Tried that and it didn't work.

I also tried to get Volvo to agree "goodwill" towards repair. They will not do this unless I book into a garage for them to do a diagnostic check. I asked why they had to do that as it is a known problem. They were adamant I have to book in. Local Volvo estimate around £500.00 + vat. I don't want to be forced to go to them only to be told there is no goodwill as my Volvo is 5 years and 3 months old. The phone cut 3 times whilst trying to explain this to them. I think they just hung up.
I will never buy another Volvo .... their customer service is appalling and they really should pay for this as it is a common fault and is dangerous for anyone in the back (grandchildren most of the time). So I have to book an appointment, take it to the Volvo garage and wait and see what they say.

Louise

 

I highly recommend anyone that experiences these door lock issues file an online complaint with Transport Canada or your countries equivalent. This is a huge safety risk and these cars should be recalled. Cost us $750 dollars to repair our rear passenger door lock on our 2016 XC90 that we bought new. Volvos approach is disgraceful. They built their reputation and sell their cars based on safety but our failing big time. Hundreds if no thousands of cars have been impacted by this defect. Shame on them.

 

The same happened today with my wife’s 2020 XC90 rear passenger door. I was able to unlock the door by unlocking the doors via my apple watch, followed by the car remote, locking the child look, etc. I don’t remember the exact order but that did the trick. Just spend a couple of minutes trying to unlock and lock the car via multiple ways and you may get lucky like I did. Good luck to whoever reads my post and is in the same situation.

 

And another one here. Was opening occasionally for a bit and planned to get it checked at the already booked service. But it’s failed in the following few days … just before getting it to the garage next week.

does feel like there’s a design issue that many have said and a bit odd that such a long running design issue hasn’t (irrespective of who pays for it - mine is 7 years old now) been highlighted as something that needs pre emptively sorted in case it fails when someone must get out in a hurry just when it fails, however unlikely that may be.

 

That’s my o/s/r door lock replaced at the local dealer.
no Volvo goodwill (dealer asked but ‘declined’)
Cost £430 incl VAT.

could be worse I guess - but still sucks as this is not normal wear and tear - it is clearly a faulty design if there are these ongoing failures in door locks.

dealer was good though. got the part in a day and fitted same day.

 

Have had this issue on my XC90 for years but its been intermittent until recently and then it froze solid and couldn't open from inside or outside. Obviously its a safety issue so we didn't let the kids sit on that side of the car but it failed its MOT on Tuesday and we're meant to be driving it over the next weeks to various family visits etc. We booked in with Volvo but they can't see us for three weeks. Decided to have a go myself. I'm a woman not afraid of a bit of DIY but it was quite outside of my comfort zone. There are videos online that tell you how to get the outer door panel off but then you have the inner door panel which has the window attached the other side. I took the window down to about half way, opened the round cover in the middle of the panel and popped the window off the track. Then slid the window up and two rulers and used some duct tape (very technical!) to hold the window up and out of the way. I took the speaker out to get to the three screw that hold the window guide in place. This part was an absolute nightmare to do, my arms are cut and bruised and putting it back together was just as bad.

There was then one final clip and it appeared that you should be able to squeeze it or prise it apart but it would not budge for me. By this point, I'd really had enough and broke it but honestly, I don't think it's a problem at all, the inner panel is held in place with 15 screws so it isn't going anywhere. With the window guide off and the clip broken, I could get to the actuator. I used a screwdriver to slide across a metal part. At the same time, you either need to pull the interior door cable or have someone outside trying the door. It popped open, hallelujah! Released tonnes of WD40 into the actuator and mechanism from inside and out and its working again. We have a temporary fix anyway, MOT retest done and passed so we are good for our Christmas trips. Still trying to decide whether to just buy a second hand actuator now we know how to take it apart or take to Volvo but the car is 7 years old so won't likely get a contribution.

If you decide to do it, you will need T25 and T30 bits, 7mm socket and a mini ratchet screwdriver., WD40, duct tape, something to slide down the window seal. Preferably a second pair of hands for moral support and the window part!

