It is good news that a dashboard from another Volvo V40 would work on mine as well, I do not really care about mileage (and I can even find a car with fewer miles than mine ) - so if it stops working completely that would be my next try, since I believe I can find one for ~25 EUR.
I have made diagnostics of the car and no issues were found - it was not done with VIDA though, but with a multipurpose diagnostic tool. I suspected it was the stepper motor from what I read in this thread, since TEEKAY's issue sounds exactly the same as mine and it turned out to be the stepper motor in his case (at least this is what I understood). And to me it seems it is a physical connection issue, rather than a computer/network problem or something more serious, because it seems to be fixed with a slap on the dashboard or when I go through a pothole/speedbump - and sometimes this is how it stops working as well. I don't think I ever got the issue while driving steadily on the highway, it was always in town or on some much worse roads, but again - this is not really deterministic.

Another advice I got is to check for faulty soldering - is it a good idea to give it to someone experienced to check and to resolder what seems as bad connections?

 

When all was said and done I replaced a definitely faulty ABS sensor. You could see in VIDA that the wheel speed was off on that one, throwing an ABS light. But also I replaced the console with one from another. You want to try and see if the car you're getting it from has the same stuff as yours. E.g. if it looks like yours has the travel/trip bit, you're going to need to get a console from a car that also has that otherwise it won't work. I ended up trying my luck on 2 or 3 from ebay and one happened to work out, but you would do better to try and see the interior of the car it's coming from.

So whenever I take it in, they just know that it's actually XXXXX miles + on the service and when I report it to the state, I list what the "max" mileage should be not what's on the display. I'm pretty sure that are proper forms you're supposed to use in some states?

 

I am from Bulgaria - here if I put another dashboard it does not really matter if it says 0 or 1 mln miles for the government checks - it would only be an inconvinience on my side to follow my regular checks, oil replacements, etc. - not really a big deal . I would also be looking to buy from a wrecked car, where the dashboard is intact - to be sure it is the exact same look as mine.

So in your case what was the case in the end - the ABS module or the faulty console? With my car I never got any warning lights or issues with my breaks whatsoever (but I saw you wrote the same) - what did you do exactly and how did you diagnose?

I think the next steps for me (if you do not change my mind) would be:
1) Try to resolder faulty connections in the dashboard (if there are any)
2) Replace the whole instrument cluster from another similar volvo
3) Check the ABS module for errors and replace that (this is really last resort, since I already got info that it is pretty much impossible to repair, and second hand is ~350 EUR and might be faulty as well)