[Yosh]

My XC40 is now 18 months old with 22,000 miles. The other day I was just about out of gas and pulled over to fill up. The fuel filler door wouldn't open leaving me stranded at the pump. I looked inside the rear panel by removing the small cutout on the inside, but didn't see any mechanism to release the door. However, there was a loose wire with a green connector hanging there that didn't seem to belong anywhere. After some repeated pressing on the door it finally opened, but I'm concerned it will happen again.

Is there some safety mechanism that can release the fuel filler door if it fails to unlatch normally?

 

[Jezza]

Are you sure your doors weren’t locked when you were trying? That would also lock the fuel filler door.

 

[Yosh]

The doors were unlocked.

 

[dgstellar]

The same thing happened to me. It is a problem with the XC40 and there is a warranty fix. The gas door would not open for me after trying everything, doors unlocked, locked, engine on, engine off, several attempts to open the door did not work. Called the Volvo dealer shop and they told me to pry it open. I did and it broke the door off. The dealer is fixing it under warranty.

 

[Yosh]

Thanks, dgstellar. I'm not sure what to do about this. Carry a screw driver to pry open the door if it sticks again and hope the dealer will fix it under warranty? Do you know if there is a fix the dealer can do now? Being low on gas with a stuck door while trying to fill up is a vulnerable situation to be in.

 

[dgstellar]

I would contact the dealer. It was a hard door to open (door and heavy bar behind it). Hard to do without scratching the paint on the body. So check with the dealer to see if they will replace it.

 

[westminister]

My XC40 is now 18 months old with 22,000 miles. The other day I was just about out of gas and pulled over to fill up. The fuel filler door wouldn't open leaving me stranded at the pump. I looked inside the rear panel by removing the small cutout on the inside, but didn't see any mechanism to release the door. However, there was a loose wire with a green connector hanging there that didn't seem to belong anywhere. After some repeated pressing on the door it finally opened, but I'm concerned it will happen again.

Is there some safety mechanism that can release the fuel filler door if it fails to unlatch normally?

Same thing but I called OnStar and they told me to lock the car, wait a couple of seconds and unlock. I did it twice and the fuel door opened.

 

[Mitya]

My wife's XC40 is about one year old. Recently she was stuck at a gas station because she couldn't open a gas tank door. Not sure where she found so much force but she was able to rip it of with her hands. When we went to a Volvo service center no warranty repairs were offered and we got a quote for $399 for replacing a "Fuel filler door" alone. But it was apparent that "Fuel filler housing" needs to be replaced as well since the lock wasn't working anymore.
At this point I decided that I'm going to do the work myself because $400x2 looked excessive to me.
I purchased the following parts online from Volvo in California. All parts are genuine and made in Germany.
31457775 Fuel Filler Housing $42.95
31356737 Fuel Filler Door $52.63
Installing a door was trivial, it just slides in till you hear a click. If you ever need to take it off, there's a small square hole where you press on a pin and it slides off.
Removing a housing is a bit trickier: you need to gently cut the center soft piece of rubber, put your hand inside to unclip 4 clips that are holding it and start pulling it towards you. Then you need to disconnect 2 pin cable from power door lock and a small drainage tube.
Overall it took me about 30 minutes to do the job.

 

[westminister]

Hi, Sorry it was so much trouble. The same thing happened to me and I would've done the same thing that your wife did but i called on-Star and they told me how to open the stuck door. Simply step outside the car, click the key on lock.
wait a minute and repeat. if the door still doesn't open repeat. It worked like a charm for me and Volvo dealers should inform customers of this problem and quick fix. Sorry you didn't have the info.