Ok it has been two weeks since I retrieved my car from the dealer for a low battery problem. They had the car a week. This car has was a CPO with low mileage. It still only has a bit over 31,000 miles on it. Now "AGAIN" I have to contact the service department. Below is the e-mail I am sending them. This is not the experience I've had on any other older model Volvo's I've owned."I can not believe I am contacting you but last night after leaving our friends house my drivers door would not unlock.

It was 1:30 AM and we had spent New Years Eve with our two friends and when we left to head home my drivers door would not unlock. The touch of the handle did nothing nor did the key fob. It was late, it was cold (25 F) outside and we were stuck.

There was no clicking of the lock module to be heard and as a last resort I had to climb across the passengers seat, to the drivers seat and started the car. When I was finally in the drivers seat I used the door panels lock button but still no unlocking of the drivers door. I recycled lock - unlock - lock - unlock. Nothing to be heard from the drivers door. I finally took the weight of my body and banged it into the doors trim panel. Then I heard it, click and then I could open the door.

If my wife had been alone with the car, her bad back would not have allowed her to crawl across the passengers seat to the drivers seat.

It is disheartening, embarrassing, I'm not sure what adjective to use to describe the need to contact the service department again.

This is the first time for such an event. Will it happen again, will it never happen again or going forward it will just be an intermittent thing that happens sometimes. What would you do, what should I do? The previous owner lived in New York and I'm starting to wonder if this car was in a flood?

I'm always the designated driver so I know it wasn't from too much Holiday Cheer."

 

I can't address the door lock problem but it is interesting to hear of yet another "low battery" problem. It was one of the issues I called out when my car, 2015.5 V60, 53K miles, CPO was in for service two months ago. The service writer called and told me that the battery was, indeed, low and they would put it on a charger while it was in the shop. He later reported that the battery was bad, would not take a charge and emitted a sulfurous smell. I declined the offer to replace the battery (it had been replaced 2 yrs ago under warranty) for $300 + $200 to connect Vida and reset battery indicator!

I have yet to replace the battery. The "Low Battery Charge" warning will occasionally come on when the car has been sitting, unused, for 4-5 days. It starts and runs without issue and the warning goes away immediately on start up and does not recur after 15-20 minutes of running.

I am convinced that the Volvo electrics are, in general, poorly designed and executed. In particular the charging system is under specced to improve fuel economy. (A favorite trick we used back in SCCA racing in the 50's was a ballbearing in the generator hub. A daytime race could be run without charging the battery since it was powering only the ignition)

 

I'm starting to agree that Volvo has gone cheap on electronics.

There have been people on other forums asking if it was raining. Yes it had rained sometime while we were in the
house but am I to assume I own a car that when it rains in the cold winters my door will not open. I would expect that from maybe a 10 > 15 year old high mileage car but not from a 4 year old car with 31,000 miles on it.

 

Volvo is asking me for over $400 to fix/replace the truck latch on my car which won't lock..

 

Cheap on procurement perhaps but far from cheap on repair! Even on an "adjusted to current dollars" basis service is far more expensive than on the 3 MB's that I have owned. What irritates me most is that even simple operations call for large tribute to be placed on the altar of VIDAS. I shall probably drive my V60 until it (or I) expires - that being defined as repair cost exceeding 50% of value. None of the latest "features and benefits" appeal to me. I don't care about connectivity, I'll drive thank you and I don't like touch screens. Should replacement be indicated, Volvo is not at the top of the list.

 

I'm with you on the touch screens. As a loaner I've had the new Volvo's with the big screen that controls everything. To me that is the newest theme / scheme to extract tribute to VIDA.

The marque known as Volvo has IMHO considerably dropped down on my list. This car was going to be the car that I wouldn't have to worry about repairs. I'm 68 years old and turned wrenches on my own cars for 52 years. I thought I would stop and even to the point of giving my nice chrome jack stands away to a friend. Well this car is proving I made the wrong choice. I didn't want the BMW, AUDI etc. repair experience. Perhaps due to the ownership of Geely, this Volvo is no better than my friends that drive BMW's and Audi's.

Also I am not going to go for a low mileage car anymore or a CPO. After reading this article where dealers complained about losing money on the Volvo OEM warranty it became clear we are the sheep to be sheered in the spring.

I think I have to give serious consideration of getting another car while the trade-in is still worth something. Maybe???

