Hi!

First time Volvo owner here. Bought the 2023 XC90 B5 Mild Hybrid. On three occasions, I have gone to my car to find the batter is completely dead. I live in NYC and may go for days or a week without driving the car.

Each time after getting jumped off by the parking garage or by Volvo roadside assistance. The first time, after getting jumped off we started on our trip and while on the FDR, the car began delivering error messages (stop safely - 12v battery critical charging fault and SOS e call service required)and went into a reduced power mode (which was quite frightening). Each time I have had to take the car into the shop.

Volvo of Manhattan has performed a parasitic draw test and found nothing although the car died again during the week it was in the shop. They have said the battery looks good.

On the car’s second failure, they advised me that the battery was dying because the car was not being driven enough. I asked them how often the car needs to be driven and they said at least 15-30 minutes 5-7 days each week. (I know better than this). They said the car needs to be connected to a trickle charger if it is going to go for more than a day or two without being driven.

On the car’s third and most recent failure, it has been in the shop now for over a week. Volvo of Manhattan has reiterated the requirement that the car be driven daily. They explained that a lot of Volvos in Manhattan with Google are having similar issues since they are not always driven every day; this sounds to me like they are admitting a defect.

Has anyone had a similar experience with a frequently dying battery?
Has anyone had experience dealing with Volvo in a buyback or exchange of a lemon (NY law says if the dealer cannot fix the problem in four attempts or the car is the the shop for more than 30 days… I’m already on day 25)?

Appreciate any advice!

Michael

Stop Safely 12V Battery Critical Charging Fault

 

After a week in the shop, the dealer contacted me to tell me nothing was wrong and the car battery was charged. I forcefully insisted that the dealer perform a parasitic draw test and replace the batteries (as this was the third breakdown same cause).
Dealer conceded and performed the parasitic draw test which today reported there was a parasitic draw. The dealer says now they will start the potentially time consuming task of looking for the problem….

 

Hi Michael,
I found your thread researching for a solution to the exact same problem you are having. I am on my 3rd visit to the dealer to fix this battery issue… sitting in the Volvo lobby as I type this.
I live in Boston and when I go to the parking garage I can’t even unlock my 2023 Volvo XC90 and always need a jump. The car is brand new with under 2k miles and only 3 months old. They insist the battery is fine and that it died from me not driving it for a week.. my second visit they said dead battery was due to a software update needed and now on my third visit they’re agreeing something is wrong. I will keep you posted on the findings and please let me know what your outcome is.
Thank you,
sean

 

Sean,
I am sympathetic to the issues you are having with your new car. My car is 6 months old with less than 2000 miles (it would have more miles if it wasn’t always dead).
My car is about to enter its fifth consecutive week in the dealership. The dealer has been unable to find the parasitic draw and supposedly consulted with Volvo Sweden. To say the ownership experience has been disappointing would be a tremendous understatement. I’ll update when and if the car ever gets out.
Good luck to you.

 

Michael,
Sorry to hear your update. Massachusetts lemon law protects us from the dealer keeping the car that long. Did you check into your lemon law rights? I’m in that process now and because I have had 3 dealer attempts to fix the issue I now have to give the manufacturer notice that I’m entering the lemon law process where they have 7 days to make the needed repair or give a refund/replace the vehicle. The dealer today offered to give me a brand new XC90 with all same upgrades for $2k and replaced both batteries in the car. I declined the offer for a new vehicle and am hoping todays repair work and if not I’ll proceed to arbitration. To be honest, getting another Volvo is the last thing I want after this…

 

Sean,
We actually approached our dealer and offered that they make a swap. They treated it like a trade (lowball)… we clarified “No, an even swap” then they went silent on us.
Our next step is to get an attorney to take us through the process. I had certainly hoped that Volvo would have been willing to deal with their problem product in an amicable manner.
Best of luck to us both!
Michael

 

Mine car is early 2022 XC90 B5. I owned since July 2022. No issue on battery at all.

