[blakepnw]

Happy times:
Have been loving the new car until this weekend. Went out to dinner for the first time in a long time on Friday, returned home and topped off the car overnight. Not positive, but I think this is the first time I've actually charged the car fully to 90% and left it connected for a long time afterward. Wonder if that's where things went bad ...

Sad times:
I remember car showed it was due to reach 90% at 6AM. Looked at my phone when I woke up around 7:30 and noticed the app was reporting 79%. Immediately knew something was wrong. Went out later that morning and charging cable wouldn't disconnect and car wouldn't unlock. (There goes the weekend!) Used key blade to unlock car, setting off alarm (wow, it's really loud!). After reading various posts, I assumed 12V battery was dead. Have been wanting to get a 12V charger anyway, so went and picked one up, removed the paneling (good gosh, could they make it harder to get to the 12V battery?) and connected the charger. Battery wasn't dead after all, as the charger reported 100% within a few minutes. Crap.

Back to XC40Forum.com:
After more reading, decided to disconnect 12v battery to see if I could get car to reset. This entailed hearing the alarm go off, a lot. Invest in ear plugs if you have a similar situation. You will be glad. This reset the car enough that I was able to unlock the doors and also release the charging cable, which allowed me to drive it. Celebration, but not for long - car was far from back to normal. While it had actually reached a full 90% charge, it was still reporting SoS and "e service required". Also, the On Call button, SoS, key remote functionality and internet connectivity still were not working. The windscreen defrost button reset trick did seem to reset the connectivity momentarily, but shortly went back to disconnected state. Toggling the SIM data setting had no effect. Read about the TCAM issue, found the TCAM BuB and unplugged/replugged it, but this didn't fix the problem. My mistake here may have been that I didn't do it while the 12v battery was disconnected. Duh.

Note
Be careful if you go hunting for the TCAM BuB. The bracket the BuB is connected to is attached to the car by sliding onto threaded screw posts and it seems it's really designed to attach one time and not be removed. It's hard to get at and I broke one side of the bracket trying to remove it , assuming it would just unsnap. The correct way to solve this is to depress a lever on one end of the battery, which will release the battery from the bracket. The plug on the battery is also fiddly and you need to press a tiny plastic lever to get the plug to disengage.

At this point, I was annoyed, tired and decided to admit defeat. Clearly a software issue I wasn't going to solve by simple resets and even if I could, I'd have zero confidence in taking the car any further than our immediate town and surrounds without getting some diagnostics run on it.

Current Status:
I called the Seattle dealer and they were familiar with the problem and prioritized getting me in today. The service manager told me it's a known issue 🤬 and there's a software fix for it! He couldn't explain why this fix isn't getting applied during manufacturing or at port/delivery, as they've already seen 3 cars with this exact behavior and issue. He was equally dismayed at this. Maybe it's still early. He did say they would open a case with Volvo since the car is only a few weeks post-delivery. I'm hopeful this helps them push along this fix/patch they've come up with to get rolled out to all new cars.

I'm thankful here for two things. 1) I wasn't at a public charging station somewhere when this happened. Trying to imagine all of this troubleshooting at an Electrify America stall in the parking lot of a Walmart with my family in tow. 2) This website - I was at least able to get the car into a drivable state thanks to helpful info from previous posts in this forum.

Will post again once I pick up the car and share the details of what I learn from the dealer. Really hope most of you never have this problem. What a crappy way to start ownership with our first Volvo.

 

[Steve Wood]

Blake...Thank you for your post!
Just had this experience last night with my week old c40. Loved the car, now it feels like I can't take it out of town.
Not sure what the "defrost reset" is because the car is so unfamiliar and it has a terrible manual.
Car wouldn't start and had the same warning on the dashboard screen: SOS not working, eCall not functioning.
The car was on (radio could play, wipers work) but the gearshift was locked. Tried shutting the car down with the button under the console screen which said it was "cleaning screen".
The app was blank and the key fobs now no longer recognize the car. Ended up placing key on the "key logo" inside the console and then resetting car again. It worked, but there is now the problem of driving it to the dealer an hour away. When I called they said it was a software problem that "a few cars" have had.
So, like you, I asked why wasn't there a patch for it installed at factory...he didn't know, just apologized.
I don't like mysteries in the vehicle I'm driving as it gives one a helpless feeling and you end up not depending on the car to "be there" every time you need it.
Fortunately all this happened at home.
To be continued

 

[BuzzyBud]

Curious to know the last four digits in your VIN number to see if there is a correlation. My last four digits are 4142. My C40 died two days ago and is currently at the dealer on life support. Hope to know more in a day or two. In my situation the service manager also said they had several arrive with the same issue - Dead on Arrival!
Luckily, I say that tongue in cheek, my C40 was in my garage when it died and had to be dragged onto the tow truck.

