Volvo XC40 Complaints
218 consumer complaints on file.
- #11553711November 6, 2023UNKNOWN OR OTHER, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING
The rear backup camera consistently fails to provide a view while in reverse. The camera either blinks between a view and black screen, or will completely fail and say the camera is unavailable.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11552613October 30, 2023TIRES
The contact owns a 2023 Volvo XC40 equipped with Pirelli Tires, Tire Line: Scorpion Zero, Tire Size: 235/45/R20, DOT Number: 1XB1H884J5022. The contact stated that the message "Low Air Pressure" was displayed. Upon inspection, it was discovered that the rear passenger’s side tire was flat. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who replaced the tire. Later, while driving approximately 35 MPH, the front driver’s side tire had a blowout. The cause for the failures was not yet determined. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 3,588.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11551651October 24, 2023ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2021 Volvo XC40. The contact stated that at a stop light, the vehicle became inoperable. The contact stated that the doors would not unlock, and the seat belts became inoperable. The Rear Collision Avoidance warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the warning light remained illuminated without another vehicle being behind. The vehicle was towed to a dealer. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was approximately 58,000.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11550952October 20, 2023FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Vehicle started shaking uncontrollably and was unable to accelerate. I was to get it to buck and jerk and coast to my house out of a dangerous intersection. Error stated Propulsion System Failure. Shutting off the car and restarting the error code stayed. However, the next morning, the error code disappeared. Volvo was unable to replicate issue but did see a software update. What scares me about this propulsion thing though is if happens on my commute without any warning.... and just an over the air software update to cause huge safety issues.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11550725October 18, 2023SERVICE BRAKES
I am reporting 2 incidents for my 2023 Volvo XC40, both involving failure of brakes to engage. The 1st incident occurred on 26 August 2023. The 2nd incident occurred on 20 September 2023. A full description of both incidents, including 2 photos of the incident scenes, is attached. The 1st incident involved a collision with a Jersey wall and crosswalk signal activation sign. Repair of the resulting damage required replacement of a mirror assembly that was destroyed and some repainting.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11550254October 16, 2023BACK OVER PREVENTION
The contact owns a 2024 Volvo XC40. The contact stated while attempting to park the vehicle, the camera image was barely visible. The contact stated that the display screen was very dim. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle had been diagnosed; however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and determined that the VIN was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was approximately 40.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11547353September 29, 2023FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE, POWER TRAIN, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2023 Volvo XC40. The contact stated that while her son was driving at various highway speeds, the brakes inadvertently activated, causing the vehicle to abruptly stop even though were no other vehicles or objects nearby. Additionally, the vehicle occasionally stalled and hesitated while accelerating. The contact also stated that the display screen occasionally became inoperable, and messages and safety warnings were not available to the driver. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure. The dealer had replaced unknown sensors, but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 13,000.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11542720September 5, 2023UNKNOWN OR OTHER
An abrupt warning appeared on my vehicle, stating that there was a propulsion system failure. A turtle light then pulled up, warning that the vehicle was slowing down. Confused by these alerts, I pulled into a parking spot to shut the vehicle off and back on. Since the car does not have a power button, I had to step outside and re-enter the vehicle. The warnings immediately reappeared. I attempted to reverse out of the parking spot; the car abruptly braked itself and completely lost power. This all happened quickly. Seconds after the initial warning, the car slowed itself down, and within approximately 1-2 minutes of the initial warning, the vehicle completely lost power and the ability to drive. A tow truck came to pick up the vehicle to take it to the nearest dealership, where it is being looked at. We are incredibly lucky not to have been on the interstate or a shoulder-less stretch of road when this occurred. This would have otherwise been an incredibly dangerous and life-or-death situation—for the driver, the passengers, and anyone who happens to be in their proximity on the road.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11534108July 24, 2023ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
I was driving our vehicle on the highway and proceeded to exit on the ramp. As I was decelerating, the instrumentation started making electrical noises and then the center console and the entire navigation screen went black. They flickered then came back up briefly before shutting off a second time, then the entire car shut down. There was no power to anything. I then attempted to push the start button, and the car did not start the first time. I tried pushing the button a second time and the car started. I brough the car to the Volvo Dealership where we purchased the vehicle and they said the car was due for a major software upgrade. I thought this was ridiculous, but said ok. After a few hours, they said the car was completed and let me take it. I did not get 100 feet down the road and noticed my moon roof no longer worked. I brought the car right back, and the technicians got in my vehicle with me in it and attempted to re-calibrate the moon roof with no luck. It was at this point they gave me a courtesy vehicle and kept my car over the weekend until Monday afternoon when they called to sday they were finally able to re-calibrate. I am extrememly concerned about this incident, and did not like how the dealership brushed it off as normal! This is a serious issue, thank God my wife was not on the hoghway when the car shut down!!
