Tl*the contact owns a 2004 volvo xc90. While driving approximately 40 MPH the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the vehicle restarted after pulling onto the side of the road. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technicians were unable to diagnose the failure. The technicians performed updates to the computer. The vehicle was at the dealership and had not been driven since the updates were made. The manufacturer stated that the VIN was not included in any recalls and referred the contact to the dealer for further questions and concerns. The approximate failure mileage was 77,000.
2004 Volvo XC90 electrical complaints
Page 5 of 6: complaints 101 to 130 of 158, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 volvo xc90. While driving approximately 60 MPH, the vehicle jerked violently and the instrument panel gauges failed. The engine was shut off and then restarted after several minutes. The vehicle resumed normally for a short period before the failure recurred. The contact stated the malfunction occurred after driving for approximately five hours. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the faulty cem unit was replaced. The failure mileage was 98,003. Updated 3/21/11
Car lost all power. All dashboard went off and power steering went out while driving at over 40 miles an hour on the highway. This happened on 4 different occasions. Mileage 123,000 2004 volvo xc90 t6.
Liquid (probably water) inside the frame of volvo xc90 causing electrical issues.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 volvo xc90. The contact stated that the vehicle shut off and back on causing a painful jerking motion to the occupants of the vehicle. The contact hurt his neck and shoulders from the drastic jolt that the vehicle made. The lights and all power shut off and then they immediately come back on. The contact had taken the vehicle to the dealer several times and was told that they could not find anything wrong with the vehicle. The contact also stated that the failure seemed to happen every 500 miles and was now happening more frequently. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 80,000 and the failure mileage was 119,000.
During long durations(>4hrs) of driving my 2004 volvo xc90, it seems to have electrical problems that have caused me and the passengers to be put into dangerous situations. For example, driving on a long trip with the cruise control enabled and trying to accelerate up a hill and suddenly the car will go into an engine protection mode and reduce power to the extent that I can't accelerate and have to pull over on the side of the road--(boost control module has been replaced and the engine control module has been replaced.) as long as I don't use the cruise control this will not occur. Also, there was a software update in 2009. Next, after trying to accelerate up a hill, there seems to be intermittent reduction in engine power, not allowing the car to accelerate. After trying to accelerate the "check engine" light has appeared and will not go off (waiting to have this problem diagnosed)...
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 volvo xc90. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH, every electrical component malfunctioned. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated that the stereo system needed to be replaced; the vehicle was repaired. Two days after the repair, the electrical system malfunctioned again. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 132,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 volvo xc90. The contact stated that the owner's manual provided inaccurate information pertaining to the towing capacity; however, the 2005 and 2006 owner's manual specified the accurate weight reduction with the vehicle occupants. In addition, the entire electrical system became inoperative intermittently. The relay switch, internal rem and yaw modules were replaced at different times. While driving the engine would completely shut off when the contacts knee was close to the ignition key. The failure continued after the vehicle was repaired. Currently, diagnostic testing was being performed by the dealer. The failure mileage was 10,000.
Multiple electrical system problems with most recent being a shutdown everything electrical on the dashboard. Car would still drive but no instrumentation, door locks, windows or ability to open gas tank cover from button inside car.
2004 volvo xc 90 , 2.5 awd. While driving on i40 at night ,(65 MPH, in drive) a loud thump followed by momentary electrical failure( headlights, loss of engine power.) it then picked back up and continued on for approx 1/4 mile and it happened again. Made into far right lane from the 3rd lane over. Other than the radio volume everything worked as normal the next 40 miles to home. This happened at approx. 9:30 pm in the middle of the interstate . What if the lights had failed and it not regained power, 40/85 is a busy highway at night. I was driving with my wife and 2 kids.
I have a 2004 volvo xc90 that needs the cem replaced a cost of $1400.00. As I was doing research on my cars problem I noticed that almost every model of volvo has the same issue. The cem is the computer that controls everything. When mine went bad I was driving 70mph down the interstate and the car just shut off. Very dangerous!!!!!
While driving in rain about two ours left headlight went out twice but came back on, almost flickering motion. Noticed that the electrical system inside car flickered as well. Head light went out again for third time and so I pulled over and turn the car off and back on and was fine. Continued driving for another 30 mins when all of a sudden entire electrical system went out during driving. Total blackness. The only thing I could do was steer to the side of the road and stop. Turned the car off again and back on and worked fine but had "SRS" airbag warning light.
