[Jeffman29]

After owning a Volvo XC 40 for five months, it has been in the shop a total of 12 days, with ongoing issues with the electrical system, as well as being stranded by the car 4 times due to issues with the charging unit. the car has now been towed twice; first time 170km and second time 80 km. I also have been locked out of the vehicle once during an attempted reprogramming, and neither of the key fobs or the manual keys would give me access to the car.

After the recent issues with the charging unit and the car not being able to be put into drive, I took the car to Victoria Volvo and asked corporate Volvo to initiate a claim to recover the full purchase cost of my vehicle. After having the vehicle in two different service departments – – one in Victoria and the other in Kelona – – neither could identify the cause of the multiple electrical issues and or the charging issue. Corporate Volvo now has had the car for 17 days and can’t really tell me what they’re going to do. On a wild goose chase, they have ordered a new recharging unit, but it seems unlikely that that will solve the remaining electrical system errors that have nothing to do with charging (e.g., false warnings for low tire pressure; failure of the GPS system and Google assistant; telling me no key fob detected when I am driving with my fob; unable to successfully install updates). and for many of these issues there are no logs on the car’s computer system so the service departments can’t determine what’s wrong. Even the “gurus” at Corporate Volvo don’t know why the car is behaving like this.

Corporate Volvo has been radio silent during the first 17 days since I dropped the car off and only responded when I pushEd them with an email on the claim file. They still can’t tell me what they are going to do, and now want an additional 14-17 days to make a decision on the vehicle. That means in the six months that I have “owned” this car, I have not been able to use it for a total of 46 up to 49 days (assuming Corporate Volvo even responds. That is one quarter of the total time I’ve been stuck with this lemon.

You would think that a multi million dollar company like Volvo would not have to think too long about refunding the purchase price on a car that it has been nothing but unreliable and problematic. Instead it is stall and delay.

While I find the multiple electrical and recharging issues to be unacceptable, what is even more irritating is the lack of response from Corporate Volvo. They seem to have no sense of customer service and what it means. I’ve been told that some of the delays are due to them re-jigging their customer service, which I find almost amusing since they they seem to have zero capability to even communicate with me, let alone come up with a solution. The only way forward for their woefully lacking customer service is up — I can’t imagine it getting worse.

I thought buying a Volvo meant buying quality, but I am completely disillusioned on that point. I have been stuck with a cat that is a lemon, yet no one in Corporate Volvo seems to care. Not a company that I will want to deal with ever again. I would suggest if you are considering buying a Volvo electric car, don’t. This car is not reliable.

 

[340driver]

I think you should go to bed, you've been writing on this forum for the past hour. A good nights sleep will help you a lot.

 

[Jeffman29]

I think you should go to bed, you've been writing on this forum for the past hour. A good nights sleep will help you a lot.

You were up at the same time so I fail to see your point. I have had serious and long lasting issues with my XC40 with no substantive help from Corporate Volvo. They hide behind a wall of Customer Service Agents who are not effective and not able to resolve issues. They only record your information. Managers and Regional reps cannot be contacted. Even the dealers cannot get through to them.

On your advice on sleep; this is a forum to inform others of issues and other aspects of the XC40 — it is not a personal forum. So please keep your unhelpful you advice for people you know and other sites.

 

[Stephen Cerruti]

I hear you, but our dealer worked with Volvo to arrange e a large cash payment because of the time our XC40 is in the shop. After being told that yet another part that is suddenly required is back ordered we wish we'd taken the alternate offer of trading the car for market value. When your talk about your car being in the shop for days I just laugh. I initially called for a propulsion service appointment in July and haven't had use of the car for two months, this time. Previously it was in the shop for almost a month.

We're on a second loaner after breaking the windshield in the first. It was brand new when we got it and now has 2500 miles on it. It's an XC90 that gets 20 MPG and gas prices in my area are now at $6.50 a gallon ($110/tank) meaning we're spending close to an extra $400/month in fuel costs.

I'm going to look today at the delivery time for a Mach-E because I can't figure out what else to do. Huge fan of the car, hate that I got a lemon. Hate that Volvo can't fix it. It's probable that we won't buy a Volvo or Polestar ever again. That's a shame because my wife always wanted one and it breaks my heart that she got the car of her dreams and this happened.

My advice is to exercise some patience. There are people ahead of you in Volvo's queue with a worse experience and they'll get to you eventually. Failing patience, maybe it's time to turn it over up a legal professional to handle and dump some of the stress. Of course options available to you depend on your locality.

I suspect, based on the number and type of miles we have on our XC40, that Volvo sees this problem as a ticking time bomb ready to take down a significant number of vehicles and they are trying to get ahead of it before more starts taking down a serious number of vehicles. This means not immediately paying out anyone with the issue to avoid setting a really bad precedent.

