models. In discussing the issue with the repair shop that last serviced the car, they insisted it couldn't have been oil related and mentioned problem could have been from rodents eating through wires, but that seems unlikely to me.

There was a leak on the evaporator coil within the ac system for this car. We started having issues with the ac around the 56,500 mile mark ([xxx]). After a couple of rounds of recharging the system with refrigerant and looking for a leak, the repair shop finally found the leak on the evaporator coil system. The repair was recently completed on 10/22/2024 at the cost $4,254. 03. This car has roughly 66000 miles on it now (12/07/2024). The evaporator coil during the summers when the ac was not working, this was definitely a safety concern. Riding in the car with no ac in the summertime in south carolina is brutal. The $4,254. 03 cost for the evaporator coil replacement, did not include the amount of money we spent the first two go arounds looking for the leak and recharging the system with refrigerant. After doing some research and talking to the repair shop who completed the evaporator coil replacement work it seems that this is a very common failure on this model/year Volvo. I also noticed it looks like they already had a similar recall out for this failure on other similar Volvos. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The infotainment system has locked up and has shut completely off while driving. When it shuts down (screen goes black) or glitches, the car actually loses power. Luckily it powered right back on but it was scary and could happen again and be much worse. The screen/ infotainment system has had this issue for awhile. We’ve even told Volvo of tulsa about it when it was in for service but they said they couldn’t do anything about it because they couldn’t reproduce the issue. We have also had the brakes and rotors replaced twice at the dealership because they seem to be lemons or faulty. We are currently dealing with vibration once again (conveniently now the warranty is out).

See all problems of the 2021 Volvo XC90 🔎.

I’ve had to change my fuel injection pump and catalytic convert twice on one year.

See all problems of the 2005 Volvo XC90 🔎.

Previous issues with brakes, suspension, leaking sunroof, electrical and gauges. Vehicle became disabled due to defect with coolant system, smoke from engine compartment, towed to monterery Volvo (dealership/service center identified issues with coolant leak present turbo & cooling plastic pipe. Cruise control-vacuum pump: found vacuum pump leaking oil. Estimated repair $5,414. 38.

1. When putting vehicle in reverse the backup camera has a slight delay which can cause serious accidents. I've never driven a vehicle with such delays. Needs to be checked out. 2. When putting vehicle in reverse, the backup camera comes up, ut if you press any button on the main screen the backup camera screen will go away. For example I press the ac button, the backup camera will disappear and the ac settings will come up. This causes a very dangerous situation. There isn't even a way to get back the camera view once you press anything on the screen. This happens because Volvo cars don't have much physical buttons left, so everything is controlled on the screen. In my opinion, when reversing, the backup camera should always be the dominant thing on the screen, no other functions should be able to overwrite that.

See all problems of the 2023 Volvo XC90 🔎.

The tensioner pulley for the serpentine belt seized up while traveling at 70 mph, melting the serpentine belt and causing an engine fire.

See all problems of the 2006 Volvo XC90 🔎.

On April 29th 2023 while washing my Volvo Xc90 I opened the trunk to clean out the crevasses around the car. As I continued to wipe down/dry the vehicle I placed my hand at the top of the trunk opening and moved my way downwards to wipe the bumper and side of car. Unfortunately, the handsfree tailgate feature activated and the trunk began to close on my hand. Due to my hand being so close to the the spring and the speed in which the trunk door closed I was unable to move my hand fast enough. My middle, index and pinky finger were all crushed inside of the car trunk. No one was able to render aid to me for several minutes. I was able to contort my body enough to push the trunk button and unlock it but the gate itself would not lift. I even in a state of panic tried to kick under the car to initiate the lift, I tried lifting as best I could to get relief off of my hands. Finally about 5 minutes later a passerby came and rendered aid to me and he had to manually lift the trunk up to free my fingers. The experience has been traumatic and I am taking all necessary steps via the Volvo dealership and Volvo to have this matter checked out and resolved. The car has no sensors around the trunk with the exception of something blocking it from closing completely. Also, if you are not carefully and are leaning into the trunk and trip the handsfree tailgate sensor it can close on you if you are leaning into the trunk - this is an issue I saw with my xc60 (2021) that clearly was not resolved. I did go to the er and wound up with thankfully a bruised hand/tendons but no broken bones but I will need to follow up with a hand surgeon to ensure I do not have tendon/nerve damage.