Anyway, happy to help with any questions as I really couldn't find anything on the internet about this (certainly not about taking the window off the slider) so hope this is useful for someone. Husband has had to eat his words as he didn't think I could do it.

 

Nice work on the DIY. I think that helps me confirm it’ll be the garage for me if it ever happens again (seems likely with the 2016 MY vehicles - though £400 is a bit painful)
glad you’re off and running !

 

I've just encountered the same problem and thought I'd share my experience as someone might glimmer something useful! We only bought the car last week - a 2016 XC90 D5 R-Design to replace our lease car which is an XC90 MY20 B5D and has not had any serious faults over the last 30000 miles other than an issue with the headlights which was resolved by updating the software. It's a bit disappointing to see that this is such a common problem and that the older models are not as reliable.

We purchased a warranty with Warrantywise, but the policy says it doesn't cover locks in the small print, so I thought I'd have a go first before going to Volvo or battling to make a warranty claim. I started stripping the door down last night which wasn't too difficult (took about an hour and a half going cautiously and with poor lighting), but I didn't have a small ratchet to unscrew the bolts for the window track behind the panel, so planned on getting one today. Fortunately, this worked in my favour. This morning I sprayed lots of WD40 in the latch area by accessing it through the speaker port as some had mentioned they had success doing this. If my arms had been a bit slimmer, I think I could have reached the latch from the speaker port. I did consider cutting out the rest of the speaker port to create room for my arm as a last resort if I couldn't get the panel off as it would be fairly easy to rebond.

About 4 hours later when I got to town to get some white grease and a ratchet, I thought I'd try the door again and to my surprise, it opened! I made sure I doused the latch in WD40 which I had in the car. I'm assuming the WD40 had penetrated enough to unseize the latch.

It was also wet and damp behind the door panelling - even the speaker had somehow got wet so it's clear that the design is poor at stopping the ingress of water, especially for a vehicle that's meant for harsh conditions. I've now thoroughly sprayed everywhere I could with white lithium grease including all the other door latches. Hopefully it will be enough to stop it happening again.

Time will tell.

 

Hello.....we have been having the same issues with rear drivers side door.....about 3 times since we had the car. We now know the following, which may help others in this situation:

• it IS caused by trying to open the rear door before the keys are picked up by the cars sensors......the sensor-activated lock on the rear door sticks (poss due to water ingress...poss just wear/bad design) usually when someone tries to touch the door-handle sensor without the car being unlocked first.
• You can, with some awkward tooling and lying upside down in the footwell, remove all of the door panel, electric window mover and internal panel and get to the mechanical lock mechanism. It's a faff and you need to be patient but it's more than doable.
• The deadlock can be removed by flicking the sensor-activated lock element off towards the car and then by pulling the cable to open door again......ready to reassemble. We followed a very helpful video online posted by one of the members here 😀 the sensor activated element of the lock is easily identified as its a curved bit with nobbles....see photo.
• Most importantly.....to stop it happening ever again, we have deactivated the door handle sensor by unplugging the grey/black connector directly on the inside of the outer door handle. It's the one facing you as you peer up into the door cavity....facing the front of the car.
• This disables the sensor on this handle ONLY and prevents the deadlock activating when you touch the handle. It still operates as normal on the handle mechanically both inside and out, and unlocks/locks on the key.

No errors have shown up and we have not had any issues since. Please note that I live in a rural area and spend very little time in built up places...I'm not at risk from car-jackers or anything else like that- so automatic, sensor operated security measures are just a hinderance to me. Please make good decisions for yourself 👍

Having been through this a few times and now my car is older I'm not as wary of the electronic gremlins.....or dismantling it.

Hope this helps a few of you!


Lock mechanism from inside door....note curved nobbly piece!

All panels removed... Bit of wood wedging window in position whilst panel removed

 

Since you just did this. Do you think it’s possible to get wd40 to the lock from the window seal? From the outside? If I just squirt a bunch of wd40 between the window and seal. It seems to me that since water can get down there I might be able to get enough wd40 in the same place.