Hey there everybody!
I am wondering if I am alone in my feelings. In late July, I purchased a brand new 2006 Volvo S40. The car had a LOT of appeal, and seemed a logical new-car replacement for my 1997 Mercedes-Benz E320 (which I had purchased as a certified pre-owned). For the money, the S40 seemed like a great deal in a european near luxury sedan (I did not want to buy used again). After nearly 8 months of ownership, I am miserable. Mind you, I keep the car garage kept and of course serviced at the dealership which it was purchased from. The car is going to the shop for a second time due to the "passenger air bag off" light coming on and staying on while the seat is occupied. This is very discerning, since my 82 year old mother and many friends frequently ride there. The first attempt to repair it failed ( they could not duplicate this occurence, as it is an intermittent problem, so a software upgrade was the only service performed). It is going in on Monday for a second attempt. Last week while driving down the interstate I hear something banging on the drivers side door. It was the mirror puddle light, hanging from the wires (the casing had cracked). Replaced cheerfully under warranty. The car had LOTS and LOTS of wind noise on the highway. The hazard warning I.S.O. light flickers. The car creaks while pulling into the driveway. The carpet has developed wear spots (and man... what CHEESY carpet!!! looks like the same inexpensive stuff on the rear deck of the back seat). The car feels more sluggish than it should compared to the first few months of ownership. I love the looks of the car, but man does it ever feel like a Hyundai from the late 80's!!! I am really, really dissapointed. Anybody else feel the same?

 

I have a 2005 S40 and bought it brand new a couple years ago. And it's been in the shop numerous times for software upgrades and my driver's side courtesy light broke as well. My ignition has had intermittent problems and my check engine light stays on.

They say I need a new mass air flow sensor now, and that this is the reason that the check engine light is currently on.

Now that my warranty has expired (I put about 30k miles per yr on my car), everything is coming directly out of my pocket.

I've already submitted an entry about my troubles and disappointment about a month ago. So I can relate, unfortunately.

One thing that I have never received an answer for is that loud annoying wind noise while driving down the highway. Is it a weather stripping issue? poor design?

 

Your getting me worried, I 2007 S40 Volvo. How many miles does your car have? Sounds like your car taken a real beating already. I'll only had the cars for under 2 months. I didnt have any wind noise while driving on the highway between 70-85 mph, but than again it brand new car.

 

I have a little over 10k miles on it, which is well below average. I am what I would call a "granny" driver, and certainly not hard on any of my cars. I am intrigued by the fact that the owner of the 07' stated he has no wind noise. Makes me want to test drive an 07 and maybe trade mine in (my 06' is that noisy). I'm just so unhappy w/ this car. I thought more today about the past few months...and also realized a few more issues I have had. On occasion, after turning pn the climate control or changing the modes, I can hear the HVAC climate motors working (they sound like bellows opening and closing). It sometimes will do that for 20-30 minutes, and will only go away if I play w /the climate control a bit. I also now have a creak i nthe driver's seat. at 200 pounds, I'm hardly a twig but not a buffalo either. Veal68 you need a Mass Flow Air Sensor already?? God that was one of the reasons I trade my 97 was fear of having to replace a 10 year old MAFS. Man... this stinks...

 

I dont mean any offense by this. Just a thought, but your 82 year old grandmother might be better off if the airbag did not inflate (depending on the type of accident of course).A elderly lady in the front seat when the airbag goescould be as dangerous asif a child was in the front seat.

 

You are right and that may well be true, airbag deployment can be a bad thing. However, when my best friend (who is 6 ft tall and weighs 175) rides there and the same thing happens I really get worried. Airbags are not always beneficial... but they should still work properly. My mom (she's the one who is 82) weighs almost 150. The airbag system def has a problem. I have reported it to the NHTSA.