My 2018 Volvo xc 90 engine light came on with a green turtle light indicating engine impaired performance while I was driving on the NJ turnpike. I got off the exit, pulled over and the car started to smoke from the right front hood. The smoke worsened and the car went on fire. At that point myself and my 8 year old daughter exited the car. I called the police. The car wsa completely burned. We were lucky to get out of the car safely. I was hospitalized for smoke inhalation, my daughter was ok. The car was inspected by the insurance company and is on hold pending further investigation. He indicated that the fire started in the engine compartment near the dashboard but he could not pinpoint why. The care is available for further inspection, for now. Please contact me if you would like to discuss further. I will provide all the documentation that I have available. Thank you.

The 2023 model features a push button to shift the vehicle into park. When pressing the button, the vehicle does not always shift into park. I’m not sure if it only registers with a certain force, but often I’ve pressed the button many times only to realize that I’m not in park as I remove my foot from the brake and propel forward. I’ve been keeping the ‘auto break’ feature on this way when it doesn’t switch into park at least the car doesn’t possibly roll into something I’m parked behind. When parking permanently and shutting the vehicle off I’ve started just turning the car off completely avoiding the step to put the car into park first. However, I don’t think it’s safe to have to take so much care to ensure your car switches into the park gear. I was only able to find one other person with the same complaint in an online forum, I believe because this shifter set up is new for all of the 2023 models. The person in the xc40 thread describes my exact safety concern. . Read more...

Our car has shut down in the middle of traffic due to the oil going from full to empty in a few hundred miles. Oil change was recently done with synthetic oil and only had driven a few hundred miles when it went to empty. I had to buy a quart of oil at the gas station. I need to put an extra quart of oil every few hundred miles due to excessive oil consumption.

My vehicle’s sos, on call safety functions no longer work. In addition my navigation system no longer works properly. In the event of an accident these key safety features would not be able to alert emergency services or locate my position. This is a direct result in a flawed vehicle modem that uses the 3g network not supported by cellular carriers. Volvo has a solution that would cost me $850 to remedy this safety design flaw. Volvo should fix this key safety issue as it puts my family at risk if we are involved in an accident.

My car had a sudden, catastrophic leak of coolant from a premature failure of a hose on a 5 year old car with 65000 miles. We were driving through mountains and there was no safe shoulder to pull over. I drove 1. 5 miles to a service center. I bought the car new and all service work was done at Volvo dealers and all regular maintenance was performed. There were no leaks of coolant prior to the sudden hose failure. The first alert that something was wrong was a red warning light on the dash directing me to stop the car and turn off the engine immediately. Testing on the engine showed a high level of CO in the coolant, indicating a warped head. The entire engine must be replaced. I contend that this was premature failure of a part. I had my insurance agency, allstate, discuss the case with the Volvo dealership and allstate was told there was no evidence of impact road damage on the part. I have asked my agent to provide me with written confirmation of their discussion. I have also asked for the defective part to be put aside and saved when the engine is replaced and will be able to send it to NHTSA.

1)rear 2nd row seat creaking noises. I visited the dealer 3 times, showed evidence with video clips what I recorded, but they couldn't find the cause. I thought that replacing the entire seat was the best way, but the work was finished by applying lubricant only, and this phenomenon continues even after that. The noise disappears when the seat is folded and unfolded as a trial, but it reappears after a few days, and there is no noise when the passenger sits in the seats. These cases are mentioned in swedespeed. Com, a user's internet forum, but there seems to be no improvement. The problem is noise that interferes with the concentration of driving. 2) when passengers board the 2nd and 3rd row seats and do not wear belts, there should be a warning sound and warning message, but there is none. 1st row seat works fine.

