We've had our 2020 S60 since it was new with no problems until the other day. We're on a ferry returning from Vashon Island. The car is sitting turned off in the ferry bay for the length of the 15 minute ride back to Tacoma, WA. It's time to turn the car on and exit the ferry. Nothing. The dash says to press the brake pedal. I do. Nothing. No sound of the starter motor engaging. Nothing. Several times, with the FOB sitting on the mid panel console as usual, brake pedal pressed down and ignition **** twisted, as we have done hundreds of times since we bought the car. But once again, nothing. The ferry staff are beginning to approach the car to no avail.

Then, I open the driver side door and close it. Suddenly, the center panel display begins to repopulate itself. It feels as if a computer was rebooting. Then, I try again. FOB in place, brake depressed, ignition **** twisted. And the car starts up very easily as it normally does. My partner later informed me that the car did a similar thing with her a few weeks ago.

I contacted Volvo in Seattle. I have an annual maintenance and diagnostics for the starting problem scheduled for next week. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions with what might be occurring with this starting problem? If so, please let me know. Thanks!

 

My car just stopped working once when I was in a parking lot. It turned out to be corrosion on the battery ground terminal.

 

Just got back from Volvo. I explained the steps of the event to the service rep. The service rep said that's what should happen. I said "What?" He said opening the door "restarts the computer." He added "Vehicle may be in inactive mode long enough without vehicle being locked that it will go to sleep." He updated the car software. He said Volvo recommends software updates for many problems. So, we'll see.

Before this 2020 Volvo we had a 1995 940 Volvo with 200K miles on it. It was trouble free and in great shape. When we bought this 2020 S60 I explained to a Volvo mechanic I knew that we wanted a newer Volvo because we wanted to be able to take more short trips without being worried about car problems on trips. His response was a smirk and a "we'll see." Ironically, we never had any problems with the 940. Our other current car is a 2000 Jeep Cherokee Classic and I never have to open the door to start the Jeep!

Overall we're happy with the 2020 S60. It's turned out to be just as advertised - a safe, sports, sedan. I've owned several sports cars and the S60 is more responsive and better handling than any sports car I've driven and certainly a lot more comfortable. As the service rep said "your S60 is a big computer" - something I've felt for some time. Like it or not, we are increasingly faced with the prospect of buying new cars that are basically computers on wheels. Buckle up and reboot!