 

You're not alone with the problems. My '06 S40 T5 has some minor issues as well. Bought the car last June and am getting close to 14k miles. From the start it is had an intermittent grinding sound from the front left wheel that the shop has never been able to duplicate. Either it's a brake pad rubbing against something or a bearing problem, not quite sure, but it's only occasionally annoying.SinceI arrived in Germanymy auto climate took a dump on me. The driver's side blows freezing cold air and the passenger side blows hot air. Sometimes they switch but, either way, it never reaches the temp I want. I've messed around with the auto climate settings (AC on/off, temp settings, even the menu reset) and nothing seems to fix it. The weather is getting nice though so I can put up with it until the 15k service. Just last week the fan underneath the driver's side dash started rattling as well with the climate control going. That one is definitely annoying [sm=smiley24.gif]and I might take it in sooner.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my S40 though. The minor issues above are annoying but the car beats the hell out of the '99 OldsmobileI was driving before!It rides well and is very stable on the autobahn. Keeps up pretty well with the other crazy Germans on the road [sm=burnout.gif]. Looking at taking it to the Heico shop soon to get it lowered and have the ECU upgrade put in it since it's right up the road. The dealer service does seem lacking in some places, like duplicating the faults, but it does a great job with the necessary maintenance. If you explain to the actual mechanic who is working on your car what is wrong with it, instead of the service rep, you might havebetter luck.

 

Volvo is just another Ford
Blame it on Ford.

I gotta be honest. Even though I own a volvo, it has lots of electrical problems.

Switch to Hyundai. Hyundai is much better now than it was in 80s.

 

I've heard some good things about Hyundai in recent years, but seriously I do not know too many people who will read your post and then drive to the Hyundai dealer to trade in their volvo.

 

well, i have a brand new '06 s40, and i only just got it last december.

i love it, i have sort of been babying it, but as of lately i've been taking it pretty hard to the road and it's been amazing. i love how i can drive 80-85 mph and feel like i'm still going really slow. as of lately i haven't been able to tell if there's a lot of wind noise since i like listening to my music loud... haha there hasn't been much wind noise problems.

i am a college student, so i do drive home once in a while and i've been busy with other things so i've been racking up miles, i suppose... so right now i have 5k miles on it, roughly, and knock on wood, i have had no problems with my s40 so far.


hope everything gets better!

 

I got an 03 S40 for about 2 months and although it rides and handles superbly I'm afraidit will be constently in for repairs. I hear alot of negative things about this car. As for Hyundais, I have a 2005
Santa Fe and this thing is very comfortable and I haven't had 1 issue yet. Hyundais of today are extremely reliable and I can only wish my S40 is that much.

Gerry

 

Maybe we should turn this into a Hyundai forum

 

VBsportbiker:

I've read on other S40 forums about an issue where the AC does a "barking dog" type sound. I've never heard it before myself, but a lot of forum posters have said that it was fixed with a software update for them. Maybe mention your AC issue to them when you bring the car in and see if they can shed some light on it?

Like you, I also purchased a 2006 S40 T5 in July 2006 (July 31st) and have just put 10k miles on it as well. In my time, I've brought it into the dealership three times:

-Once for the complimentary 7,500 service. Also had them check out a creaking/rattling sound I was hearing from the dash. They were able to silence that.

-Once for a strange clicking sound coming from the passenger side seat-belt, which they fixed. Turns out it was a loose plastic clip bumping against something inside the seat-belt assembly. It wasn't anything dangerous, but just to be safe they replaced my entire seat-belt.

-Once for the "passenger airbag off" message when it was occupied by a passenger. My problem was also very intermittent. They fixed this by replacing the occupant weight sensor in my passenger seat with an updated version. According to my service invoice, it was related to tech net note 88-45, maybe you can ask your Volvo service department about this.

So besides the passenger airbag message, I really haven't had many major issues with my S40. I took it on some long road trips and a lot of the streets in Seattle Washington are bumpy as heck, so I wasn't too surprised to hear a few interior noises here and there, which were all easily fixed. Other than that, I haven't had any other electrical problems, creaks, or performance issues. I installed an IPD rear sway bar recently and replaced the stock Michelin tires with some Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S tires (because I wanted to, not because they wore out) and enjoy driving my S40 more than ever. I'm thinking about getting the IPD or BSR stage 1 turbo ECU upgrade very soon too.

