VOLVO Complaints

While driving or parked water is dripping down my window shield. This obstructs my view and distracts me from driving. It further distracts my driving if I have to wipe away the water which usually leads to smearing which causes further obstruction to my field of vision.

The rear door will not open from the inside or the outside. Apparently this is a door lock actuator issue experinced by many volvo owners. It is extremely dangerous not to be able to open a rear door in the case of an accident or other incident where you need to enter or exit the car. Dealer confirms that there is an issue with these. No warning message appears when inoperable.

original windshield never replaced unglueing to the point where you can push the glass and have it move and minor seepage of water

The contact owns a 2006 Volvo S60. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V766000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was contacted to schedule an appointment for the recall repair; however, the contact was unable to secure an appointment. The manufacturer was contacted and opened a case. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

The rear door locking system has failed. Both doors will not open from the interior or exterior. I have read thousands of complaints about this particular problem with this make and model of Volvo. The locking system on a car should never fail. HUGE safety concern.

I was backing into my garage in reverse gear when there was a sudden power surge and the car accelerated rapidly backwards (without me pushing the gas pedal), which led to a crash that caused substantial damage to the car. The car was out of my control, with it accelerating without reason, so something failed on the car. I do not know what component failed, only that there was a sudden and rapid acceleration in reverse. There are no warning lights and the car was taken for an estimate and damages exceed $10,000.

As part of routine scheduled maintenance for this car, it was determined that there is excessive oil consumption occurring in the engine which requires the piston rings to be replaced. In conversations with the Volvo dealership and other Volvo repair facilities, this appears to be a known issue with this make and model of Volvo. I purchased this car from the Volvo dealership and have taken it back to the dealership for every scheduled maintenance/servicing recommendation. An engine failure of this type with this low of mileage is concerning. Volvo has apparently acknowledged this issue for this make and model and has paid for the required repairs in some cases. I want to raise this issue so that future owners of this model of used car can be aware before purchasing this car.

The support battery for start/stop started to show on the dash and tells me that service is required about 2 weeks ago. "THE LOCATION OF THE BATTERY IS MY CONCERN". A month ago, the air coming out from the vent of the ac/heater started to smell like a rotten egg, a very strong smell that gives me a headache and makes me dizzy. This smell comes and go.I had to open the windows and switch to recycled air, this helps a little bit. I brought my Volvo to 2 shops about 3 weeks ago before I went to the dealer on Feb 16, 2024. The first shop smelled it and said they checked the catalytic converter and run a diagnostics and emission and they said emission is very good and there is no problem with the catalytic converter and suggested to bring it to the dealer. They said it could be coming from the battery and I told them that the battery is new and main battery has a box casing so the strong smell is definitely not coming from the main battery. I didn't know that there was another battery. I brought it to an exhaust shop and said the same thing, no leaks in the pipe and catalytic converter and smoke coming from the exhaust looks normal and smells normal. Next I brought it to the dealer and they did nothing and simply stated they could not duplicate the problem. I had no choice but to do an extensive research to find out where the location of the support battery so I can change it myself. I always wondered why the smell is so strong in the passenger side intake screen cover of the cowling. I couldn't believe where Volvo had placed the second battery/support battery. It was on the passenger side, right next to the air intake for the AC/heat of the car and is covered by the cowling between the windshield and the engine. Harmful gases that can potentially come out from the battery is directly suck in to the intake of the car's air conditioner.

Feb. 1, 2024: A short drive on electric during below zero weather, a car wash & a couple 100ft drive into a parking lot. Pulling into a parking space, foot on the brake pedal, ICE roared on accelerating the car over a curb, down an embankment & into a 3ft snow drift before I could stop it by pressing the brake pedal with both feet. We stopped 6in from a power pole. If forward crash avoidance system worked, didn't register in the EEPROM per the service tech! Feb. 17, 2024, during below zero weather, no electric charge, operating on ICE over about 2mi, Pulled into a parking space, foot on the brake pedal, ICE surged accelerating the car up over a 6" high curb onto sidewalk. Stopped car by depressing the brake pedal with both feet. Car stopped 2in before hitting a brick building. It didn't seem the forward crash avoidance system functioned to stop us. As a 35-year electronic design and repair professional, I have attempted to merge the two situations to try to find similarities. Two things: unexpected ICE engine acceleration surge & forward collision sensor not kicking on brakes. Per Volvo tech, Feb. 1, no register in EEPROM of forward crash avoidance or ICE issues. Second visit Feb. 22 to service will probably yield same. Obviously, this is not normal operation. We have been in two near collisions caused by the car doing things not designed to do.

Most concerning: Front driver door latch quit working while driving leaving door to swing open during traffic. This is a known issue that led to recalls of other Volvo models (2011 - 2017), but the S80 was excluded. It was a terrifying ordeal that has now happened twice (during freezing conditions here in Colorado). Less concerning to me but a problem: The blindspot monitoring system malfunctions and keeps on blinking even when there's nothing in the blindspot - which betrays the reason it exists.