 

[west_coastin]

Yeah we bought ours in January, and it spent from April - July in the shop waiting for diagnosis, waiting for parts, waiting for another diagnosis when parts didn't fix it, waiting for more parts, etc. and our car was declared a lemon and are getting another one. It is definitely a frustrating process, nobody is very helpful, and it is disheartening to hear about so many other folks who are having issues. We are hoping that the next one will be different, but we shall see!

 

[BruinToo]

After owning a Volvo XC 40 for five months, it has been in the shop a total of 12 days, with ongoing issues with the electrical system, as well as being stranded by the car 4 times due to issues with the charging unit. the car has now been towed twice; first time 170km and second time 80 km. I also have been locked out of the vehicle once during an attempted reprogramming, and neither of the key fobs or the manual keys would give me access to the car.

After the recent issues with the charging unit and the car not being able to be put into drive, I took the car to Victoria Volvo and asked corporate Volvo to initiate a claim to recover the full purchase cost of my vehicle. After having the vehicle in two different service departments – – one in Victoria and the other in Kelona – – neither could identify the cause of the multiple electrical issues and or the charging issue. Corporate Volvo now has had the car for 17 days and can’t really tell me what they’re going to do. On a wild goose chase, they have ordered a new recharging unit, but it seems unlikely that that will solve the remaining electrical system errors that have nothing to do with charging (e.g., false warnings for low tire pressure; failure of the GPS system and Google assistant; telling me no key fob detected when I am driving with my fob; unable to successfully install updates). and for many of these issues there are no logs on the car’s computer system so the service departments can’t determine what’s wrong. Even the “gurus” at Corporate Volvo don’t know why the car is behaving like this.

Corporate Volvo has been radio silent during the first 17 days since I dropped the car off and only responded when I pushEd them with an email on the claim file. They still can’t tell me what they are going to do, and now want an additional 14-17 days to make a decision on the vehicle. That means in the six months that I have “owned” this car, I have not been able to use it for a total of 46 up to 49 days (assuming Corporate Volvo even responds. That is one quarter of the total time I’ve been stuck with this lemon.

You would think that a multi million dollar company like Volvo would not have to think too long about refunding the purchase price on a car that it has been nothing but unreliable and problematic. Instead it is stall and delay.

While I find the multiple electrical and recharging issues to be unacceptable, what is even more irritating is the lack of response from Corporate Volvo. They seem to have no sense of customer service and what it means. I’ve been told that some of the delays are due to them re-jigging their customer service, which I find almost amusing since they they seem to have zero capability to even communicate with me, let alone come up with a solution. The only way forward for their woefully lacking customer service is up — I can’t imagine it getting worse.

I thought buying a Volvo meant buying quality, but I am completely disillusioned on that point. I have been stuck with a cat that is a lemon, yet no one in Corporate Volvo seems to care. Not a company that I will want to deal with ever again. I would suggest if you are considering buying a Volvo electric car, don’t. This car is not reliable.

Not exclusive to Volvo. I lemoned a Jaguar I-PACE and replaced it with my current C40. But the buyback process took 6 months with JLR dragging its feet.

 

[Homer]

Volvo corporate responsiveness should have it's own thread. Many people note problems with their car, but get rapid responses and updates from the local dealer. The problem occurs when the malfunction is more significant and the local dealer is unable to resolve the glitch. Regional managers can offer more support, i.e, rentals and offers of financial compensation, but the car still is broken.

Ultimately, when one is pursuing a repurchase, Volvo corporate finally comes into play. And that, as they say, is the pebble in the shoe. Never has a corporate entity in my personal opinion and case, been so unresponsive, unhelpful, uninterested, and removed from the issue. It was only through multiple certified letters and a letter from the state attorney general did they show a scintilla of concern.

So be it, my local dealer is very nice, but a car purchase requires several layers of involvement. The rate limiting effect in this case is corporate Volvo. They have soured the entire experience.

 

[DreamensioN]

For what it's worth...I remember reading someone also had random electrical issues with their XC40 in one of the Facebook groups I'm in. The problem was the same with no logs being captured but the problem being real. The issue was the main wiring harness itself (that basically runs the full length of the car). That whole harness had to be replaced.

It might be worth mentioning if you are going to stick with it for Volvo to fix it.

Also... when I had my "propulsion system" issue... I went without the car for 3.5 months (115 days). But they eventually sorted it out and the car has been great ever since. I hope it stays that way, but now that it is working... no regrets.

 

[dgstellar]

I fully understand. The first two years I had my XC40, it was a lemon with many serious problems and in the shop many times. But the past two years, it has been great.

wish you luck getting it all fixed!