Coming home to southern california from a trip in arizona and driving at night though the nevada desert. Weather was nice, dry conditions, light traffic ( the sun had set about 7:00 in the evening) - january 2008 and we were cruising at about 65 MPH. At about 50 miles outside banning the car had a power surge, and it felt as if we went over a bump on the road, there was a quick flicker in all lights and the navigation system reset. The recovery was almost immediate and did not think much of it. About half hour later it happened again. This time started to worry about the car as it was dark, had small kids in the car and we were in the middle of nowhere, desert for miles and miles. So, with no options we kept driving. About ten minutes later it happened again. This time there was no recovery. All lights, instrument panel, headlights, emergency lights, rear light all out. The car was pitch black. I believe only the fog lights were working but was worried about visibility on the road as we had no rear lights what so ever and the majority of the traffic at night on the I-10 is trucks. Drove on shoulder for about 2 miles and took the next exit. Small gas station only, no repair shop, no motel nothing; only a truck stop. After a small respite we stated up the car again and engine and all lights were again functional. I was terrified of driving the car home still over 100 miles away and no where near civilization, but since we had no other choice we did. No further incidents upon getting home. Dealer had no idea what could have caused that, they update computer codes, and a control module. To this date they still do not know what could have caused that. We are very lucky to have not gotten into an accident or worse.
While driving at night after picking up soccer carpool, low beam head lights would intermittently go off, causing a message to appear of low beam bulb failure then after a 5 seconds would come back on and the message would disappear. This occurred 4 or 5 times within a couple of minutes then never occurred again during this trip. This is the second time in the past 2 weeks we have experienced this problem. Fortunately both occurrences occurred during low speed driving in well lit areas.
My 2004 volvo xc90 sef has been experiencing intermittent engine failures/power shortages for the past several months. After driving for approximately 1 hour, often at highway speeds, the car will make a large sound and intermittently jerk, and simultaneously the gauges go down, exterior lights go out, interior lights may go on, radio shuts off, wipers cycle once, air/heat goes off. This lasts approximately one second, however, at times the interior lights will not shut off until the car is restarted. Once the problem begins, it happens intermittently (5+ times) until the car is shut off and not used for a period of time.
My headlights, driving lights, park lights, and turn signals are not working. This began when I started to go somewhere last night. All of these things were working the day before. The tail lights, turn signals, and brake lights are working in the rear. My vehicle is garaged when it is not in use. My radio, cd player, or satellite radio would not operate 2 days ago and started working the next time I started my car. About 2 weeks ago the car wouldn't start. It acted like the security system had been activated as it would crank, but not start. I waited for about an hour and tried it again and it started the first time. I have checked all fuses. I am taking it to the repair shop today to see if they can figure out what is happening. These problems are intermittent and do not repeat often enough to diagnose properly. I can see this being very dangerous if I were driving at night and the headlights went out. I live in a rural area with a large deer population and it is hard enough to avoid them with the headlights working.
The vehicle is intermittently shutting off while driving on the private roads or freeway, all electrical equipment (dashboard, gauges, stereo, some windows, driving tranny changer - can't shift), and all other items are going out. The power of the vehicle will stall for 1/2 second in as many as 3-5 times during an episode. Ultimately resulting in all electrical power failing. This appears to also be causing the batter to not be charged. The battery is new, purchased a few days ago to see if this would resolve the issue, which it didn't. Thus the car cannot be started after a few days of driving without trickle-charging the battery. The SRS baggage warning has not become engaged. I am the second owner of this vehicle, it doesn't appear through carfax or other records history that the previous owner had repaired these issues. This is very concerning, because this could cause an accident, leave me or my family stranded.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 volvo xc90. While driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle became unresponsive to the contacts attempts to accelerate. All electrical components also failed. The vehicle was pulled over and shut off for approximately 3 hours. Upon restart, the vehicle would drive as normal but all of the warning indicator lights on the dashboard were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the failure was unable to be diagnosed and the vehicle was not repaired. The failure recurred twice and the vehicle was taken back to the independent mechanic. The mechanic was still unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 94,000 and the current mileage was 97,000.
