I have a 2016 XC 60 and had to replace the rear brakes at 21000 miles, $800 USD. The dealer said it is quite common because Volvo designed the system so rear brakes to do the majority of the braking so the nose doesn't dip.

Has anyone else encountered this?
Not sure I'm going to keep this after the lease is up.

 

Car salemen and service writers lie a lot. This is one of those times. I don't work in volvo engineering, but I don't need to either. This is just a really bold and silly lie.

 

I have a 2015.5 XC60 R-Design & have gotten exceptional wear from my brakes. The dealer also told me that the car was setup so that the rear did most of the braking. However, having said that, I replaced the rear brakes at 72k & still have the original front brakes at 88k. The dealer checked them at 85k service & said they were still OK. I try not to be hard on the brakes but I don't baby the car either.
I have a 2018 XC60 on order & will be thrilled if I get anything close to this mileage on the brakes.

 

Not a bold lie at all. The P1s and P3s go through rear brakes faster than fronts. Usually 2:1 or 3:1 depending on driving style.

 

Most cars I've had go through rear brakes faster than the front. Yes the rear bias braking is a thing, keeping the front from dipping especially on heaving braking keeps the rear of the car weighted so it doesn't lose traction and come whipping around. Often the brake surfaces are smaller on the rear brakes so they end up wearing faster. 21000 miles seems a bit fast, but it is all about conditions and driving style. I assume the brake wear indicator came on (or they started to squeal)?

 

Just picked up a 14 xc60 with 64k miles, and rear brakes were done at 63k, and still on original fronts

 

I just did my front's at 20,000 rears were ok, had them clean and I had a bad squeal when hot.

 

In 20 years of selling used Volvos, I've never heard of the rear brake system taking the majority of the load. In fact, the load shifts forward when you apply the brakes.

The $800 price tag is mostly labor. You can go all the way around these cars, rotors and pads, for about $100. The fact that you run to the dealer to get it done does not make it a problem, per se. The problem is that you cannot do the job cost effectively.

I can also visit a hospital ER to put a bandage on a finger.

 

From a physics point of view, this makes no sense. Any braking applied to the vehicle will cause the front end to dip forward. Sure, you can add bias to the rear, but the entire car is still being slowed down and that shifts the entire weight forward in any deceleration action. Your front brakes are always going to be more effective during hard braking because that's where the majority of the vehicle weight will be as they will have the most traction. That also takes weight load off of the rear making them less effective at braking due to less traction. Otherwise, they would simply lock up.

For those that ride a bike (like myself), apply the physics to that situation. You can't just apply the rear brakes when stopping hard as it will lock up as the weight will still move to the front. It's a combination of both rear and front brakes that gets you to stop safely and in control.

To get back to the OP, 20K seems like a short time for any set of brake pads.