2016 Volvo XC90: false forward collision warnings

Filed May 19, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · CA

The attached file outlines details - 1.After a recent car wash at a Shell Service Station…..April 5,2021, upon starting the vehicle – the computerized dashboard displayed erratic and incomplete information. It attempted to indicate multiple system failures – eg brakes, suspension, and others too garbled to understand. The entire driver’s console and information center display which were designed to show all of the vehicle operating modes and driver information were compromised and not functioning correctly. The Start/Stop Switch would no longer shut the engine down. I could not get the vehicle to shift out of Park. I found myself quite concerned about a highly computerized vehicle now running with no apparent operator control. I could not be certain whether the engine was being cooled properly from its electrical fans because the cabin was becoming uncomfortably hot. None of the environmental controls worked. Even the electric windows were affected. There were no engine safety indicators of any kind visible working to ensure electrical, engine oil pressure, coolant temperature….none of the other operator information systems were working properly and the engine still could not be shut down. I found myself uncomfortable getting out of the vehicle since it has so many self-driving, collision avoidance steering and braking functions that could be affected. I did not want to risk being run over by my own car. Nor, could I allow the vehicle to move, possibly on its own…so I sat in it for about 3 hours sweating while waiting for a Volvo Tow Service to arrive. The Tow operator was somehow able to get the gear shift to move and was able to back the vehicle out to the street and onto his truck. He was also unable to shut the engine down and towed it to the Neillo Volvo Dealership about 3.5 miles away, here in Sacramento CA. I had deep concerns about safety with this vehicle being towed with the engine still running. All of the instrumentation remained unusable. The consumer stated after the sunroof clogged d

Filed May 11, 2021 · Driver assistance · 140,000 miles · KY

My roof is leaking, it was coming out the front cabin light. This problem can be found noted on many websites with pictures for my year/model. Then we started getting errors with suspension and my wife got a warning she should stop the car. She got it home and we found the water had now leaked into the rear right quarter panel where at least 1 computer is stored. That area had at least 1' of water in it. I had to pull a drain plug to drain it. The dealership confirmed the computer was fried ($2600) and had previously said our drains were clear and the fix was a new rear seal. While their another person had just gotton that sunroof $2k fix on their car. The computer has disabled the blind spot lights on the side mirrors, front collision warning and assume auto braking, the rear camera is out, and GPS. These are the things that are obvious, I don't know what else is disabled I don't know. The dealer also said they were limited on the fault codes they could get because of the failure as well. In doing more research for 'volvo sunroof leak' I found a site called topclassactions.com with several individual incidences of newer years and others models where the roof leaks into the rear and fries the computer. One noted ' that happened while I was driving! I lost brakes and engine power, the gear box got locked. Eventually I pulled into parking lot. At that point I tried to turned off the engine of the car but it wouldn't let me.' someone else noted brake failure as well. The sunroof issue is not uncommon and volvo is giving consumers the run around when their design leaks and damages the computer controlling key safety features. These are 'new' cars 2016 and up. There are also instances where the consumer pays to get the leak 'fixed' and it continues to leak therefore increasing the chance of the safety computer failing.

Filed May 23, 2017 · Electrical, Seats · 5,500 miles · VA

At least 3 times, my car has braked itself (at around 50 miles per hour) when there was nothing in front of me. This was very unsafe- if someone had been behind me, I would have been hit. This seems to be the collision mitigation system engaging for no reason. The dealer has said they "fixed it" (don beyer volvo) but I believe they have just turned the system pretty much off so that it now would not stop if there was a real object in front of me. I had a loaner in which the system was still on and mine no longer works like that. I think they don't really have a fix for this so they just turn it off in the cars that have this defect. This is a major safety issue. Also, have had the navigation system go blank while driving then it shows that you are somewhere else and get stuck there for days. (many other problems also, a noise in the seat (second row) that they maybe fixed after three times but now the second row seat does not work properly (got stuck out of the socket but we got it back in and I think this is a safety issue.)

Filed Nov 2, 2016 · Brakes, Seat belts · 1,000 miles · CA

On approximately six different occasions, the collision avoidance system has been triggered erroneously, when no other vehicles were near my car, to the point that the audible and visual alarms were triggered, my driver's seatbelt pulled me back against the driver's seat, two of those times the car swerved itself and another two of those times the car braked itself, without any prompting from the driver to do so. The dealership told me today that because the system works on radar that sometimes this will happen. I believe that these systems need to be practically error proof because if the car brakes itself, or swerves itself, without any action from the driver it could potentially *cause* an accident. Not to mention that it's very scary when it happens and then there has to be some emotional recovery as a driver to overcome these episodes. The car has about 1000 miles on it. All of these incidents happened on city streets, while the car was going anywhere from 25-45 MPH.

Filed Oct 2, 2016 · Brakes, Electrical · 50 miles · WA

The "auto braking" function related to the passive collision avoidance activates with no other object in the automobiles path. It has activated 6 times in the past 4 months. The car went into the dealership in september 2016 and they said they could not replicate the incident (not surprising as it happens on a "random" basis. In the past 10 days it activated 3 times. It was taken to the dealership on 9/30/16 and is still there. I also have a colleague with the same vehicle (inscription trim package) and they are experiencing the same random "auto brake" activity. It has done it at low speed and medium speeds in residential areas, as well as at 60 MPH on the freeway. It has activated while going straight, going down a hill with no visible car or object in site, and while turning. Very concerning and it is an immediate safety hazard.