[Rich T]

Has anyone seen this one? Walk into my car this morning to the passenger side flooded after last night’s downpour. Im in Southern California so this is the first big rain it has seen. Had to drive it to the dealer and demand they fix it after calling in the morning and then telling me their next appointment isn’t until January 31st. No joke. Car has already been in the shop 40 days for multiple issues, this is icing on the cake.

 

[arijaycomet]

Based on the location I'd suspect this is directly related to the cabin filter. At the base of the windshield where it meets the hood is a cowl/intake for "fresh air" that then passes through the cabin via a cabin filter. Your interior cabin filter is located just behind your glove box (sort to behind/above it) (you can search YouTube for "XC40 cabin filter replacement" and you'll get a real good idea of where this filter is located). If I were a betting man, I'd say that is where the source of the issue stems from. What is causing it to come down there I cannot say -- there should be runoffs for water that go elsewhere, something perhaps is clogged with pollen/etc.

 

[Rich T]

That’s what came to mind too. The car is driven from the garage to the work garage and back so I doubt it was a pollen/clogging issue. For all we know there is some defect in the sealing or placement or whatnot. This is SoCal so it literally rains twice a year, and I had the misfortune of leaving it outside because the garage door broke the day before. I’ll keep you posted with what they find!

 

[MMK]

@RichT wow....seeing is believing, sorry it's one thing after another in just few months, and they can't (or wont) take it in till after New Year even though clearly it needs immediate attention. Is a Dealer's criteria "as long as Car can function it can wait...." ? So at the mean time, you're on your own to clean/dry it ?

Sorry for putting more salt to a wound.....a quick conclusion is a Swedish car built for harsh winter (at least that's the perception for folks in warm weather) simply doesn't do well in RAIN.....Brakes/Rotors sticking.....water running INSIDE of Car.....

On this particular leakage, has ICE folks encounter this as well ?

I worry because here.....(i) We have super long and hard rain sometimes continuously for dayssss (ii) No garage/covered area when at Work........HHmmm.....no bueno.....

 

[SeattleCat]

That is terrible. Cars should be rain proof.
Living inside Seattle my car has been in the rain many times with no leaks but I eagerly/worriedly await you finding what happened.

Good luck.

 

[ctznkne]

Has anyone seen this one? Walk into my car this morning to the passenger side flooded after last night’s downpour. Im in Southern California so this is the first big rain it has seen. Had to drive it to the dealer and demand they fix it after calling in the morning and then telling me their next appointment isn’t until January 31st. No joke. Car has already been in the shop 40 days for multiple issues, this is icing on the cake.

This exact thing has now happened to me after a heavy downpour a few days ago! After noticing approximately 4 inches of water welled up in the passenger footwell, I immediately checked the windows and the sunroof to make sure its all completely closed (and it was). I removed the water and dried the area out as much as possible.

Using the car a day later, I received a transmission warning with noticeable jerking and an obvious power reduction. I then drove straight to the nearest Volvo dealership for an inspection.

I have been subsequently advised by the maintenance department that the issues are directly related to water damage to the electronics running in that area and although not explicitly stated, they were alluding to negligence on my part, i.e an open window etc. which is not the case!! This is going to be a costly issue to fix and I will insist that they run a test to see where the leak comes from.

If anyone else has experienced this before, please advise on the cause and resolution of this issue.

Frustrated XC40 owner.

 

[NOLABurgher]

I have a 2005 V50 and volvos from that era were famous for leaking sunroofs. They frequently would flood the driver or passenger footwells just like that. The issue isn't a leaking sunroof, but a clogged sunroof drain. I think there's tons of threads on this in older model cars on the swedepseed forums. Trying to assess when I fixed the problem on my car, i tried using a hose to test, but I could never get enough water to drain through the sunroof to replicate the leak.

I'm lurking on here as I've got a reservation for a new recharge and i'm waiting for it to come to the dealer. I gotta admit this scares me a bit.

 

[SeattleCat]

I had a 1998 xc the original first gen awd. When it rained if you opened the door to get in and out the water gushed in … it was a design fault.

And that was my first brand new Volvo. Loved it other than the rain door bit.

So maybe Volvo has been bad about rain for a quarter century or more

 

[dani]

Prospective 2022 XC40 T5 R buyer here, wondering what year is yours with that leaking problem?

 

[Rich T]

Prospective 2022 XC40 T5 R buyer here, wondering what year is yours with that leaking problem?

It’s a 2021 xc40 recharge. The leak was apparently found to be around the sealing of the blower motor. So far it seems fixed.

 

[EV Pass Gas]

2021 XC40 here. About one month ago when we had rain here in L.A., we also noticed water build up on the passenger floor mat and took it to the dealer. They said it was a clog that needed to be cleared and it was resolved.

