The ‘dead car syndrome’ has plagued many of us, and a definitive identified cause has still not truly been found by Volvo. This discussion related to a fault with the charging system is not widely discussed and is very interesting.

The dead car possible causes tend to relate to areas such as:
.

• A software bug/coding error
• TCAM component failure due to antenna water seal leakage

I also believe that Volvo should re-examine the ampere hours rating of the 12v battery fitted to ensure it is able to accommodate the multitude of background electrical demands placed on it while the car is turned off.

As said above, this charging fault is an angle not greatly discussed and could be the smoking gun in the room. If a charging fault is starving the batteries of a recharge, and creating the effect of a drained battery, you would be inclined to look for a ‘draining’ issue, rather than the fact that the battery is discharging due to not being recharged – especially after longer driving journeys.

Volvo has stated in the user manual that:

“To keep the starter battery in good condition, at least 15 minutes of driving a week is recommended, or connecting the battery to a battery charger with automatic trickle charging. A starter battery that is kept fully charged has a maximum service life.”

This statement by Volvo is complete nonsense and unenforceable, as a modern car should not need to be driven according to a set metric of 15min a week or trickle charged, as this in itself implies the masking of an underlying issue that this recommendation is trying to compensate for. It is unacceptable for Volvo to shift the onus onto their customers by using these recommendations in this way. You have to ask yourself if this car really fit for purpose in its current state?

The ‘dead car syndrome’ must ultimately be resolved by Volvo once and for all.

 

@abaraga

^ Hi, did you only need to charge the battery? The "SOS" and turtle indicators went away on their own, and you didn't need to visit the dealership?

 

Hi, yes, I have charged the 12V battery and the indicators went away.

 

I’m interested in your outcome. My car (with just 1,100 miles) has been out of commission for consecutive three weeks and in the shop for two. Cumulatively it’s been in the shop three times and over 34 days.

 

My newly-purchased 2023 XC40 was dropped off at my place. I waited a week to drive the car, but it would not start -- no charge. It was towed to the dealership for service. They had to change the battery system, not sure what that entailed.

It has approximately 500 miles. I didn't drive it for a month. It now does not start -- no charge. Trickle charging did not work. It will be towed to the dealership for service.

 

Can you share what version of the software your XC60 has installed?

Mine has v2.5.2 and it sat for 16 days without draining the 12V battery. Started up just fine.

 

It seems that Volvo Mild Hybrids are not alone.

Looking at the Ford forums their mild hybrid customers are suffering from what they call ‘Deep-Sleep’, which has the same characteristics of the Volvo dead car. To try and mitigate this some Ford dealers are putting in higher rated 12v batteries.

I do now believe that these so-called smart cars with their multitude of data communication routines running in the background after you turn off and lock the car are the main culprits to this issue. I also believe that the manufacturers have greatly underestimated the specification of 12v battery now needed to support the running of these vampire apps and systems.

It would be very useful to acquire a definitive list of all the apps/systems within the car that continue running when the car is turned off and locked, the types of routines they are running and why, their running cadence, what triggers them to run and how much energy they consume when running.

Here are a few I can think of:

• Car as a wifi router
• Using phone app to communicate with car
• Keyless entry system polling
• Alarm system
• Telemetrics
  • OTA updates communications
  • Google AAOS & Maps communications
  • SOS system checking routines
  • Data being sent to Volvo
  • Trackers

It’s a shame that the 48v battery can’t act as a booster to the 12v battery should the 12v begin to lose charge while the car is off and locked - apparently there is a DC to DC converter between the 48v battery and the 12v battery. But if the Volvo mild hybrid system completely disconnects the 48v battery while the car is off and locked, then this idea will not work, which means the 12v battery is also required to bring the 48v battery back online as well as keeping all the infotainment stuff ticking away in standby mode.

The small 12v battery is being asked to cover a lot of energy consumption needs and play a key primary role it really should be a much higher rated battery to accommodate everything.

 

Yes, this would be helpful to have.

