[He Keith]

Push them to swap the car.

 

[ericksonpost]

Update time.

My car is still at the dealership and I believe they're supposed to start working on it (again) today. It's also passed 30 days, which in CA qualifies the car as a lemon. Which is also why I think Volvo corporate reached out to me today and offered two things:

1) I can accept the total of 4 monthly payments.

or

2) They can buy the car back, but they haven't told me any details on what I'd be getting back for the car. Though in CA there's a lot of things the car manufactures are required to pay back. This process is also expeced to take 6-8 weeks and I believe I'm allowed to use the car for that time.

This is somewhat complicated since inventory is extremely low right now on pretty much every EV. So if I go the buy back route, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get another car in a reasonable time frame for a reasonable price. I also bought the XC40 while they were running a finance deal, so I have a good rate, which I probably won't get again if I need to get a new loan.

I was really hoping they would swap out the car since that would be the easiest for me. I've already applies for the CA rebates which would now need to be cancelled and/or changed.

Any thoughts?

 

[He Keith]

Tell them to swap it. In GA there is a formula based on miles driven at time of first repair. As for what to do, how much do you like the car? What amazes me is I have never seen any brand buy back and swap so many cars, makes me wonder. For me that had given me 2 payments and are swapping car for a C40 due in about a month.

 

[A2_]

Did you try asking them to swap it out?

 

[ericksonpost]

Did you try asking them to swap it out?

I did ask over the phone, but the rep told me that it wasn't an option. They did not give me a reason why it wasn't a possibility though.

 

[hetz8500]

I did ask over the phone, but the rep told me that it wasn't an option. They did not give me a reason why it wasn't a possibility though.

I got my dealer/Volvo to swap my car out for another one, a check for 1 month's payment, and a 5 year extended warranty. It had been with the service dept for over 30 days with a non-functioning AC. After I agreed, it took them another 3-4 weeks to track down a new vehicle that met my specs. This was back in July/August 2021 and there was much more inventory at that time. Even if they do agree to swap the vehicle, you'll get a new loan as it's tied to the specific vehicle. My replacement vehicle had a few add-ons that my first car didn't and I refused to pay for them so they moved some numbers around to make my new financing match the original vehicle purchase. I think they applied the loyalty offer, even though I hadn't owned a Volvo prior. Be persistent and know that you have the upper hand when it comes to Lemon Law in CA. They do not want to go thru the process, as the car will be listed as a lemon forever. It's in their interest to repair yours or swap you into another one so they can sell off the defective vehicle without "Lemon" attached to it.

 

[He Keith]

I did ask over the phone, but the rep told me that it wasn't an option. They did not give me a reason why it wasn't a possibility though.

My guess is swap is a problem because all the cars on order are pretty much spoken for. Lemon law attorney will be no cost to you and many will do an initial consult for free. Find one and discuss options, but if Volvo will not swap you have limited options. The othering to check is if Volvo is offering 4 payments I assume that does not exclude a further lemon law claim. They gave me 2 payments when I was over 30 days of combined services and then a month later I said I had had it, swap it or I file lemon law, they agreed to swap it. They are swapping it because I had a C40 on order due in about a month. My guess if I did it now they would say they would buy it back. The car market really makes this hard now as cars are hard to find, prices are MSRP or better and interest rates are climbing.

 

[santellavision]

Question, if they buy it back, do you lose the money you put into the car? I did a Clear Bra, Window Tinting, Floor mats and Dog gate.

 

[He Keith]

I think it depends on the state laws. I expect to lose the $250 tinting and $1400 Ceramic coating I did, but they gave me 2 car payments and a $750 gift card so I am still ahead. I believe some state's lemon laws allows you to recoup some cost items for the car. Also since we are in 2022 if they buy it back you still get $7500 incentive for 2021. Even on a swap I am trying to figure out if I get a second incentive as they are in theory I am trading my car in (Volvo makes up the difference to the dealer) and I am getting a new car. Trying to figure out if that is handled as a new purchases or not. I think a lot will depend on whether I need to get new financing, if so then I suspect I get another incentive.

 

[ericksonpost]

I didn't spend much if anything on extras. I think what I may end up doing is asking if accepting the 4 months worth of payments still allows me to lemon the car if more issues arise.

I still haven't heard anything from the dealership either on the status of the repair. If the repair is successful, it might be worth it to take the money as long as nothing else comes up that puts the car in for major repairs again. If I hear the repair wasn't successful, I really feel like my only option is to have them buy back the car. I'll definitely push hard to swap, but I'll take my money back and try something else if it comes down to it.

 

[He Keith]

As long as they don’t make you sign away your lemon law rights I would take the money (take to a lemon law lawyer) and see what happens.

 

[ericksonpost]

I went by the dealership today to check in on my car since I hadn't received an updated in a while. The good news is that my repair is almost done. I should have it back by Friday or Saturday.

Even though it's almost fixed, I'm really leaning towards just getting my money back now. To replace the CVTN sensor the entire battery pack had to be opened up and was sitting in a shop for weeks exposed while the new cover came in. The first battery cover was damaged in shipping, so Volvo had to send a second cover, which is one reason things took so long. If you're curios, here's what the battery cover looks like:

The battery cover is a one time use part. If you zoom in, you can see where it needed to be pried open along the edges. Once this is re-assembled, it gets vacuumed sealed shut. This is why I'm a little hesitant to keep the car. I don't feel great that something that needs to be vacuumed sealed, was out open for so long.

The service manager made a point to say this is the first car they've needed to make a repair to the battery back itself in the year or so this model has been out. The service manager also mentioned that they've done a lot of TCAM repairs though...

That's all for now. I'll let you all know how things are when I get the car back.

