Volvo S60 jerking problems

Filed Dec 14, 2025 · Brakes, Fuel system · IA · crash

I was at a stoplight with my foot on the brake. The car lurched forward, which prompted me to push harder on the brake. Then, with my foot firmly on the brake, the car accelerated into the car in front of me. There was body damage to the car. Volvo investigated and said that the computer indicated that the gas pedal was engaged at 90% while the brake was engaged at the same time. This would involve me putting my foot on the gas and brake at the same time, which simply is not what happened. There is clearly something wrong with their computer system. The same problem was identified in the XC40 Recharge EV model.

Filed Oct 14, 2025 · Brakes, Electrical · PA

When slowing to a stop the vehicle is unsmooth and unpredictable, there is also a sudden release when braking downhill (not sure if they are related). There’s been occasions where the car lurched when coming to a stop almost resulting in me rear ending the vehicle in front of me. The unsmooth/unpredictable stopping only happens at speeds under 10mph when approaching a stop like with city driving. I’ve had it to the dealership two times for this. They’ve had trouble reproducing it, but acknowledged it is unsmooth and said that’s just the way the regenerative braking was designed. The holding back and release when braking downhill is completely random.

Filed Jan 23, 2025 · Brakes, Driver assistance · MD

The car has “detected” a crash many times and automatically stopped even on the highway. It jerks and to slam on the brakes and then keeps going. It’s very dangerous and I have a strong theory it’s the model in general and not an isolated situation with my car.

Filed Apr 22, 2020 · Transmission · 48,000 miles · GA

The vehicle shifts erratically in stop and go traffic with frequent surges and jolts at low gears. This also occurs at higher temperatures (after driving for a while on hot days) and during stop and go traffic on hot days. Transmission engages slowly after a full stop and often with a jerk, especially felt when stopped at an incline. All of these jerks and jolts occur around gears 1 or 2 and during stopping or starting from stop.

Filed Jun 16, 2016 · Transmission · 250,000 miles · CA

Our volvo s60 has been experiencing a well known issue with what's commonly called transmission flare. When shifting into lower gears from a stop or at lower speeds and in slow traffic the automatic transmission jerks the car forward severely. There are hundreds of posts in online car forums with consumers complaining about this same problem. While it started out as a nuisance the problem has gotten progressively worse and is aggravated by hot weather, so much for taking the volvo on a drive for summer vacation. We trusted volvo's quality and integrity when purchasing our car and are very disappointed that there has been no recall issued to fix this problem. When we asked the dealership where we purchased the car what we could do to fix the problem they suggested we purchase a new car from them. Shame on you volvo. Before this problem we were proud volvo owners now we feel ripped off and abused.

Filed Feb 29, 2016 · Acceleration, Electrical · 118,632 miles · TX

Car jerks and clunks when switching gears. Its starting to grind and clack in 1-2 gear and I hops around the rpms line crazy.

Filed Apr 27, 2015 · Engine, Fuel system · 74,171 miles · CA

Twice now over a ten day period first when reducing speed to a stop or then again at a speed of less than 5 MPH, the car died...first the engine died then all else died. The car went dead. I still had my steering and slowly rolled to the curbed then as I gently put on the brakes the car jerked to a halt. During the second incident the car still jerked after I had stopped. A loud sound of a fan from the engine could be heard. The fan stopped after 10 to 15 seconds. After a minute I restarted the car and made it home both times.

Filed Oct 31, 2014 · Electrical, Transmission · 90,000 miles · TX

While driving, the car jerks violently - the same thing happens when the car is idling (no jerk, only an "click" sound). It happens anytime but seems worse in the summer but I think it's hot-heat related. The other issues are related: -the interior lights usually come on -the instrument panel goes completely blank/lights go off/no available emergency lights -the windshield wipers make one wipe sometimes -the "rear passenger door open" warning comes on -the "brake failure stop safely" warning comes on and sometimes "check engine" light comes on. Not all of these symptoms occur each time. There are more severe and less severe incidents.

Filed Sep 28, 2013 · Transmission · 168,733 miles · CA

I noticed my car jerking when it shifts, so I thought it was the transmission or something, so I brought it in a volvo dealership and they found out that it wasn't the transmission but " dsem needs etm and breather box engine light) or what the service advisor said the throttle module and I was surprised that they didn't tell me or asked me if I know about the recall. The costumer service is very poor at this place.

Filed Sep 26, 2013 · Transmission · 155,000 miles · KY

Volvo s60 of the first generation has had major transmission issues. Many have failed, slipped, and have destroyed the vehicle. According to other drivers it seems that the transmission has been fixed after 2005. It is not normal for transmissions to be going out before 100k miles. I'm sure many drivers have complained of this issue. Many times I have almost been in wrecks because it will not go into gear and will clunk into gear lurching me forward. The software when it first came out would put the car in neutral after you touched the brake to save gas millage. This software was removed for an unknown reason. Most likely being because it was damaging transmissions. Transmission do not shift instantly. So you would be in neutral then it would switch into gear. After many updates and small changes to the transmission reports of transmission failures have gone down majorly after 2005. It is not right that it took 4 years to fix this problem.