 

Identical battery issue on my 4-month-old 2023 XC90 B6. The brand new car was initially leased in Jan 2023, and the battery was replaced in March. But the replacement battery was completely dead again this Friday (May). My car is at the deaership now and I will find out what the service dept can find this time (2nd time wtih the dead battery in 4 months after car left idle for 2-3 days). Volvo OnCall has been quite responsive with my calls but it took 3-4 hours for the tow truck to come every time.

 

Update….

Volvo just completed the buy-back of my car under NY state’s lemon laws.

Very disappointed in Volvo and Volvo Manhattan in their poor handling of this entire situation of a defective vehicle. I am fortunate that (living in Manhattan) I did not have a daily need for the car as it spent nearly 60 days at the dealership over a 12 month period. And, it was too unreliable and unpredictable to take on an overnight out of town trip. Over 12 months, I was only able to put 1,200 miles on the vehicle.

Already on to my next car, Mercedes EQE SUV 4Matic. So far an excellent experience and great range.

 

This morning I went to take my kids to school. Haven’t driven my car since Friday. It was completely dead. Nothing would work. No lights nothing. I called Volvo care and it took 3 hours for someone to come and jump it for me. He comes and takes 1 min and it starts then has all the lights on for the 12V circuit battery. I take it to the dealer and it sits. No update. Nothing. After reading all of the posts on here.. I am ready to give the car back. This is my first mild hybrid. I had a T5 XC90 2019, no issues.. There seems

to be many issues with the mild hybrids. I am eager to hear what they find.. they tried to tell me I need to drive it everyday. I said no. I barely drive it maybe once a day and haven’t on weekends for a while and never had this issue. Super frustrating

 

I am sorry that you are having to deal with this!

My best recommendation is to read up on your state’s Lemon Laws. Here in NY, it’s a lemon if it spends 30 days out of service (ie in the shop) or in the shop for more than 3 times for the same problem. So, count your days and your service visits and keep all of your dealer repair work orders. And in NY, if its a lemon you get a full refund of the purchase price including dealer fees and can apply to the state for a refund of the sales taxes paid.

The dealership personnel were terrible and shamelessly lied. They told me that the car had to be driven with ridiculous frequency …. Starting with weekly and then daily….. Like I’m supposed to believe that its my responsibility to drive the car for 90 minutes a day to keep it running. They even lied and said that the owners manual says you have to drive it with frequency. Don’t put up with their BS….. just hope that the problem keeps happening. Eventually you will drive it after getting these messages and it will go into a reduced power mode. It’s not going to tell you that its doing this but you’ll barely be able to accelerate and you’re going to wonder WHEN its just going to totally die. When this first happened to us, we were on the FDR in heavy moving traffic and became a dangerous slow moving obstacle.

You’re never going to be able to trust the car again…. Never to take it on a road trip, Never to leave it at the airport when you’re on a trip, etc.

 

I think we have the same car. I am in Illinois.

• 4 attempts for the same issue
• Any number of attempts that take a total of 30 business days or more.

this is for the lemon law. However there is another Federal Law that is supplemental called the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. I am ready to get this going. I know this is the first issue with mine however, my iPad screen has gone black numerous times already since my purchase in March. When that goes, I have no turn signals, no AC no radio. The car is useless. I appreciate all of your feedback and your information. It’s frustrating to say the least. I purchased this car to ensure safety for myself and most of all my children on the road. Then to have this major safety issue start happening, it’s quite upsetting.

 

After reading all of these posts with the same problem I can indeed confirm that the problem is real. The dead battery, the error messages, the tow truck brigade back to the dealer are real entities. When this happened to me the dealer confirmed the dead battery and put another battery in the car. However they seemed to have no answer to the simple question of why dead batteries are so common in this particular year, car, and model. I suspect they know the answer but don't want to trigger a massive and expensive recall. Clearly one should stay away from this car The Volvo XC90 2023.

