has anyone ever had this problem. Dealer says it could cost up to 650 to replace.

 

I have replaced many of them. Sometimes WD-40 or graphite will work for a little while before replacing it.

 

I own '07 XC90 with a hair over 50k miles. Got in car last week and couldn't turn ignition past "I". Roadside assist had to tow to my dealer, but needed a special rig because we could not get shiftlock out of P position - is there a secret button somewhere to do this ? Car will be out of commission for 3 days as they need to custom match the new ignition switch to the coded key.

How common is this?

 

Ha....just had the same problem with my 05 XC90 V8 AWD with 90K miles on it! We were able to get it out of park by disconnecting the transmission "cable" and manually turning it to Neutral. My XC90 is right now out of commision for one week as a new key cylinder is ordered and has to come from Sweden. Total tab....$970! this does include an extra key with remote as I was missing one

 

I have an '06 XC90 that I just bought used in March and isn't even at 50k yet that just had the same issue. In fact, that's how I found this forum... I was googling the problem as I was frustrated in the parking lot of my workplace at 7:30pm (past when anyone could help me on the phone) two nights ago. My poor car is now at the dealership and officially has a broken lock cylinder. Took it up yesterday, got a call today that they have to take it to Hollywood (dealer is in Torrance) to get re-keyed, then get it back to finish. So who knows how long this will take.

Now the good news... I bought the full 2yr warranty when I bought the car because I was tired of paying for repairs on previous cars. I'm glad I did. This whole thing is only going to cost me 50 bucks (my deductible)! And I haven't sold the PT Cruiser I inherited yet, so I don't have to rent a car to get around in. Nice.

Sorry about your '07... Hate to tell you, but this seems to be a common problem. I have looked everywhere for info on this, and it seems to be unanimous that lock cylinders break on Volvos.