More helpful, if indeed a trickle charger solves the issue, would be for Volvo to provide and install same in applicable vehicles at no charge to customers.... The cost to do this is likely significantly less than Volvo paying for a tow of a "dead" XC 60 (given the special complexities in doing so) and the repair cost at the dealership...Given that this can occur multiple times, the 'fix' would more than pay for itself and would also make for happier customers. It wont likely solve the problem for an individual who may need to leave their vehicle in an parking lot with no place to plug in a charger (eg an airport when away, etc), but it will probably help many others.

 

Beyond frustrated with this car.
Bought in December 2022 so it's 8 months.
1) 2 months in, heating, defrost, dashboard, most of the electronics stopped working. It's -30 in Canada in February. Windows fogged up, couldn't drive. Got it to dealer and he did a mainframe reset, took about an hour and problem fixed. Service tech told me the Remote app was playing havoc with the computer (!) and said stop using remote start or it will happen again, wait for new version coming out in 3-4 weeks. Again, Canada, -30, remote start...........It's got to work.
2) 4 months in, on a 3 hour drive, one hour in, SOS light in header starts blinking. Called the dealer and he asked a bunch of questions, none relevant TBH. I ignored it. Went away after shutting off the car.
3) On morning drive with kids to go to school, 12V Critical Charging Fault, says to stop immediately. I did and the car ceased to function in middle of City's busiest intersection. Called the Police, tow truck, kids in a panic, late for school etc. Got it to a Volvo dealer, not where I bought it, service was rendered grudgingly. They had to reset the mainframe, took approximately 4 Hours. No courtesy car, missed work, not happy. I called Volvo Canada, Volvo US and they said "we will process your request within 48 Hours". !!!!!!!!!!
4) Yesterday, same Critical Battery Fault. This time I drive to destination and did not shut it down on recommandation from dealer. The fan was hyper functioning, engine revved at every stop.......but I got to destination, although felt it was dangerous. Parked it for 6 hours and came back to start it. It started but with an Orange Turtle in the dash board. Called dealer and they said drive it but Turtle means it will run on reduced performance. Decided to leave it and came back 2 Hours later. On start, Critical Battery message appeared and then disappeared when i put it in Drive.

I called the dealer, told them I can't be taking time off work every 6-8 weeks to service my car. In Summary, they said 'lots of Technology in the car, Faults happen, we will fix them under warranty but you are on your own here".

 

I have same problem, I bought new XC60 end of Aug 2023, and just drove 2000km. then happened same problem 8days ago. They are still trying to fix it. but I have not any results from Volvo. finally I found that this problem has been occured from few years ago and there is still same problem. so I can find that Volvo has had the same problem for years, and now repair shop seems to be not able to fix it. eventually, thanks to Volvo now I rented a Volkswagen temporarily I can drive other car that doesn't break down. Maybe it's better that my XC60 isn't fixed so that I can drive other car.....

 

What software version was your XC60 running?
It's also interesting to note that you went on a long drive (2000km) and this problem came up.
That has been the experience of many folks on the forum (including myself, before version v2.5.2 of the onboard software. v2.3 was bad).

While I haven't taken any long trips with the car since February 2023 nor have I had the dead battery problems since then getting on v2.5.2, I did notice a new problem recently: The bottom row of icons on the center screen do not always appear when I start the car. The area is touchable, but the icons are missing -- it's just a blank space. Typically a restart of the car fixes it, but what explains this sudden behavior... is the 12V battery needing a "top up"?

Volvo really needs to get to the bottom of this issue or send all the owners a trickle charger so we can charge the 12V batteries once in a while.

 

Thank you for your reply.

Are you saying that the new software version fixes the problem? I will check which version I have but I'm pretty sure I have the latest.

Update...it happened again 2 weeks ago, this time it was even worse. It started with "12v Critical fault" then I got "drive to Workshop, service urgent" and then "Power steering assistance reduced". I barely made it to my destination. I let it rest for 4-5 Hours and when I got back it started but again with the Turtle icon.