 

I feel for everyone’s issue, I to have a 2023 XC-90 B5. This is the first model year of the mild hybrids with Google Android Automotive OS (AAOS). The dealership I worked with did say it’s best to lock your doors, as if left unlocked the car keeps going through its checks causing drain. Updates to AAOS have been helping reduce this issue, by chance have those with this issue kept up with updates? Most recent one is 2.12 and 2.13.1 will be released soon. I do agree that the 12V start/support battery may be too small to support all of the background systems that run even when the car is “turned off” and parked. You also have not only the module controllers, but there is cellular and WiFi present for remote app services. Maybe trying turning off WiFi when parked since it’s on by default. I don’t think one should expect a recall, because Volvo clearly states in their manual to drive the car at least 15 minutes a week and if parked for extended durations to use a trickle charger.



I’m fortunate enough to have a garage for a trickle charger, as I invested in a couple during the pandemic and we were barely driving our vehicles. For those curious into purchasing one I have a Hulkman Sigma 1 due to the small size of the 12V battery in the Volvo. It supports AGM and 1A is more than enough due to the size of the battery. I do one full charge a month and find I have no issues (fingers crossed). It’s just a guess but I suspect at some point we will see a larger 12V battery.

 

I wanted to thank you for the most comprehensive review of this issue I have seen. I do wonder whether someone would actually buy this model car if they knew all the information you have supplied ahead of time. The dealer certainly does not mention any of this though you have to believe they know it.

 

I will say, my salesman was up front and honest before I knew about this when I test driving the 2023 XC60 and the XC90. I asked him, being that this is my first mild hybrid vehicle, what should I be aware of, any issues, or things I need to make sure I do and he was quick to mention the battery issue. He did state it's not "common" but it has happened. He said at the time (Sept of this year) that they were seeing it primarily with people that never lock their doors. I'm in the country and a lot of people don't lock their cars overnight. Even if out in the driveway, keys in the car too, smdh. I'm originally from the city and I can't bring myself to doing it. He also said that with more people working from home they drive less, sometimes for as long or longer than a week. He said to try to drive it at least 15 minutes a week. Tells me he is up on the issue and read the manual, and he suggested a trickle charger. As I mentioned earlier, I picked up two when the pandemic started since our vehicles were garaged for easily over a week. Over two years ago I did purchase two CTEK MXS 5.0 to keep my former Atlas and my wife's Q5 charged up. I will say great investments to extend the life of a battery, considering how much they cost now. Pandemic or not. Since the Volvo 12V is smaller in size, that's why I picked up a 1A Hulkman Sigma 1. I hope that helps and even knowing this, I have no regrets with my purchase. Granted I'm fortunate to have had experience with trickle chargers before, my salesman was up front and honest, and lucky to have a garage so I can charge when not in use. I'm happy to answer any questions on the two chargers I own and personally use.

 

I am going to take delivery of a 2023 B5 Mild Hybrid on Monday (two days away) so I joined this forum to start looking into issues that I might run into. I read thru the problems that people are having with their batteries. The car that will be leaving our small stable is a 1996 Mercedes C280. It's been a great car, but of late too many minor problems. On this car, I have wired up to the battery a roughly 9" X 7" solar 12V charger. It seems to be working in that the car always literally jumps to a start with barely turning the key. The New York area has lots of sunshine, so I feel sure this solar panel charger is doing something. I wonder if I would do well to try and use this solar panel on the new Volvo? Seems it couldn't hurt. Wonder what would be the best way to wire it up? In my case this will be my wife's car and she drives it to our business 6 days a week for about a total of 35 - 60 minutes each day (depending on how much shopping she does on the way home...So keeping the battery charged up sound like it won't be a problem in our case.

 

I just acquired a 2023 B6 XC-60 and my wife will be driving it only for short distances most days. Based on your recommendation above, I picked up a Hulkman 1Sigma and plan to trickle charge the 12v starter battery on the weekends.
Any info you can share (photos most appreciated!) re: your setup running this on your vehicle would be most appreciated. I also garage my vehicle at home, so should be pretty straightforward, but would love to save some time/effort if you’ve already got things figured out!
Thanks
SPG

 

Just keep your car unlocked, if you have the hood open and lock it the alarm goes off. Make sure the Hulkman is on AGM per the directions. Pop the red cover on the battery, connect the positive to this and then to the right you’ll see a post for the negative/ground and just connect to there to charge. Hope that helps.

 

Thank you!!