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11526950June 14, 2023FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
The contact owns a 2023 Volvo XC40. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the Forward Collision Avoidance system activated without a vehicle nearby and the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated that the failure occurred on three separate occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 6,500. The contact stated that they have experienced multiple failures with their vehicle.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11520845May 7, 2023FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was involved in an accident with my 2019 Volvo xc40. I believe the cause of the accident was due to the emergency braking system that activated when I hit water that accumulated on the road I was traveling. I was accelerating and the braking caused the vehicle to swerve uncontrollably resulting in some minor body damage to the passenger side as contact was made with some roadside objects. Unfortunately the incident caused over $10,000.00 in front end damages, which is covered by my insurance. This emergency braking i. e. forward collision avoidance automatic emergency braking, has the possibility of causing a more severe accident. I believe a software update was instituted, but the Volvo dealership never mentioned this update when I had my car serviced the past 3 years.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11520580May 5, 2023SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
The contact owns a 2023 Volvo XC40. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 MPH, he was approaching a stop light when he depressed the brake pedal to stop the vehicle however, the brake pedal stiffened. The contact stated that he had to apply pressure to the brake pedal when suddenly the ESC warning light, the brake warning light, the ABS warning light, and another unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact then stated that in the same instance, the RPMs inadvertently increased to 1000 without acceleration when he desperately pumped the brake pedal multiple times to stop the vehicle however, the vehicle started to decrease in speed as the vehicle proceeded through the red stop light. As a result, another vehicle crashed into the front end of the contact’s vehicle. The air bags did not deploy. The driver of the other vehicle sustained an unknown injury that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The contact’s vehicle was towed to the dealer however, the contact was uninformed of the diagnoses. The vehicle was repaired. The contact notified the manufacturer by email of the failure and to inquire of a recall and the contact was informed that the VIN was included in the manufacture recall R10217. The contact stated that he then received a recall notification of the NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V012000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic). The failure mileage was approximately 300.
- Crash:
- Yes
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 1
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11513931March 27, 2023ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:SOFTWARE
The contact owns a 2020 Volvo XC40. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the speedometer and the infotainment system screen turned blank. The vehicle then lost motive power. The electronic stability program (ESP) warning light was illuminated. The contact's wife veered to the side of the road, and the contact arrived at the scene. The vehicle was able to be restarted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the failure was related to the software control module and SRS air bags malfunction, which caused the vehicle to believe it was involved in a crash and to shut off automatically. The dealer determined there were no signs of a crash and performed a software update; however, the failure recurred while his wife was driving. The message "12V Battery Low Charge" was displayed. The contact's wife pulled into a parking lot and was able to restart the vehicle. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 30,453.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11513617March 24, 2023SEAT BELTS
Front seat belts came on suddenly while stopped at light. Bruised front passengers neck. No car in front or near in rear.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11511962March 15, 2023ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2023 Volvo XC40. The contact stated that the SOS button had malfunctioned and had caused several different calls to be made except for a call for roadside assistance. The contact contacted the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage 700.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11511415March 12, 2023UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Resubmitting as not sure if last submission was received... We recently noticed a strange crack developing in the front panel of the sunroof of the car. The cracks are very linear in nature, and there is no signs of a impact point and no "spiderwebbing" type cracks apparent. When I researched online, I was surprised to see a large number of other Volvo XC40 Owners that had the same issue, with the same type of hairline cracking in the same location on the same sunroof panel (see "https://www.xc40forum.com/threads/crack-in-panoramic-sunroof.2403/page-3" for examples). In each instance, no other damage or evidence of a strike is reported on the vehicle to any surface or glass. All respondants say that Volvo asks you to bring the car in and then quickly states they believe it is caused by a rock strike, not a manufacturer problem. I personally tried to help the service tech I spoke with understand the improbability of that claim, (i.e. that the cause was something dropping straight down from the sky to that it could hit impact the direct top of the vehicle with enough speed to crack the glass, but slow enough to not ever create any spider webbing in the same general area of the same panel of glass on multiple like vehicles of the same model without leaving any trace on any other surface in multiple geographies). I believe the issue to either be something structural causing a stress fracturing, or subpar glass used in the panel (since other panels on this car and other cars are not experiencing the issue). My concern and reason for reporting is that it appears the issue is growing in incidents reported, and if this panel breaks while someone is driving the results to themselves and others on the road could be a huge safety concern.