Today I drove it from Montreal to Toronto with quite a bit of anxiety. It worked but halfway I got "Add 1 litre of Oil".

Car is 9 months old and now I need Oil.

 

Just picked up a CPO 2023 XC90 B5 Core and seeing this mentioned. My sales person mentioned it's best to lock the vehicle when not in use as the systems will perform more checks when unlocked, and that updates have pretty much cleared this issue. I didn't inquire anymore as my question to him at the time was this being my first mild hybrid what should I be aware of or do as a best practice?

I picked up a Hulkman Sigma 1 to just keep the battery in good condition when not in use for a few days, after seeing this mentioned on multiple forums.

I have a CTEK MXS 5.0 that I picked up when we weren't traveling much at all during the start of the pandemic, but I saw some mention to get a lower amperage charger as the mild hybrids don't like higher amperage, how much truth in this?

 

Thanks for your reply.
For clarity, I always lock the car!! Not sure if a lot people leave their cars unlocked but I doubt it.
FYI, it happened again a few weeks ago. I've now taken pictures with dates to document all the problems.
My latest issue, radio volume does not work anymore. I downloaded the new version of the software and the volume stopped working, not sure if it's related but the coïncidence would be uncanny.
I searched online and I found a solution, I held the center console Button for 30+ seconds and it reset the system. After 10 secs, the screen says it will turn off for cleaning, do not release, keep it pressed in and after another 20 secs you will see that it resets. Hope this helps anyone who has such a problem.

 

So my sales person also mentioned that some issues can be fixed by doing a forced reboot by doing what you mentioned. I'm on the newest release of AAOS and the other day the volume just quit while driving and listening to music through Apple CarPlay. I did exactly that and it fixed the issue.

 

I've had my S60 since April. 2023. On October 21st I had the error message while driving, "12V battery, critical charging error, stop safely and turtle". Then I could only drive very slowly. The Volvo assistant organized everything, my car was towed Volvo service workshop and I got a replacement car. At this point the Volvo service is TOP.

I picked up my car on October 30th, the service colleague did a SW update and said that the problem could be with my e drive logbook because this equipment uses too much power.

I am very curious of it. I've been using the logbook since the beginning of 2020, there was no problem at all in my last Audi A6, even when I was on vacation and the car was left standing for three weeks. How could a logbook lead to such an error only at Volvo? This Volvo S60 also stopped for about three weeks in July 2023 during my vacation, and the logbook was also on at that time. In October I could start the car, in principle the battery should be charged quickly. I don't understand it, does some one know about it?

 

If you take a look at the 12V battery it’s not that large and I feel with all the background activities that take place, Volvo may need to consider a larger battery in the future. My dealer did recommend to keep the vehicle locked and while earlier in the thread it was mentioned probably not a lot of people keep their vehicle unlocked, it happens mostly with homes with a garage. I’d imagine the logbook does a fair amount of background processing. Cars are now big computers and while parked they’re doing checks. Not sure if you have a a true need for logbook, but maybe pause using it for a week or so to see if there is a change.

The manual states you should drive at lease 15 minutes a week and even recommends a battery tender. As I mentioned earlier after reading up on these smaller 12V batteries that are support batteries, smaller amperage sounds like the safest route. So I got the 1A Hulkman Sigma 1.

If you or anyone picks up a battery tender, make sure your vehicle is unlocked. If you lock with the hood open you’ll set off the car alarm, haha

Hulkman Sigma 1

 

For my case, I don't have a garage and locked my car always. I really cannot understand why. Now I have to pull out the logbook every time before I leave the car. After half a year I am now very disappointed with this car.

 

2023 Cross Country is in the shop today for critical battery. Car has less than 5000 miles. Not happy. Will be getting rid of this Volvo ASAP. Too dangerous for someone driving long distances. Hate to be stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Not for the faint of heart!

 

Ask them if they can put in a higher capacity battery in as a replacement.