Volvo XC60 fire or smoke problems

Filed Jul 22, 2026 · IL · fire

Pulling into a gas station, a turtle warning light (limp mode) came on in the dash, and the car started moving very slowly. Moments later the engine was on fire. Basically the entire front end of the car melted away before the fire department in New Buffalo, Mich., could put it out.

Filed Jun 10, 2025 · 108,000 miles · WA · fire

The contact owned a 2015 Volvo XC60. The contact stated that while driving on a main road at 25 MPH, when a message was displayed on the instrument panel that stated "Engine Performance Degraded" and the vehicle experienced a significant reduction in automotive power, the contact proceeded to pull over and a few moments later smoke was emitted from the front end of the vehicle, the contact immediatley exited the vehicle and shortly afterwards the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The contact mentioned that the vehicle was serviced at the dealer prior to the fire. The origin of the fire was unknown. The vehicle was unoccupied during the fire. The location of the fire was the front passenger side of the engine compartment. The fire department arrived to extinguish the fire. A fire department report was filed. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 108,000.

Filed Feb 21, 2025 · Engine · CA

Purchased a used 2016 Volvo XC60 from a BMW dealership. A month after purchase, oil light came on - so we added oil. Not long after, it came on again. Finally took the car to a Volvo dealership and they confirmed we have the "oil consumption" issue. There was a class action lawsuit against Volvo and they extended the warranty for this issue for 8 years or 100k miles. Unfortunately, we purchased the car at 8 years, 6 months. We had no idea this issue existed. Volvo says they will do nothing about it. This is a known defect and they should fix it! If you google this you will find people reporting it all over. Some people have reported that their engines have caught fire while driving. This is very dangerous! Volvo should be made to fix this problem.

Filed Feb 19, 2024 · Electrical · MD

The support battery for start/stop started to show on the dash and tells me that service is required about 2 weeks ago. "THE LOCATION OF THE BATTERY IS MY CONCERN". A month ago, the air coming out from the vent of the ac/heater started to smell like a rotten egg, a very strong smell that gives me a headache and makes me dizzy. This smell comes and go.I had to open the windows and switch to recycled air, this helps a little bit. I brought my Volvo to 2 shops about 3 weeks ago before I went to the dealer on Feb 16, 2024. The first shop smelled it and said they checked the catalytic converter and run a diagnostics and emission and they said emission is very good and there is no problem with the catalytic converter and suggested to bring it to the dealer. They said it could be coming from the battery and I told them that the battery is new and main battery has a box casing so the strong smell is definitely not coming from the main battery. I didn't know that there was another battery. I brought it to an exhaust shop and said the same thing, no leaks in the pipe and catalytic converter and smoke coming from the exhaust looks normal and smells normal. Next I brought it to the dealer and they did nothing and simply stated they could not duplicate the problem. I had no choice but to do an extensive research to find out where the location of the support battery so I can change it myself. I always wondered why the smell is so strong in the passenger side intake screen cover of the cowling. I couldn't believe where Volvo had placed the second battery/support battery. It was on the passenger side, right next to the air intake for the AC/heat of the car and is covered by the cowling between the windshield and the engine. Harmful gases that can potentially come out from the battery is directly suck in to the intake of the car's air conditioner.

Filed Sep 16, 2023 · AZ · fire

I was driving and the car started shaking and unable to accelerate. I pulled over and the car started smoking and a fire erupted under the hood. I vacated the vehicle and called 911. The car erupted in flames and burned down to the frame. The insurance inspector wasn't able to determine the cause of the fire.

Filed Aug 8, 2022 · Seat belts · NM

The front passenger seat belt will not release without much difficultly. If the vehicle started on fire or went into water, the passenger would likely die. I contacted Volvo and they will not help other than charging over $800 to replace the seat belt.

Filed Sep 21, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · CA · fire

On 9/8/2021, Niello Volvo Sacramento service replaced my fuel pressure sensor and fuel line. On 9/15/2021, my engine caught fire and the car was deemed a total loss by insurance company. I drove from my home in Plumas Lake 95961 to Marysville approximately 10 miles away at 9:50 AM, at approximately 10:00-10:05 as I was nearing the end of my trip, a trouble light came on that said “engine performance decreased” and the picture of a turtle appeared on my dash screen, shortly after that another light appeared that said “battery not charging”, I parked my car in the Save Mart parking lot and exited and noticed some smoke coming out of the hood, it was light at first but increased quickly so I called 911 immediately. As I was on the phone with 911, flames began shooting out from under the hood, so I grabbed my fire extinguisher out of the back of my car and tried to put the fire out, but extinguisher was too small, a man from the grocery store brought out a bigger extinguisher, but fire continued to grow, by now the fire dept. arrived, opened the hood and after about 10 minutes extinguished the fire with a hose. I contacted Niello Volvo but they seemed disinterested in getting involved and after a second call to them, the service manager [XXX] hung up on me. I could have been killed! If my elderly husband or mother had been in the car with me, it would have been difficult to get them out! I want to know what caused the fire! Faulty electrical system, faulty fuel sensor/fuel line which had just been installed 7 days prior? Faulty engine? There are still many 2015 Volvo XC60’s on the road and I fear for anyone driving one if there is a problem in need of recall. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Filed May 11, 2020 · Body, Electrical · 176,133 miles · MO · fire

My customer was headed northbound on hwy 63, had just passed over I-70 when the customer heard a poof and smoke started bellowing from the hood and the tailpipe. They pulled over on the side of the road immediately, but by then smoke was coming out of the vents as well. They got out of the car, and called 911 because of smoke started to thicken. About one minute later, flames started coming out from underneath the right (pass) side of the car and within 25-30 seconds, flames were coming from up under the hood as well. The fire department got there and put out the fire. The vehicle was towed back to the dealership from there. The car was in perfect condition. It passed inspection at the honda dealership. We don't know what happened or what went wrong. We did some research and there was a recall number 09v477000; fuel system. This recall was supposedly fixed by volvo. We contacted volvo and they said that there is nothing that they could do. However, in carfax there is no record of the recall or that the recall was fixed.

Filed Jul 15, 2017 · Engine · 28,000 miles · TX · fire

On june 14th driving on texas 195 at 55mph when message on "low on coolant, pull over". I immmediately pulled over and saw a man race to front passenger side with fire extinguisher. I looked and the rat. Front tire was engulfed in flames. Flames were also coming from under the hood. The police and fire department showed up and f.d. Insured fire was out, after contacting my insurance I had the car towed t georgetown texas, volvo. Service person person told me to take it to a body shop since they didn't have one. I said car wouldn't run, I was then asked what I had hit and I stated nothing. My wife and I found on the volvo forum that this had happened to this year, make,and model of car on more than one occasion. All maintenance on car had been done ahead of schedule.

Filed Nov 21, 2014 · Steering · 66,081 miles · VA

I was advised by the volvo service manager that the clamp design resulted in the cutting both of the outer cv boots that was occurring over the years. This is a design error to see a failure like this that can result in a loss of life. Once the boot is cut the grease can catch on fire while driving resulting in an accident and possible loss of life. The fire could of stopped the vehicle while on the road resulting in an accident causing injuries or death.