I drive a 2001 s60 T5 and have experienced many of the same symptoms as others have described, including rough shifts and the annoying "neutral shift" feature. Even after the 3 drain-and-fills, it continued to act up.

I recently received a postcard from Volvo advertising their new Volvo Service Advantage, where they offer free software updates. I scheduled an appointment and took the car to the dealer.

When I told the service writer that I wanted the free software updates for the transmission, he argued with me and told me that the program only includes free updates, not upgrades, and that an update would not fix any problems. I asked for the free updates and told him I would decide what to do after that.

I am not sure what all the updates were included, as the invoice only listed, "Volvo for life courtesy software updates," but the transmission is shifting smoother, and the "neutral shift" feature is gone. I can only conclude that the free updates included the transmission update.

Has anyone else received their transmission update for free?

 

This is not accurate and not how it is supposed to work.

The free update applies to cars getting a factory scheduled maintenance. If you go in an ask for it and the dealer says no- they are correct.

It is not a direct update to the TCM. It is a package that updates several modules and may or may not include the TCM.

 

I am not sure if my experience was how is it supposed to work or not, but the advertising said nothing about it applying only to cars getting a factory scheduled maintenance. It did note a few exceptions for certain models/years. The S60 was not listed as an exception.

 

It used to say specifically it was only for factory scheduled maintenance. But I checked the website, and they changed the wording.

"Free Software Updates: At Volvo, we’re constantly improving the software for our cars. This means that your Volvo can potentially improve at every service visit. If your Volvo needs the latest software update, we’ll make sure it happens free of charge.*"

*New software required as part of a repair or accessory installation is not included.

Technically, if you have a problem with the transmission and it needs a TCM update, that would be part of a repair.

Really, it's up to the dealer. I've done updates for customers who were not getting a FSM, but did buy a lot of work. But if a customer came in just for that and had no service history with us, I would probably not do the update.

I just wanted to clarify how this works so someone doesn't think that it how it works at all dealers. I love when customers come in and argue something by saying "But, I read on the internet..."