Bizarre problem happened today...all 4 tail lights went out simultaneously (a passing driver alerted me). when I got home, I checked all the fuses in engine compartment and under dash, and all were fine (tedious!). Then I checked the bulbs in the 4 rear light harnesses (2 per side), and astonishingly, all four 5W bulbs were burned out!

Is there a simple explanation for this? A short? An electrical spike?
Do I need to go to an electrical specialist instead of my local mechanic (who is terrific, but...)?

Thanks...

P.S. I inherited the car from my father. It has only 70,000km on it!

 

I have the same problem with my V40, all 4 bulbs were out when I got it , from my Mom!
I replaced them all , but the ones in the tailgate are still not working, have not found out why.

 

I replaced the 4 small tail light bulbs with the 5W type 67 bulbs recommended by Volvo ($1.99 per 2-pack)...so far so good. However, I did notice that the burnt out bulbs were not the same type recommended in the car guide! The number on the bulbs was 5007H. I recently discovered that the car had been rear-ended in a parking lot about 2 years ago (just before I inherited the car), and the lighting panel had been replaced by the auto-body repair shop. Hmmmm...

 

i have a 2001 s40 with 29k miles on it. top trumps.
Anyway had the same problem as you did, took the back piece off the trunk, turns out that there was a small piece of metal touching the leads and stealing the power, it's extremely common in s40's.

 

That's very interesting! I'm going to check this out on my vehicle. Could you please be more specific about the location of this metal piece?
Thanks for your help