2017 Volvo XC90 Reliability Update: Did I Buy A Lemon?

As a volvo tech, I can tell you straight up, these cars are great when they’re working as designed. We see a few common problems with these cars, including a couple things that set a check engine light, and it sucks, because volvo doesn’t make them recalls, they just let the customer experience the problem and then bring the car in, which is very inconvenient. It’s nothing that’s going to cause the car not to run, but a check engine light never makes anyone happy. About the rotors: the braking power on these cars is amazing, but it comes with a price. Rear brake pads wear out about every 20k miles and front rotors get warped occasionally. The is most likely the vibration you are feeling under braking. As far as the vibration while NOT braking, it’s not driveline or suspension related. The suspension and drivetrain are very solid on these cars and I haven’t seen anything like a hub or an axle fail on these yet. Could be the sound damping foam coming off the inside of the tire maybe

I have a 2017 S90 T6 with 124k miles. I bought it about 2.5 years ago with 38k miles. I have had a very small "tranfer case" leak, upstream 02 sensor fail, upper ball joint fail, AC compressor fail. Ive gone through numerous rear brake pads a couple sets of front brake pads. The shudder you mentioned I also struggled with for about year. I had my tires balanced several times, tire replaced under warranty. The shops checked to make sure the rotors were seated properly against the hub. Recently the shudder started to get worse while braking like a "warped" rotor. I decided to replace the front rotors. I took a wire brush on a Dremel and cleaned the mating surface during installation. After completion, all vibrations and shudders were finally gone! TLDR; clean the mating surfaces of the rotors and hubs extremely well and re torque the wheels. Thank me later. 😉

Yeah my volvo starts shaking at around 120mph😂

I have a 2020 XC40, which I love. Boot up is crazy fast (compared to the video above). No issues with parking sensors at speed. Ever since I got it a year ago, I have had the same issue recurrently with the check engine (or maybe battery) light. Mostly it happens with hotter conditions. The worst has been a complete start failure, as well as an in-motion random automatic reduction of transmission (a little turtle graphic pops up), combined with multiple lights and warnings (ESC off, battery light, engine light, tire pressure light). Basically the electronics just go a bit haywire randomly. It does seem to self resolve after multiple restarts, but is still terrifying when it occurs in the middle of traffic. Of course, Volvo service can never replicate it. I’m pretty convinced I have a lemon.

My 2016 boots up quicker than yours - even cold. I park under trees, so my biggest issue is leaf debris under the hood , which results in a moldy odor. I also needed new rear brakes around 30K miles, which is suspect is due to the adaptive cruise that is hard on them. Other than that, and some nav system shortcomings, it has performed well.

I own an 18 XC90 and I have the same issue with the parking sensors. In traffic the side and front sensors will go off at random. I have 9,100 miles on mine and Volvo has already replaced the front brake pads due to shutter. Lastly I have noticed numerous squeaks and rattles in the cargo area over rough pavement. With that being said, I love the XC90 and hope it will be a reliable car for the long run.

what kind of chip is used to start up the info-system and does the heat issue occur when the car is parked in the shade?

An update at the dealer will fix your touchscreen to a degree. The new ones have faster processors so they don't have loading problems. Also, unless your vibrations are tire or wheel related, good luck. We have been trying to track down a vibration in my mom's 05 XC90. Replaced a lot of suspension bits, tires, and balanced them twice. As for the parking sensors, just make sure the little circles stay really clean and you shouldn't have problems.

Best car I have ever owned. Have 2017 XC90 Inscription fully loaded with air suspension. Any issues were fixed quickly. Have about 50k miles on car. Picked up in Sweden on overseas delivery program. Great experience.

I have the same car, 1 problem. A circuit went out, and the lights, turn signal, etc. wouldn’t work. I managed to drive to the dealer and got it fixed. But one flaw - my spouse weighs between 110 and 115, and sometimes the passenger airbag won’t work.

Nice video! I have a 2016 xc90 with 50000km. In the last few months been noticing a vibration when braking. I just changed the pads and rotors. All inner pads both front and back were worn out. New pads and rotors and the car is running great.

I owned a 2016 XC90 Inscription and am now driving a 2018 XC90 R-Design with Polestar. Both incredible experiences. Swedish design is different--more practical. You will have to get used to clicking a command and allowing all 58 different computer systems to decide the best way to do the command. Yes, that takes getting used to..but when it works, it works great. Swedes, unlike us, apparently are not in a hurry. Results are more important than speed. A great dealer makes a difference too. Thanks for your report.

Have you got the latest software for the screen? It doesn't seem to have with that time to start up...

I mean the good thing about the screen is it distracts you into staying parked until oil pressure stabilizes and the idle revs come down....?

What is the per year maintenance cost of this ?

You can't just connect and update the touchscreen firmware or somehow reset it?

My 2016 XC90 has a number of the same issues as you. My rear brakes and rotors needed replacement after about 30,000 miles, which of course was not covered under warranty. I also had some sort of sunroof drain leak, which was the subject of a recall. Although it was fixed, my wife kept complaining about the musty smell; and even after a lot of detailing on my part, it did not go away. I was able to get them to finally replace the driver's side carpet, which seemed to fix the problem. As far as the electronics, they are quirky. The HVAC is temperamental, as is the GPS. The sensors do require cleaning to work properly, but I suspect that is a common technology maintenance issue. I like driving the car; but, as usual, the more things become complicated, the more problems.

Shutter upon braking is usually warped rotors.

Do you still have your XC90 and if so, or not, what issues did you experience particularly with the 2016? Trying to decide if I want a 2017 since this was the first year model (2016)

While I can't speak for the year model 2017, I own a 2016 XC90 Inscription with a lot of issues. However, the biggest issue was with an internal oil leak. Apparently, this was being caused by bad piston rings.