 

Hey there!
Thank you for the post. After approaching my sales person about my dissatisfaction, and a botched attemp on her part to sell me a new 2007 to end the problems I was having (not to mention the statement from her that neither Volvo nor the dealer could do anything to help me) I decided to put it back in the service department for another go. This time they took apart the passengers seat and found the spring mechanism in the passenger seat weight sensor to be defective, along w/ the passenger side seat belt tensioner (which had been locking up and getting stuck). Both replaced cheerfully under warranty. I can understand that, with an intermittent problem, they did not want to invest the time or money to look into it. However, with such a serious safety issue I think they should have. Very dissaponting. All seems fine now regarding the airbag issue. The car now has developed a cracking sound in the frame of the drivers seat, most noteably after turning a corner. At 6' 210, I'm no twig, but not a giant either. Yet one more little annoyance I am having w/ an 8 month old car. If the airbag issue crops up again, I will not keep the car. I love the styling, the handling, and the great exterior finish. Theses little things, combined w/ the one serious issue, are driving me NUTS! I am keeping my fingers crossed, much like I did w/ my 1997 Benz (A car w/ out a payment mind you). Thanks for the link to the bulletin, I will pass this on to my service advisor (who swore up and down there were no reports of this issue in the Volvo database). Spence

 

Hey Spence,

Spring mechanism, what are the chances of that? Our cars are almost like twins.

Is there another dealership in your area that you can go to? From your posts, it sounds like this service department isn't very interested in fixing your issues. I have 5 dealerships within 20 miles of me here in Seattle. I've tried them all and there is a big difference between some of them.

Since my last post, a new issue on my car has cropped up. The trunk release button doesn't work for some reason, I can only pop the trunk using the emergency pull inside the trunk. Bizarre!

Oh well, another visit to the service guys. It doesn't bug me so much since they are literally 1 block away from my work.

I'm happy to hear your seatbelt and airbag issues were resolved. Hopefully that's the end of your problems for a long time to come.

 

I purchased my 01 S40 in December 06 with 80,000 on it and I expected to be replacing some things. So far the seal on the oil return line from the turbo, had the oil collector box "cleaned", the o-ring on the oil filler cap, the thermostat and temp sender ( which cured the check engine light) and the cabin air filter. I have some creaks that are to be expected and I certainly will replace the shocks this summer. This car has made me happy so far. It puts up with my long commute to school everyday and is certainly better than driving my 97 Ford Ranger that distance. Next is to figure out why that service light truns on and off?

 

nothing but good things to say about my volvo...

 

 

I bought a 2007 S40 2.4i manual about 3 weeks ago. I am having problems with the air conditioning. It seems as if the air is not getting cold.... it will only start blowing cold air after i have been driving it for 10 mins. this is a huge problem as I live in the desert. I have brought it into the dealership twice, they "updated software" and filled it with more frion. Anyone else with this problem?

 

Friend, it sounds like your only problem is that your S40 isn't a T5. As a new owner myself, I've learned the higher cost of the car didn't go into making a better car, but rather supporting good warranty terms. There's no way Volvo could stay in business acruing the level of support costs that I see in these (and my own) tales without charging a good deal for the cars themselves.

But who cares? The 'hassle' of simply dropping it off to be repaired is that big a deal is it, there aye'?? They give loaner cars,coffee, a donutor two . . . just think what you'd get if you had bought the nicestcar on the domestic (US)lot??

My particular situation is one where my T5 has been in the shop for almost as long as I've owned it. I've driven the nicest rides V makes as loaners and all repairs, nearly 6k worth, have been no cost to me. So what if I have to drive to the next state to get to the nearest V dealer (and I do). Oil change =$58, less than my old gas-guzzling Jeep Cherokee.

Okay, so some prodding of the service rep and mechanic was necessary, but from what I've read on these forums, that's all it takes to get some real results. Shopping dealers, if the luxury exists, is good too. Point is, Volvo will make it right. I bought mine 2 years used, but still under warranty and V has pretty much replaced everything the previous owner neglected, resulting in my owning and nearly brand-new car.I couldn't say enough about it, and Volvo has a customer for life! (so long as they continue making cars that look sweet and perform adequately)

There are a couple issues you mention that mine does as well, but I like the'barking dogs'. I was wondering if my vision was going bad when Iwould catch a flicker out of the corner of my eye, but one day I caught it 'red-lighted'! No biggie to me . . .

Wind noise? Like whistling?? I'm beginning to notice that on mine, and it is annoying!!, but I found it can be overcome using the fan and windows to equalize cabin pressure.

The carpet is cheap? That might have been a package level choice. Mine has the cheap stuff on the back deck, but the floor carpet is quality stuff, nothing the same.