 

[Steve Wood]

As I said above just got my c40Twin Recharge...loved the car for 3 days then Kaput!...would not start and showed funky screens on dash saying "SOS function not working" or words to that effect...and eCall not functioning call for service...AFTER THREE DAYS!
Second act of this drama:
Drove it to the Volvo dealer and the disconcerting thing is when I brought it in the service manager called out all 5 of the mechanics to listen to my tale and then had them ask me questions!
This was unusual and it left me with the impression they were as baffled as me.
There was one doubter in the bunch who inferred that perhaps I didn't know what I was talking about and had simply screwed up.
After we had this session it was this character who went out to the bay to move my car.
Sweet justice - he climbs in and the car has locked up again. Dead. He can't move it and the boys have to huddle again, while I'm thinking, "Why did I buy this thing!?"
It's in the shop now with 34 miles on it...enough said...hang on to your faithful ICE vehicles!
(To be continued)

 

[Steve Wood]

Curious to know the last four digits in your VIN number to see if there is a correlation. My last four digits are 4142. My C40 died two days ago and is currently at the dealer on life support. Hope to know more in a day or two. In my situation the service manager also said they had several arrive with the same issue - Dead on Arrival!
Luckily, I say that tongue in cheek, my C40 was in my garage when it died and had to be dragged onto the tow truck.

Fact is that Volvo has put out a car that's not ready for prime time...and has not issued a recall.
I dropped a note to Volvo HQ and stated such.
Got back a polite reply that there would be a response in the next 4 or 5 days....

 

[6450]

I have a C40 on subscription from Volvo and have the same issues.

The car regularly bricks. It can also do this with someone inside. There is no manual unlock for the car doors from the inside I'm told by Volvo support. That is just plain scary.

I now drive it with the window wound down so I can escape if needs be. I'm trying to get Volvo to take the car back, but they've now become evasive.

Aside from the locking issue - I've had failures in the cameras, headlights, driver support, parking assist, navigation and collision avoidance system. All in the space of four weeks.

This morning the Google systems failed. Won't respond and navigation "re-routes" every 5 seconds.

Don't even get me started on the iPhone app, which is shoddy and unreliable.

The car, in my opinion is a total mess and needs to be recalled. They've rushed something to market. I'm totally put off the brand now and I'm tremendously disappointed in the service offered by the "subscription car" idea.

 

[Rajesh]

Hello Blakepnw, Steve Wood, Adrian,
The problem I faced on my 3-day-old C40 last weekend isn't new to you. Parked overnight, let it charge, and next morning, cannot unlock and appears to be completely dead. The manual opening the door triggers an alarm, and all I see is the key not recognized.

I am curious to know if you folks got the problem resolved and if so, please share some details.

Thanks,
Raj.

 

[6450]

Hello Blakepnw, Steve Wood, Adrian,
The problem I faced on my 3-day-old C40 last weekend isn't new to you. Parked overnight, let it charge, and next morning, cannot unlock and appears to be completely dead. The manual opening the door triggers an alarm, and all I see is the key not recognized.

I am curious to know if you folks got the problem resolved and if so, please share some details.

Thanks,
Raj.

Hey, sorry to hear it. I haven’t had the problem fixed. I just go through the procedure each time. Unlock manually, sit in the drivers seat while the alarm screams. Put the key in the emergency place. Drive park drive on the shifter. Unlock the doors. Wind down a window. That gets you moving again. Then I call road side. They disconnect the batteries in the frunk/boot and reset the TCAM. They then promise it will never happen again….

 

[Maric]

Sorry this is happening and I hope I don't end up with the issue. That said, this is unfortunately fairly common on 1st gen EVs. The kinks are never worked out before the cars hit the road. Case in point Ford MachE 12v and motor issues, both Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq5 having similar issues. Not excusing Volvo but in the end we as early adopters are somewhat Alpha testers.