Our 2004 volvo xc90 has been experiencing intermittent power shortages for the past several months. After driving for approximately 1 hour, often at highway speeds, the car will intermittently jerk, and simultaneously the gauges go down, exterior lights go out, interior lights may go on, radio shuts off, wipers cycle once, air/heat goes off. This lasts approximately one second, however, at times the interior lights will not shut off until the car is restarted. Once the problem begins, it happens intermittently (5+ times) until the car is shut off and not used for a period of time (I.e. You reach your destination). We have had our volvo dealer look at it twice, and both times they were unable to diagnose the problem. Today, after driving for approximately two hours, the car lost electrical function completely. We had no use of gauges, blinkers, hazard lights, radio, air conditioning, headlights and brake lights. Windshield wipers had power and were moving while on the automatic setting, without any rain to automate them. An ABS error light came on but we were able to use the brake and gas pedal. We were driving approximately 65 MPH on a highway and were luckily able to exit without having the use of blinkers or brake lights. When we turned the car off and back on, we resumed power, but had an SRS warning light appear. After doing research on volvo-forums.com and aboutautomobile.com, we have discovered this to be an issue many (50+) 2004 xc90 drivers have experienced. We feel very lucky that this happened during the day, because the situation could have been much more dangerous on a 4-lane highway in the dark. We do not feel safe driving this car and will be taking it to our volvo dealer tomorrow morning and demanding a response to the problem. From what we have read from others, it appears to need a new cem. Given the number of identical complaints on identical models, it seems to be a defect with the cem.
My wife was driving our 2004 volvo xc90 back from vacation with our two children in the vehicle and all the dash instrumentation lost power and the steering became heavy. This was during the day so I do not know if the head lights went out as well. The car did not stop and the power came back on. This occur a second time during this trip which was about 3 & 1/2 hours in duration.
I have been having an issue with my 2004 volvo xc90 which the dealership has not been able to correct for my fourth visit now. The entire electrical system shuts down while driving on the highway. This has been happening and each time I take it in, they are unable to replicate the issue and of course find something else to repair. I have been lucky as not have been in heavy traffic when it happens, but I could imagine it could cause a horrible accident. The last time this happened was about 7/18. I was driving about 70mph on the freeway and the car made a 'thump' and all the lights and gauges turned off momentarily and started back up again. I slowed down to about 60mph and moved to the right side and the exact same thing happened again about 5 min later. Luckily I was close to the exit where my mechanic shop was so I slowed down to exit. All of the lights on the instrument panel turned off, as well as the airconditioning (115 day in phx) and a warning light flashed saying I had a break failure. I was able to limp to the mechanics and left the car running so they could see the engine was on, but nothing else. They did not have the equipment to check the 'code' on a volvo. They were able to re-set it by disconnecting the battery, and the lights worked again. As I pulled out of the mechanics, the car thumped again and I once again lost all power. I limped the car home with plans to drive it early in the morning before it got too hot, to the volvo dealership. In the morning, the car would not start at all. I called a tow truck and had it brought over. The volvo dealership once again could find nothing wrong, but found something to fix and charge me for, the impulse sensor ($250). I finally got the car back on july 29th, 10 days later. This issue has been experienced by many 04/05 xc90 owners as described in this forum,http://www.volvo-forums.com/t23397-xc90-electricalengine-power-failure.htm. I ask that you have volvo fix this issue, before someone dies.
Our 2004 volvo xc90 always had an erratic electrical system. Last year it suddenly got worse when the entire electrical system, including brake lights, turn signals and gauges started to fail and within a few days were completely non-functioning. The local volvo dealer charged us about $1200 for a new computer-related part.
Radio turns on and off spontaneously especially when heated seats are tuned on.
On our 2004 volvo xc90 the headlights suddenly went dark, no low or high beams at all. I am now being told it is a module and the repair cost is in excess of $1200. The car has hid headlights. This outage created a very serious safety issue in that we were driving up highway 395 at night when the complete failure of the headlights occurred. In researching the issue on the internet it appears it is a relatively common failure.
