[thefatman]

Recently acquired my XC40 P8 (US market). At delivery, the software was the original build. It was purple-screening constantly, so I took it for an update. The update seems to be very recent. The kernel version is now dated 2 Jun. I now have the version that eliminates the car-centric mode, and makes Pilot Assist unusable.

These I knew about. In addition to that, though, to my great surprise, they removed the ability to set the speedometer to km/h! Searching here for answers, I learned about the snafu earlier in the year that forced us US drivers to use km instead of miles, but now they totally removed the feature, leaving me with only miles. I prefer km. Is this something they can code at the shop? Or am I stuck forever with miles? Seems really dumb.

 

[Welland canada recharge]

Recently acquired my XC40 P8 (US market). At delivery, the software was the original build. It was purple-screening constantly, so I took it for an update. The update seems to be very recent. The kernel version is now dated 2 Jun. I now have the version that eliminates the car-centric mode, and makes Pilot Assist unusable.

These I knew about. In addition to that, though, to my great surprise, they removed the ability to set the speedometer to km/h! Searching here for answers, I learned about the snafu earlier in the year that forced us US drivers to use km instead of miles, but now they totally removed the feature, leaving me with only miles. I prefer km. Is this something they can code at the shop? Or am I stuck forever with miles? Seems really dumb.

Interesting - I am in Canada and have the latest update as well and we show kms for speed and distance travelled. Not sure if there is a setting to switch back and for from miles to kms - but obviously since we have kms and you have miles the ability to have one or the other is there somewhere.

 

[thefatman]

Yeah, I was hoping that there was some secret key combination that would enable this setting back on (or toggle speedo mi/km). Seems weird that they would let us display distance in km (when set to Metric), but show the speed only in mph. What if I drive to Canada?

In prior cars (BMW, etc.) there was a way to get into the system and "code" certain configuration parameters. I'm sure there's a way to do it on a modern Volvo, but I don't know how.

 

[sbixby]

The owners manual page:

Changing system units of measurement | Settings | Displays and voice control | XC40 Recharge Pure Electric 2021 | Volvo Support

Measurement unit settings are adjusted via the center display.

www.volvocars.com

Does this not exist in your version? (I'm still on April/May release)

 

[thefatman]

Not anymore.

Before the update, that section contained 3 items:

• Distance and volume
• Temperature
• Speed

I know for a fact because changing the temperature and speedo was the first thing I did after taking delivery, before even driving home.

After the update, the Speed option has rudely been removed, leaving only:
- Distance and volume
- Temperature

When I select "Metric" for Distance and Volume, I get distance in km, and efficiency in kWh/100 km, but speed in mph. 🤔


==

For those curious, in the previous software, when the speed was set to km/h, the speed limit signs would still appear in their graphical, US format (white and black rectangle) in mph.

 

[sbixby]

Not anymore.

That's annoying! I won't need km-anything, but having that feature changed or removed is not good. Perhaps they tried to narrow it down to just one place but screwed up and didn't change the mph component along with the distances.

I'm all-too-familiar with bug creep, my company is small and has no formal QA. On the other hand, we react quickly and get changes out in hours or days, and our customers know it and like that.

 

[improvius]

I wonder if it's based on location. If a US owner takes a P8 into Canada, will it switch the display to km/h?

 

[Stephen Cerruti]

I'm not a lawyer but, in the US cars must display MPH, they may additionally display km/h but you can not choose between them.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; FMVSS 101-Technical Correction-Speedometer Display

This technical amendment corrects an error in Table 2 of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 101 as a result of a final rule published September 24, 1998. In that notice the agency adopted language for the speedometer display as ``MPH and/or km/h''. The effect of this language is to allow...

www.federalregister.gov

 

[thefatman]

Well, this would be the first car (except analog speedometers of course) that didn't let me choose. MB, BMW, Audi, Fiat, Nissan, Kia, Ford, GM, Tesla, Volvo (prior gen). All of them had the option. I'm apparently the only one who used it.

 

[Jim]

Well, this would be the first car (except analog speedometers of course) that didn't let me choose. MB, BMW, Audi, Fiat, Nissan, Kia, Ford, GM, Tesla, Volvo (prior gen). All of them had the option. I'm apparently the only one who used it.

Living close to Canada, this has always been a required function for me as well. I loved when digital speedometers came out and you could make the change. I hated the speedometers with the crowded Kms on the inside ring. I do wonder if the Volvo will ask, or automatically change, when you cross the border. I will give it a shot when they open the border.