 

[6450]

Sorry this is happening and I hope I don't end up with the issue. That said, this is unfortunately fairly common on 1st gen EVs. The kinks are never worked out before the cars hit the road. Case in point Ford MachE 12v and motor issues, both Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq5 having similar issues. Not excusing Volvo but in the end we as early adopters are somewhat Alpha testers.

sorry but I disagree. im not paying Volvo a fortune to test their car for them. If other companies are just as bad that doesn’t justify it.

 

[Rajesh]

sorry but I disagree. im not paying Volvo a fortune to test their car for them. If other companies are just as bad that doesn’t justify it.

I agree with Adrian. Volvo should have gone through all tests before releasing the vehicle.

The dealer fixed the problem with the same process Adrian explained and updating the SW fix that was released by Volvo just last week. The service record says the SW as special service software 32319500.

Adrian, you may want to check with your Volvo dealer, as this seems to have been released for this bug specifically.

 

[6450]

I agree with Adrian. Volvo should have gone through all tests before releasing the vehicle.

The dealer fixed the problem with the same process Adrian explained and updating the SW fix that was released by Volvo just last week. The service record says the SW as special service software 32319500.

Adrian, you may want to check with your Volvo dealer, as this seems to have been released for this bug specifically.

Thanks ! I will check. I’m one the phone to Volvo most days, so I’m surprised they haven’t mentioned it. But they haven’t knocked me out with their organisational coordination so I’m hardly surprised.


The car is asking me to install 2.1 now. Let me know if you have a recurrence !

 

[Rajesh]

I agree with Adrian. Volvo should have gone through all tests before releasing the vehicle.

The dealer fixed the problem with the same process Adrian explained and updating the SW fix that was released by Volvo just last week. The service record says the SW as special service software 32319500.

Adrian, you may want to check with your Volvo dealer, as this seems to have been released for this bug specifically.

Thanks ! I will check. I’m one the phone to Volvo most days, so I’m surprised they haven’t mentioned it. But they haven’t knocked me out with their organisational coordination so I’m hardly surprised.


The car is asking me to install 2.1 now. Let me know if you have a recurrence !

I seem to have 2.1 version I don't know if it was already there when I got the vehicle last week or if it was part of upgrade today by dealer.

 

[MACFJ60]

TCAM replacement several months back seems to have fixed the issue in my wife’s Recharge. I would open a complaint with Volvo corporate. Check my thread titled unable to unlock xc40 recharge for my experiences and dealer documents.

 

[6450]

TCAM replacement several months back seems to have fixed the issue in my wife’s Recharge. I would open a complaint with Volvo corporate. Check my thread titled unable to unlock xc40 recharge for my experiences and dealer documents.

Thanks. I have a complaint open with Care By Volvo and another complaint open at Volvo UK.

So far neither of these things have gotten me anywhere. I have a form response from Volvo UK which says “sorry we will get back to you” after a month and from CBV I’ve had two calls both of which were “fact finding” calls, neither operator seemed aware the other had called.

I’m retuning the car, and now it’s just about getting back my money from this shambolic experience.

 

[Tom Bode]

Mine is at the garage right now.
4 errors in 3 months. I am done with it.
twice the keys didn't work, and two times all connection methods failed.
Do not know what firmware i am at. they downgraded it last time hoping that would help.

I agree with Adrian, i don't pay this subscription every month to be a alpha tester.
And don't polestar 2 have the same parts? They have the same problems, that car is on the road for almost 2 years now. And still there are issues..

 

[Tom Bode]

just got a call from the dealer. They will replace the Tcam module. Hopefully this would solve the problems.

 

[6450]

just got a call from the dealer. They will replace the Tcam module. Hopefully this would solve the problems.

Glad you are getting some progress. I’m not. My original retailer is “closed for refurbishment” and I wonder if that’s why Volvo have cast me adrift with this lemon.

 

[Maric]

sorry but I disagree. im not paying Volvo a fortune to test their car for them. If other companies are just as bad that doesn’t justify it.

Not justifying, but it's reality.

 

[6450]

Not justifying, but it's reality.

It’s only reality if customers roll over and accept it as such.

Volvo, and all manufacturers are having a laugh as they release untested cars and watch as gullible customers accept their flaws.

They’re trying to find the minimum viable product so they can set their costs and ramp their profits accordingly.

If you accept broken stuff as the norm you’re making your own future painful.

Brand loyalty is a trick, they have no interest in you at all other than your next purchase.

Don’t give it away so easily. These companies can be held to account. The class action against emissions cheats proves it.