After driving 125 miles without incident, we left our 2004 volvo xc 90 t6 awd parked for 4 hours before driving again. After less than a half mile at low speed, there was a "thump" from the front of the car, the wipers cycled, the gauges all went blank, some of the windows stopped working, the A/C went out (blower stayed on). The car stayed on, but seemed "stuck" in second gear and the brakes became "spongy," but operable. Turn signals were inoperable and the power steering went out. The indicator light on the gear shift went out and the central locking system stopped functioning. We got out of traffic and into the shade. I checked all fuses and tried to restart the car. It would restart, but within seconds there were multiple "clicks" coming from the area near the fuse box in the passenger compartment followed by the electrical failures described above. After letting the car sit for a couple of hours we moved it to a secure location two miles away. During that drive all of the above problems happened again, including the engine being "stuck" in second gear. After letting the car sit overnight, it started and ran without incident. However, the "check engine" light and the "SRS" light have remained on. A repair shop could not diagnose the problem. Prior to this incident, the same things happened to my wife in the same car. The symptoms lasted a few seconds and disappeared.
2004 volvo xc90 2.5t awd. Intermittent "thumping" at high speeds causing the car to jolt/lurch slightly. This has happened on and off for 2 months normally at highway speeds. Yesterday I was on a 4 hour highway drive home from vacation and the thumping/jolting happened about 5 times. Ultimately my car lost complete electrical power at highway speed and fortunately I was able to coast off the highway unscathed but others may not be as fortunate. Incredibly dangerous issue.
I own a 2004 volvo xc-90. I have owned the car since april 2004. Approximately seven months ago, I started experiencing intermittent electrical problems (radio and navigation display disappearing, engine service alerts, etc). Since the initial problems with the radio, the problems have progressed to the point of complete electrical failures while driving on the highway at speeds of over 55mph. These incidents involved a complete shut down of the gauges (tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge, as well as audio system). I have learned from online searches (specifically, www.aboutautomobile.com/complaint/2004/volvo/xc90/electrical+system) that these incidents are being experienced by many other volvo xc-90 owners. Such incidents have caused many owners to take the car to their volvo service department only to be told, as I was that determining the problem would be costly and that there have been not other complaints or recalls by volvo. The problems I am experiencing are now ongoing whether I am in town or on the highway. It was with an initial expenditure of nearly $400 and an expected upcoming expenditure of $1200. The latter amount is the price for labor and parts to replace the cem board. I told my mechanic of the findings from my online search and had to request the replacement of this part. The problems I am experiencing are not only dangerous at high speeds but I have found that I am now having problems with the latch that unlocks the hatchback trunk and access to the gas tank. My car has less than 50,000 miles and required service has been done at the same dealership since my purchase of the vehicle. I have talked with volvo customer service and they have not yet issued a recall. I have not found any records of deaths or injuries being caused by the electrical failures, but if the situations encountered by other owners are like mine it is only a matter of time. The vehicle literally can cause a slowdown and impair the ability of the driver to avoid accidents.
I have a 2004 xc90. I have been having electrical failure problems with my car where the car just stalls while driving at speeds of 50mph randomly for the past three years and have brought the car into the calabasas dealer numerous times and also to an independent auto mechanic and no one is able to duplicate the stall of the electrical system and therefore noone is able to diagnose the solution to the hazard that occurs when the car stalls and therefore no one is able to fix the problem. The dealer assures me that it is not a safety issue, just a nuisance. I researched and found that there are 100s of complaints of similar issues for this car. Today this same issue happened at much lower speeds two times within five minutes. I request that this issue be researched and the manufacturer fix the problem.
In march 2010, 04 xc90 lost power while driving on highway at about 65mph. Dashboard lights, radio all cut off, car lunged forward, and in 1-2 seconds dashboard lights and radio power on again. Took to volvo dealership, they couldn't duplicate the issue but diagnostics said they needed to replace the steering column module which should fix problem. This didn't fix the problem because car did the same thing (lose power, lunge forward) around same speed 2 months later. Dealer could not duplicate, returned car to me. A week later, june 3, car won't start at all, towed to volvo dealership. This time they say the cem (central electronic module) needs to be replaced and that should solve it. They replaced cem, so far car runs fine. There have been too many complaints about this and volvo is not take ownership of this problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 volvo xc90. While driving at speeds of 65 MPH, there was an unusually loud noise followed by an immediate loss of all panel lights. The contact was able to move the vehicle from the roadway and shut off the engine. Upon restarting, the SRS air bag and check engine warning lights remained illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer twice but the failure was unable to be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 89,000 and the current mileage was 99,000. Updated 6/21/10 *cn the consumer stated after driving for about three hours, the radio turn signals stopped working. Updated 06/24/10.
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