Air conditioning failed to function as soon as vehicle lease was up. Less than 45k miles on a 3 year old car. Stopped working, hot air blowing in the middle of summer no less. This does not appear to be a part that is on the maintenance interval list. This does not appear to be an isolated incident when researching this fault now over a year later. The climate control system failing on a new car on a part that cannot be reasonably serviced seems problematic to say the least. I asked the dealer to consider a good will repair on more than one occasion as I had literally just moved from a lease to a finance purchase. No luck on that.

Volvo's blind spot information system (blis) lends itself to unsafe conditions. This is true for the many drivers who are used to driving cars that are smilarly equipped. For nearly 15 years I have been driving cars that were similarly equipped and when activating the turn signal in the direction where the system indicated another vehicle in the "blind spot" an audible warning sounded until the trun signal was extinguished or the danger passed. Volvo fails to provide the audible signal and thus, if there is a failed led in the mirror, there is no indication of a vehicle in the blind spot and no redundancy. Further, habits are hard to break and after driving cars with the audible warning, and relying on it, it is difficult to get used to not having it. In addition, all the cars that I personally drove with hud (head up dispay), vehicles in the blind spots were displayed on the hud. Volvo cars are equipped in terms of hardware to enable these functions (audible warning & hud display) with simple software patches. One additionl point, the lights on the mirrors can be practically invisible during the day with sunlight behind the car and at night with bright lights illuminating the mirrors from behind. I feel it is imperative that Volvo is compelled to incorporate the proposed changes as those would certainly mitigate potenial accidents.

See all problems of the 2022 Volvo XC90 🔎.

There is an open recall for certain 2016 xc 90s related to cracks in the coolant pipes. My VIN doesn’t have a recall attached but in the last 2. 5 years I have owned the vehicle I have had to change this part 2 times. I feel my VIN/vehicle should be part of the recall. My local dealer is not willing to assist nor Volvo customer service.

First, the rear passenger side door latch failed at 57k miles, allegedly due to water intrusion. They replaced with a revised part - p/n 32310869. Now at 63k miles, the driver side rear door latch failed in the same way. This compromises safety because it renders the rear seats completely inaccessible. I could not get my children out of the back seat through traditional means. The problem has been confirmed by a dealership and is well documented online. There was no warning or indication when the part had failed. The passenger door stopped working "regularly" (intermittently would not open) a few days before it failed entirely. The driver rear door gave no advanced notice.

Rear doors stop opening from outside and interior.

The door lock actuators were poorly designed, allowing water intrusion. This causes the actuator to rust and freeze up making it impossible to unlock the door and open it from the inside or outside. There was no warning about this, it just stopped working one day. If someone had been in the backseat when it stopped working they would have had to crawl across to the other side to get out. What if there had been an accident and you could not get your child or baby out the nearest door quickly. We have been waiting nearly three weeks now for the replacement part, a part we were told by Volvo has been redesigned so this should not happen again. A part we (our insurance) has to cover. What about the other locks on the car, are they going to fail and lock us in the car? why is Volvo not replacing these actuators.

The contact owns a 2017 Volvo Xc90. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the air bag and check engine warning lights intermittently illuminated. Additionally, the message "pullover engine overheating" was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that failure was caused by the drain hose for the air conditioning leaking into the passenger’s side compartment due to a drain hose installation error during manufacturing. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact was informed that the vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 16v690000 (equipment, air bags). The contact indicated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 92,000.

I have installed a sprintdrive installed in my Volvo. Since the installation, I have had several safety and security issues occur that stop once the device is removed. The following issues have occurred: 1) whilst driving on the muskogee turnpike, the cruising control system would disengage. This occurred at least three times during the drive. On the third time, the cruising control system disengaged and the braking system engaged causing the vehicle to go from 85 mph to 45 mph. 2) I was driving on c-470. The transmission system would not transition between the gears automatically. The vehicle remained in a low gear until I removed the device. 3) I was driving on I-70 when all of the warning lights went and an alarm sounded. The message console read all system failure. The engine shut down. Once the device was removed, I was able to restart the vehicle.

See all problems of the 2009 Volvo XC90 🔎.

The inside door handles (levers to open the doors)- have a thick metallic paint that chips off and causes fingers to be cut.