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11511344March 11, 2023POWER TRAIN, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The vehicle is a battery electric that relies on its 12V battery to start and operate. My wife and I were driving the vehicle and began to stop in a let hand turn lane when it shuddered violently and stopped without any ability to move forward or in reverse - an emergency message appeared in the dash display indicating a 12V battery charging fault, and to immediately take the vehicle to a service center, also indicating that vehicle could not be restarted. Had we been on a highway in the process of merging, changing lanes or simply in front of another vehicle a serious accident could have occurred causing injury or death for occupant of multiple vehicles (beyond significant property damage). Furthermore, the 12V Battery charging fault is a known issue to Volvo, having been experienced by many drivers over the past several years with no resolution by Volvo other than replacing 12V batteries when they fail (mine was replaced in November 2022, and previously the battery was recharged after failing in December 2021 when it stranded us at the airport after returning from a trip.) Finding the vehicle dead is one thing, having it die when operating it is another more serious thing. I have raised this issue through my dealership on at least 2 prior occasions, as noted above. The service department at the Volvo dealership has inspected the vehicle for this 12V battery charging issue but has not provided a physical and/or software fix for this issue over the year and seven months I have owned this vehicle. This failure occurs without warning.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11510767March 8, 2023UNKNOWN OR OTHER
A series of large cracks have formed on the sunroof panel of the car. The cracks are on the top of the vehicle, and there have been no occassions of rocks or debris hitting the vehicle (which would have been noticed as it would've needed to be a direct hit straight from the sky). I live in San Diego and the car us usually garaged, so there have been no weather incidents to consider either. Plus, the cracks appear to be stress fractures as there is no spider-webbing type breaks which you would expect to see with strike. This same breaking has been noted by various other owners of this car on a forum (https://www.xc40forum.com/threads/crack-in-panoramic-sunroof.2403/page-3) including pictures of the breaks. In each case, it is the same glass panel directly on the top of the vehicle, the same side to side cracking near the front of the panel, and always Volvo says "it must be a rock strike". (Local Volvo service center said the same to me on 3/7/23). However, it seems very unlikely that everyone would be experiencing the same stress type cracking (not spider-webbing) near the same part of the panel, on the same panel, on the same type of car - AND that all were hit by a top down direct rock strike to that part of the vehicle without ANY other damage to any other part of the roof or hood. From the forum it looks like this has been reported by others to the NHTSA. My concern is that this panel will continue to crack until it potentially shatters glass on the occupants of the car, potentially while in motion which could present a risk to the occupants as well as others on the road. This should be addressed by Volvo at their expense, and given the consistency and growing number of reports should be addressed quickly before something much more dangerous occurs.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11510262March 5, 2023VISIBILITY/WIPER
front windshields crack from left or right pillar about 1/2 way up. I'm on my 3rd windshield. The forums for the XC40 are ALL having the same issue.
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0
- #11509510February 28, 2023STEERING
The first incident happened back in Oct 2022. I took the car to local Volvo dealer, Rusnak Pasadena, and they said I needed the secondary battery replaced. They replaced it and the car worked for a few weeks until the alarm regarding the power steering failure came on again while my wife was turning left. I brought the car home carefully since it was a short distance from home. My wife was very scared because she almost had an accident and she doesn’t want to drive it any more….We didn’t drive the car for more than a month. On Jan 5, 2023, I took the car to the Rusnak dealer in Pasadena Ca. and they diagnosed it as: “Internal failure in power steering rack” needed replacement (see attached). They quoted me more than $3,350 to be fixed and they were not sure if warranty of 4 years would cover it. We then took it to JK Volvo Specialists, who I have known for years . They made a special order via Rusnak Volvo for the steering gear unit and it took two weeks to get it …See attached invoice that details the repairs needed to be replaced and total cost of $2500. This caused us to have to rent a car for a week, while we waited for the part to arrive. An additional $235. We believe that the failure of this electrical power steering, was not due to our neglect or error, and according to NHTSA report which states : “Electrical system malfunctions run deep enough to put people in danger, and in fact Campaign number 18V00000 states that some models, such as xc40, have faulty Vehicle Connectivity Module software..."
- Crash:
- No
- Fire:
- No
- Injuries:
- 0
- Deaths:
- 0