[jerrybbluestein]

I purchased my XC40 Recharge in May & was going to my doctors @ 3;00. I went to get in the car & everything was dead! I figured how to get the key out of the fob, opened the door but nothing would
show on the dash or center screen.
I had charged the battery to 90% the day before & drove less than 3 miles!
I called Volvo Support to have my car towed to the local dealer The 1st wrecker did not show & the second wrecker showed about 4 hours later but said his wrecker was unable to pick up such a heavy car?
The 3rd wrecker showed up. From the timed I called Volvo Support, around 11am & it took until 7pm!!!!
I would hate waiting on on the side of the road for 8 hours!!!!

My dealer called me today & said that the 12 Volt battery ( 2nd car battery) had to be replaced &
( 3rd battery) needs recharging. I did not know the car has 3 batteries. Can anyone explain what they are used for? Dealer says that the car will be ready Friday after Thanksgiving,
Has anyone had this problem?

Dealers reply
The cause of the dead battery is that the car keys needs to be kept 20 feet from the car, because the car is always searching for the keys. This caused the 12 volt battery to fail & the entire car to shut down!!! Wow- do all electric cars have this problem? What about gas cars, as they use the same key technology? My car is only 6 months old. Does that mean I am going to have this problem every 6 months. My garage is next to my kitchen with is about 16 feet from where I use to keep the keys (enclosing picture of the loaner car in the garage & also dealers invoice))
Please let me know if anyone understands this? Thanks

 

[SeattleCat]

Is this a duplicate post. Your story sounds very familiar with the three batteries and question about why do they use batteries now?

That said Hello there.
Going to call bs on your dealer.

“Dealers reply
The cause of the dead battery is that the car keys needs to be kept 20 feet from the car, because the car is always searching for the keys.”

This makes no sense as the searching would happen whether or not it finds a key. Following dealer logic if it finds a key it no longer has to “search” so the car could save energy in not having to “search”.

Trying to make sense of his answer perhaps if the car finds a key it puts the car in a heightened state? And this heightened state uses more power. That maybe I could buy just not his answer.

Going to search for the thread like yours now

 

[SeattleCat]

Found your post from 9 days ago. Your questions were answered there. Thanks for the additional information from the dealer. And oops you did say in the title it was a repeat.

Rather than repeat it If you had added the information to that thread by replying to it it would of informed everyone who was following it there was an update

Good luck with your car.

 

[BikerBill]

Buy a Faraday bag and keep your key in it. Or even wear it in tinfoil I hear that works.

 

[B-mtrd]

I have a feeling the dealer is clueless and looking for an explanation and excuse.
If that’s the case you better unpair your phone from the car as it will be always searching for it unless is 20 feet away.
I would look further into this.

The ONLY time I think the car would be searching for the key is if the car was left unlocked. If a car is locked it doesn’t make sense it would be trying to look for a key.

 

[improvius]

Dealers reply
The cause of the dead battery is that the car keys needs to be kept 20 feet from the car, because the car is always searching for the keys. This caused the 12 volt battery to fail & the entire car to shut down!!! Wow- do all electric cars have this problem? What about gas cars, as they use the same key technology? My car is only 6 months old. Does that mean I am going to have this problem every 6 months. My garage is next to my kitchen with is about 16 feet from where I use to keep the keys (enclosing picture of the loaner car in the garage & also dealers invoice))
Please let me know if anyone understands this? Thanks

This sounds bogus. I imagine a lot of people have similar garage setups where their keys are almost always within 20' of the vehicle. Can you contact Volvo Customer Care so they can either confirm or deny this issue?

 

[Rousie13]

This sounds bogus. I imagine a lot of people have similar garage setups where their keys are almost always within 20' of the vehicle. Can you contact Volvo Customer Care so they can either confirm or deny this issue?

Based on some of the responses I've seen from other forum members from VCC lately, I'm not sure that would be any better.

Most people put their keys right inside their garage door.....looks like there are going to be LOTS of dead batteries on Volvos.

 

[SeattleCat]

Based on some of the responses I've seen from other forum members from VCC lately, I'm not sure that would be any better.

Most people put their keys right inside their garage door.....looks like there are going to be LOTS of dead batteries on Volvos.

I think I their will not be loads of dead Volvos soon because i believe the Volvo representatives are full of … responses generated by official Volvo magic 8 balls. . .

If it was as they say then it would happen regularly vs the infrequently that has been reported.

It is sad they have to make up reasons when they are caught not knowing.

Saying I do not know but will look into it is way better than saying the equivalent of “the silver doohickey is hitting the wogimacallit causing a systemic break down in the consistency of custard pies”

 

[Rousie13]

I think I their will not be loads of dead Volvos soon because i believe the Volvo representatives are full of … responses generated by official Volvo magic 8 balls. . .

If it was as they say then it would happen regularly vs the infrequently that has been reported.

It is sad they have to make up reasons when they are caught not knowing.