"Warranty length was a sore point with Volvo dealers, who described it as "too rich a benefit" and shied away from the program. It made it impossible for the F&I department to sell lucrative service contracts beyond the warranty, Haiken said. And extended warranties are lucrative, with margins ranging from $500 to $1,500 per vehicle, the dealer said. Without that profit stream, Haiken said, "it made no sense for us to certify Volvo cars."

https://www.autonews.com/used-cars/v...deas-spark-cpo

Two lessons of recent years:

Subuaru Outbacks are not what they were of old (another CPO experience that saw too many service bays)
Volvo V60 experience is not what they were of old (another CPO experience that has seen too many service bays)

My wife smiles - her Honda CRV that has over 110,000 miles on it was not a CPO, we spent many, many thousands less for it and in 4 years it has needed wiper blades.

Now don't anyone start on the yes but Volvo is a luxury car, etc. I agree but that doesn't mean it is to have electrical problems, front brake problems, door lock problems, climate control problems, etc., etc.

No wonder these repairs make me think of my Jaguars, Volvo barely squeaked ahead of Jags. Hm? My model is a 2016 which doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

We comb through both the J.D. Power and "Consumer Reports" reliability surveys to determine which brands are consistently better or worse

by JONATHAN YARKONY JIL MCINTOSH | APRIL 10, 2020

"Volvo squeaked ahead of Jaguar, with a score of 185 PP100. But the Swedish automaker actually improved over the 2019 study, where its model-year 2016 vehicles came in at 204 PP100. Volvo was also in the bottom 10 for Consumer Reports, landing at 24th with 38/100 rating for reliability, with the brand’s flagship SUV getting the worst rating for reliability. "


And......

"You would think that safety and reliability would go hand in hand, but this doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to Volvo and their vehicles.

One of the reasons that they are considered unreliable is actually related to the average cost of repairs. When car repair costs are higher the dependability of the vehicle is reduced accordingly. Cars that require fewer repairs, and cost less per garage visit, are the ones considered far more reliable by drivers. Owners also look at the amount of time that their car spends off the road when they are considering reliability; if a car spends a considerable amount of time off the road for repairs, and takes longer to repair, then this is something else which goes against the model when it’s being reviewed.

Software updates are another reason why Volvos are lower down the reliability scale."

 

The problem is choice - I think SUVs are stupid unless you live on a dirt road halfway up a mountain in the snow belt - why sacrifice the handling for a jacked up chassis. I neither need nor want 4WD. I grew up in upstate NY, attended school in western Mass and lived for 20 years in Chicago and northern Indiana (within reach of the "lake effect" snows.) I'll manage the Mid-Atlantic flurries driving 2 wheels. The VW Golf Sportwagen is gone and I have heard that the Jag and Buick wagons are discontinued as well, That leaves Audi, Benz and Volvo (Subaru is not on my list - don't like the boxer, it's ugly and has the stance of a wannabe SUV)

I wish Mazda would bring their 6 series wagon into the US

 

We live in a very hilly area and without AWD it is a hassle and because I do a lot of DIY work on the house there are times we need that SUV. Plus that jacked up chassis will go in deeper snow than my V60. That air dam, front lip, lip spoiler or what ever they call it starts becoming a snow plow at about 3 or 4 inches less than our SUV. That makes a difference between getting home or stuck in the snow.

From around 1993 to 2012 I drove Jaguars which were rear wheel. I would stick a few cylinder blocks in the trunk and could get around rather well in snow but down hill --- the thing was a sled! I grew up in the snow, first licensed in the late 60's and everything was RWD. I can do it but it is much nicer to have AWD. In 1969 I owned a P544 and would take that thing out to ice covered parking lots, get a run for it and throw it into a spin on the ice. Great fun! Also I think it is something every driver should have to do to pass their test. It teaches you what it is like in that situation.

 

And this happened after you got the door latch recall service that was sent out last year? Sorry to hear of that, what a pain!

 

I am very hesitant to take it to the shop. Since the time I turned 16 (late 1960's) I've done most all the work to my cars. I have all the tools to remove interior trim and have done so on many cars. The problem with removing interior trim is that you can break it, something can get bent out of shape, plastic stubs behind the trim start losing their integrity and what that may cause is something that drives me crazy, rattling or trim squeak noise. I'd rather have a door issue that may appear once in a while than have a rattling or trim piece squeak every time I drive the car.

At least I can pop off the handle piece and use the key. Although the more times ya pop off that piece the greater chance that it becomes lose and pops off while driving.

I'm kind of in a don't touch my car anymore mode. Kind of ??????