I have a MY09 XC90 with about 30K miles on it. Recently, the front and rear seat electrical power outlet was not working. After looking in the manual, I found that the fuse is located on position 11 on the fuse block located under the steering column. The only device that it been ever connected there is a newer Garmin GPS.

Now with the issue: I found out that the fuse was blown. I replaced it with the spare one form the side of the dashboard. It immediately blew up. I figured that since the device was connected, the power supply for the GPS was bad. I then used a different power supply (one for a cellphone) and put a new fuse, and it blew up again. I put two fuses with the engine running, and they blew up immediately. I replaced the fuse with the engine off and it did fine. I tested the power outlet with the cellphone charger and it was OK, I connected the GPS power supply and it blew up again..... 5 fuses in less than 3 minutes.......

Question: Before I take out both of the power outlets and verify that they are not bad internally, anything that I can try? There is no foreign matter "grounding" the + and the negative on the visible part of the power outlets. Any suggestion is welcome!

 

I think there is a new 12v outlet that you can get at the dealership. Although I haven't heard of that many fuses blowing that fast.

 

I'll disassemble the dash this week and test everything out... but more than likely I'll replace both power sockets that are connected to fuse 11....

 

Look into the sockets to see if coins or anything that should not be there is down in the cavity .

 

I have looked on both, the front and the rear socket, and there is nothing on them.... I wonder if there is some kind of capacitor or resistor behind the sockets, but I will see when I disassemble both....

I have ordered the plastic tool to take the plastic interior parts out... should be here 11/18/2014..... I will post whatever I find....

 

Long time... but I replaced the front power socket and to my surprise the system worked for about 2 months... then it started blowing up the fuse as soon as I put it into pos 11 on the CEM fuse block.... I will replace the rear (middle) outlet and see if that is the issue....

will post what happens next.....

 

If the first power socket repaired your problem , why don't you disassemble it to see what went wrong ?

 

After some time dealing with "no power" in the front of the car, I finally had some "wrench" time. I pulled the mid console off and found the culprit, a paper clip shorting the ground and 12VDC prongs off the rear/mid power socket... replaced the #11 15amp fuse and done...

 

After some time dealing with "no power" in the front of the car, I finally had some "wrench" time. I pulled the mid console off and found the culprit, a paper clip shorting the ground and 12VDC prongs off the rear/mid power socket... replaced the #11 15amp fuse and done...I attached a pic and probably you can see where the contacts where shorted.