Saying I do not know but will look into it is way better than saying the equivalent of “the silver doohickey is hitting the wogimacallit causing a systemic break down in the consistency of custard pies”

I agree with you completely. Sorry I was making a joke about Volvo having a lot of dead batteries soon because of this.

It seems some dealers and VCC are using the Volvo 8 ball when it comes to the EV’s having issues.

 

[SeattleCat]

I agree with you completely. Sorry I was making a joke about Volvo having a lot of dead batteries soon because of this.

It seems some dealers and VCC are using the Volvo 8 ball when it comes to the EV’s having issues.

Oops I thought it might be a joke but was not sure

I will now laugh.

Laughter has commenced. Lucky for me I was on the potty as that laughter had biological effects

 

[XC90_Dinosaur]

There is some truth what support says. Car does always looking for keys. Car does sense you when going beside it and start clicking the relays. For what I am more curious to learn is their charging algorithm. Does the car charge 12V battery when sitting? What is the charging algorithm? Does 12V battery SOC depends on the distance driven, so if it short distance the risk of having discharged auxiliary batteries is greater?
So far what happened was not supposed to happen. Hopefully it will not happen again.

 

[Ed_S]

Assuming (big assumption) that the ICE version of the XC40 (as well as other models) searches for nearby keys using the same methodology as the the XC40 Recharge, then wouldn't ICE versions also be having 12V battery issues when their keys are within 20' of the car? Not sure why Volvo would develop a different method of searching for nearby keys for EV 's if they already had a proven method used in their ICE cars.

 

[BainbridgeIsland]

I think it's obvious BS for the dealer to make a blanket statement that storing keys near the car will kill your battery. Every car made in the last 20 years would have this problem, if true.

However, the fact that the RKE (Remote Keyless Entry) antennas are part of our infamous TCAM module makes me think there's a tiny chance that RKE could possibly be related to battery drain in some obscure way.

 

[SeattleCat]

I think it's obvious BS for the dealer to make a blanket statement that storing keys near the car will kill your battery. Every car made in the last 20 years would have this problem, if true.

However, the fact that the RKE (Remote Keyless Entry) antennas are part of our infamous TCAM module makes me think there's a tiny chance that RKE could possibly be related to battery drain in some obscure way.

Even if RKE was a drain in battery life it still does not explain how rapidly the batteries are depleted.

Following the logic of the tiny chance makes one think what could go wrong to help this non zero but small chance RKE is to blame happen.

Perhaps if there is a faulty circuit or code or code state in the car that means every time it detects a key it erroroneously does something like switch the lights on on the car or put the fans on if they were on when you parked …

A few months ago I came down to my car and the headlights lights were on … it had not been used for a couple of days so I am sure they were not on the whole time … I am 99.9% sure I did not depress the button on the at top the garage as I am rather anal about such things.

So maybe my car that day was in the erroneous state that when it detects a key it flips on the lights … as my car is a long way from my condo through thick concrete it can only react to this state when I approach it. This has happened once since May but … if the keys are always present that one occurance would of happened all night and drained the battery!

Any chance that folks who leave there keys near their car could set up a nany cam or security can so IF you ever come down and find the car drained you could review the footage to see if the lights were on …

Curious if anyone who has had battery drain with keys close to car also has a car or a rodent problem? Wondering if something touching the car in that state could of triggered it.

Wish I had reviewed the security footage the day my lights were on.

 

[BainbridgeIsland]

Even if RKE was a drain in battery life it still does not explain how rapidly the batteries are depleted.

Following the logic of the tiny chance makes one think what could go wrong to help this non zero but small chance RKE is to blame happen.

I was speculating perhaps it's "just another TCAM issue" (one among many). And if so, RKE could be tangentially related, simply because its antennas are part of the TCAM.

 

[B-mtrd]

All this strange unknown battery issues are what is keeping me from installing the FitcamX dash cam.
last thing I need is to f’up my battery and the dealer void the warranty because of the non-Volvo OEM dash cam.

 

[Welland canada recharge]

All this strange unknown battery issues are what is keeping me from installing the FitcamX dash cam.
last thing I need is to f’up my battery and the dealer void the warranty because of the non-Volvo OEM dash cam.

Have had the FitcamX installed now for about 2 months - no issue with it drawing power SOC remains stable and have not had any battery issues - 12 volt or TCAM battery.

 

[improvius]

I really wish Volvo would implement the same internal camera recording that Teslas have. That's a real killer feature.

 

[Homer]

Have had the FitcamX installed now for about 2 months - no issue with it drawing power SOC remains stable and have not had any battery issues - 12 volt or TCAM battery.

As previously noted, federal USA law does not allow for a car manufacturer to void a warranty if non OEM products are used.

If an aftermarket dashcam caused a power drain and battery issue, at the very most this would require a 12 volt battery jump.

The fear of installing after market products is not one that should be a concern.

 

[columbrian]

I suppose it's possible that the key fob was on the edge of detection and the car was continually switching from one mode to another. But the car really shouldn't be doing anything simply because you're nearby. If it is, it sounds like some system designer was trying to be too clever.