My 2006 s40's instrument cluster died on me yesterday and displayed an error message "...SRS airbag urgent service...passenger airbag urgent service.." now while this was happening, my turn signal lights were not working, all gauges were at 0 and a couple other warning lights had come on. The car still drove perfectly, the radio, doors, sunroof and heater all worked. It sounds like there is a chip in my cluster that is either loose or (worst case) the entire cluster needs to be rebuilt. I was quoted around $750 from my Volvo repair shop to have it sent out and diagnosed/rebuilt. That's not something I can afford...I successfully removed the cluster from the dash and I found a refurbished cluster online...

Do I simply plug the new cluster in and ta-da? that's it? OR Do I need any specific device to pair the new cluster to the onboard computer?

 

Have you bought the cluster already? If so there is one way to find out if it works. I'm thinking the issue would be the difference in mileage between vehicles. Tell us what you find out.

 

there should be a vid on youtube for pulling the cluster (say when you want to change the backlight bulbs). from what I recall its very straight forward (unlike the 850s where you needed to disassemble parts of the dash ). Check with resources like Midwest ABS and Xemodex to see if they know if the cluster is paired to the ECU or DIM (which would imply there may be dealer programming)