 

[pajonline]

Living close to Canada, this has always been a required function for me as well. I loved when digital speedometers came out and you could make the change. I hated the speedometers with the crowded Kms on the inside ring. I do wonder if the Volvo will ask, or automatically change, when you cross the border. I will give it a shot when they open the border.

in Europe I can switch between mph and km by using the menu key on the steering wheel. In the first option I can scroll down and check mark “tourist/mph”, which will change speedometer to mph. Maybe this helps?

 

[Jim]

in Europe I can switch between mph and km by using the menu key on the steering wheel. In the first option I can scroll down and check mark “tourist/mph”, which will change speedometer to mph. Maybe this helps?

That worked great on our gas XC40. The dash menu had that choice. However, on the electric XC40, there is no menu like that on the dash. There is no option that I can find anywhere to change MPH to KMH.

 

[JT Rock]

It could also be a bug when they added some more languages. The list of changes under the June update didn't mention the removal of the speed unit. Apparently, they can disable features depending upon the selected language. It might be worth a try to set the language to "English (United Kingdom)" instead of "English (United States)". Let us know.

I still have the April update and my language is set to "English (United States)".

 

[JT Rock]

Revisiting this thread... Now that my vehicle has been updated (August). I take back what I said in my previous post. I still haven't found a way to change the unit for "Speed".
I figure that they could have changed it to be automatic based on location. Has anyone crossed the US/CA boarder to validate what happens yet?

 

[mike.prado]

I can confirm that the speedometer did not change for us when we crossed the Blaine US/CAN border 10 days ago. Our XC40 Recharge was updated in September at the dealership. When we crossed the border, the speed limit on the dash display did change to kph but the main speedometer remained at mph for the rest of the trip. It was a bit disconcerting and we just tried to keep up with the general traffic speed around us, since we needed to estimate our actual speed. We went through Vancouver, so I would have thought if it was a timing issue, 1 hour deep into Canada should have been sufficient.

I actually came to this forum thread looking for a way to change it before I head back.

 

[VTBUCKEYE]

My xc90 let's you select tourist speedometer. This leaves an analog speedo around the digital with one displaying mph and the other kph. If you switch the system units to the speedo will switch as well. Pilot assist should also be switched so that Lane assist can be toggled on the steering wheel (like my xc90). At this point I have no idea what the purpose is for the left and right buttons on the left side of the steering wheel.

 

[mike.prado]

My xc90 let's you select tourist speedometer.

As far as I can tell from the manual and playing around with buttons, there is no 'tourist' mode on the XC40 Recharge. The right steering wheel button just brings up information and the arrows only allow you to dismiss the display.

I believe the XC40 Recharge software is different than the standard XC40.

 

[VTBUCKEYE]

As far as I can tell from the manual and playing around with buttons, there is no 'tourist' mode on the XC40 Recharge. The right steering wheel button just brings up information and the arrows only allow you to dismiss the display.

I believe the XC40 Recharge software is different than the standard XC40.

Bummer. I have experimented too and come to o the same conclusion. Maybe they will fix it.

 

[JT Rock]

I got a strange response from volvo customer care. I'm not sure that he realizes that it is October already. But, if by saying "the next update", then maybe vehicles that already have v1.7 are able to change the speed unit? Can someone validate that?

Mahamdou​

10/15/2021 03:16 AM​

Dear JT,​

​

Thank you for contacting Volvo Car USA's Customer Care Center.​

I apologize for the inconvenience. The feature will be available in the next update that will be available in September. Please keep watching for the update to ensure you get the latest features and improvements as we release them as soon as possible.​

​

Med vänliga hälsningar!​

​

Yours Sincerely,​

​

Mahamdou​

Volvo Customer Care​

800.638.6586​

Announcing ‘Volvo Roadside Plus’ Learn More​

​

---​

​

Administrator ​

10/14/2021 01:17 PM ​

Thank you for contacting Volvo Car USA's Customer Care Center. ​

​

Our goal is to answer all e-mail inquires within 2 hours during hours of operation. ​

​

Hours of Operation: ​

We are here for you 24/7 365 days a year.​

​

Sincerely, ​

​

Volvo Car USA, LLC​

​

---​

​

JT​

10/14/2021 01:17 PM ​

When I purchased my 2021 XC40 Recharge vehicle, it came with features comparable to the "April" update. I was able to choose the speed unit in settings (km/h or mph). However, now that my vehicle has received the August OTA update, the speed unit setting has been revoked (not available anymore). Is it coming back in a future update? Or, is there different way to change the speed unit? (need it to travel to Canada from USA) ​

 

[mike.prado]

But, if by saying "the next update", then maybe vehicles that already have v1.7 are able to change the speed unit? Can someone validate that?

As far as I can tell, I am using the 1.7 software version, and there's no way to change the MPH speedometer reading to KPH. I don't see the change, either way, in the release notes for 1.7.