The other day, we took it to a car wash, and this time we noticed water build-up on the floor mats on both the passenger side and driver side. Much more on the passenger side.

We proceeded to drive to our destination and the air cabin fan would not blow into the cabin. We could hear the fan, much more loudly and noisier, but got no air out of the vents. We tried to reboot the infotainment (press and hold the home button on the center display for 20 seconds) but the fan would not blow.

3 hours later after getting into the car, the fan was working again. We think it got waterlogged and needed to dry out. This seems so dangerous and unacceptable.

We also have issues with the infotainment screen not displaying the correct XM radio station that is playing. But I guess that is for a different forum :-/

 

[NOLABurgher]

On the one hand, there’sa demo of an xc40 recharge remotely driving out of a tank of water after being fully submerged, there’s some water exposure tolerance for at least the main drive components.

Your repeated leak issue seems like your issue is actually unresolved and similar to Rich’s problem with a blower motor seal.

i ended up closing on a new 22 recharge last month. Keeping fingers crossed on drainage issues. Most folks haven’t complained on that front yet, at least not relative to other issues.

 

[Rich T]

Yes I’ve seen that video, it’s pretty neat. Tried to find it for everyone here but no luck. They have a recharge in a tank and drove out of it like nothing.

My worry when my car flooded was issues with mold and smell. My old Accord had water damage from a hurricane and it never recovered. More importantly though a 60k shouldn’t leak, period.

I would recommend take it back. My issue wasn’t anything clogged but the sealing around the air blower wasn’t done correctly. Took 5 months to notice because I live in the Valley where it rains twice a year

On the one hand, there’sa demo of an xc40 recharge remotely driving out of a tank of water after being fully submerged, there’s some water exposure tolerance for at least the main drive components.

Your repeated leak issue seems like your issue is actually unresolved and similar to Rich’s problem with a blower motor seal.

i ended up closing on a new 22 recharge last month. Keeping fingers crossed on drainage issues. Most folks haven’t complained on that front yet, at least not relative to other issues.

 

[SeattleCat]

Yes I’ve seen that video, it’s pretty neat. Tried to find it for everyone here but no luck. They have a recharge in a tank and drove out of it like nothing.

My worry when my car flooded was issues with mold and smell. My old Accord had water damage from a hurricane and it never recovered. More importantly though a 60k shouldn’t leak, period.

I would recommend take it back. My issue wasn’t anything clogged but the sealing around the air blower wasn’t done correctly. Took 5 months to notice because I live in the Valley where it rains twice a year

More importantly any car should not leak. Folks who can only afford cheaper cars should not have to deal with leaks.

2021 XC40 here. About one month ago when we had rain here in L.A., we also noticed water build up on the passenger floor mat and took it to the dealer. They said it was a clog that needed to be cleared and it was resolved.

The other day, we took it to a car wash, and this time we noticed water build-up on the floor mats on both the passenger side and driver side. Much more on the passenger side.

We proceeded to drive to our destination and the air cabin fan would not blow into the cabin. We could hear the fan, much more loudly and noisier, but got no air out of the vents. We tried to reboot the infotainment (press and hold the home button on the center display for 20 seconds) but the fan would not blow.

3 hours later after getting into the car, the fan was working again. We think it got waterlogged and needed to dry out. This seems so dangerous and unacceptable.

We also have issues with the infotainment screen not displaying the correct XM radio station that is playing. But I guess that is for a different forum :-/

If you can get this checked out documented and fixed asap. I imagine water in a car is not the best … don’t want mold but also do not want short circuiting.



Loved the video of the car in the tank. Sure it still drove after but I bet all the visual systems (IHU center console) were Brocken after the demo.

The mechanical car seems very robust. The infotainment hardware and software not so much. Which makes sense. The car is a Volvo none of the info stuff is as far as I know.

 

[Mr.AJ]

This happened to me today after taking it through the car wash. I have been through the same wash several times before with no problems. I have a service appointment for 18 April and I hope they can fix it.

 

[SeattleCat]

This happened to me today after taking it through the car wash. I have been through the same wash several times before with no problems. I have a service appointment for 18 Mar and I hope they can fix it. View attachment 3135
View attachment 3134

Oh no! That is horrible. I assume you meant April 18th. If so I suggest Contacting big volvo and perhaps call dealership up and be … insistent.

Water leak = if it rains will there be more? = potential for way more damage.

Good luck.

 

[Mr.AJ]

Oh no! That is horrible. I assume you meant April 18th. If so I suggest Contacting big volvo and perhaps call dealership up and be … insistent.

Water leak = if it rains will there be more? = potential for way more damage.

Good luck.

Yeah it's April lol. Thanks for the advice.

 

[SeattleCat]

Also let them know how the person above’s car was fixed.

I wonder how long the fix took for them?