 

[SAP]

It is distressing to see the car in such a state, and one always wonders about how much care has been put into doing the job correctly.

 

[He Keith]

I went by the dealership today to check in on my car since I hadn't received an updated in a while. The good news is that my repair is almost done. I should have it back by Friday or Saturday.

Even though it's almost fixed, I'm really leaning towards just getting my money back now. To replace the CVTN sensor the entire battery pack had to be opened up and was sitting in a shop for weeks exposed while the new cover came in. The first battery cover was damaged in shipping, so Volvo had to send a second cover, which is one reason things took so long. If you're curios, here's what the battery cover looks like:

View attachment 2506

The battery cover is a one time use part. If you zoom in, you can see where it needed to be pried open along the edges. Once this is re-assembled, it gets vacuumed sealed shut. This is why I'm a little hesitant to keep the car. I don't feel great that something that needs to be vacuumed sealed was out open for so long.

The service manager mad a point to say this is the first car they've needed to make a repair to the battery back itself in the year or so this model has been out. The service manager also mentioned that they've done a lot of TCAM repairs though...

That's all for now. I'll let you all know how this are when I get the car back.

Can’t speak to other brands, but it seems like Volvo did not expect anyone to be in the battery pack. Makes me rethink my swap to a C40. I get every forum is full of this stuff, but to swap and buy back so many year 1 cars makes me wonder.

 

[Acc94112]

Update time.

The Volvo dealer called me to give to let me know what's going on with my car. They were pretty vague on the details, which makes me want to talk to the actual tech and not the guy that makes the phone calls.

I was told that there is an issue - but it's not the high voltage battery pack itself, but a node or module related to the drive system? Does that make any sense to anyone here? Because it doesn't make that much sense to me. It just sounds a bit evasive instead of being an explanation.

Anyway, here's the really bad news. The part needed (whatever it actually is) is on back-ordered and will have to be shipped from Sweden when it's in stock. I was told that it would probably be two weeks best case scenario, but don't be surprised if it's longer.

Welp, I guess I'll be driving the loaner for the next couple of weeks on top of the week that I've already had it.

It seems like it might be a while before I have another update, but I have a feeling I'll end up in CA lemon law territory before my car is repaired.

I'll let you all know if I hear anything else.

Great - my 2022 just had the same warning pop up after owning a month. I’m gonna be livid if they try to charge me for a repair this early on.

 

[Irishamerican]

Jeez. my wife and I are going to look at an XC40 P8 next weekend. I'm having serious doubts about getting one with all these issues I am seeing in such a shot time with this model.

 

[SeattleCat]

Jeez. my wife and I are going to look at an XC40 P8 next weekend. I'm having serious doubts about getting one with all these issues I am seeing in such a shot time with this model.

Alas it is hard to tell whether these issues are rare or common. Early on their were IHU issues. They got fixed. Now we have tcam issues.

What percentage is the question and that is a question that we have no insight into.

We know that some cars do have tcam issues.
We know some cars have fin leaks leading to tcam issues
We know some cars have 12 volt battery issues

Alas we do know that service centers are often not able to rapidly fix these problems and that they are learning how to fix them and are hindered by getting parts from Europe. That coupled with a lack of loaners is impacting folks.

I love my P8. If it got stolen I would buy another. I might be a little stressed until I was sure it was one of the good ones (which mine is).

Cars having problems is not new. There was a huge recall of cars recently due to their abs systems causing them to catch fire including after driving! As in another do not put the car in the garage deal. (This was not Volvo).

I expect the tcam issues will get resolved like the IHU issues were when I do not know.

Good luck with the choices.
Life was easier when we did not have boards to here those with problems discuss. Alternatively it allowed us to buy flawed products without knowing.

One step forward one step back.

 

[improvius]

Yeah the 2021 were the real guinea pigs. I've been following this board for a while and it seems like things have been slowly improving over the past several months. I'm planning to take delivery on Friday and I'm not too worried.

 

[He Keith]

Jeez. my wife and I are going to look at an XC40 P8 next weekend. I'm having serious doubts about getting one with all these issues I am seeing in such a shot time with this model.

At the end of the day Volvo over time Volvo's does not have a good reliability reputation. Does not make it a bad car, but changing ownership twice and being small in the grand scheme of auto makers hurts them. Of all people I should be running away from Volvo, but what they do have is some of the best customer service of any car maker I have dealt with. There are several people here that have had their cars swapped due to issue without having to fight with lemon law. Most people are having no or few issues. My 21 other than app not working and connectivity issues (likely TCAM recall) has settled down, but I am letting them swap it for a C40 anyway. We also bought a second XC40 Recharge and love it, her's has not been any issues so far. In the end if you want rock solid reliability there only a few brands that your odds will be good, but every brand has bad cars and it comes down to how thy handle it. I was given $750 gift card and comped back 2 months of payments (that is $2500) and they still did not blink when I said I give up and want the car swapped. Find me another brand that does that. In this price range I do not feel there is anything better, of course the Ioniq 5 and EV6 are new so we will have to see, but those are more station wagons to me as they do not have SUV ground clearance.

 

[ericksonpost]

After calling around to quite a few dealerships - both Volvo and Hyundai (for an Ioniq 5), I'm going to have to keep the car. As much as I'd like to get rid of it at the moment...

There just isn't anything equivalent available right now.

I'm going to get the check worth 4 monthly payments and hope nothing else happens for the time being. Though in the short time I've had the car back, I have had three LTE/GPS dropouts, but at least they only lasted 5 minutes or so. Which is still not great when you need to know where to go in the LA area haha.

I'll let you all know if anything else happens releated to the main battery pack though.