Volvo C40 Reliability by YearBest & worst years, problems & recalls — NHTSA data

After having our car repaired per NHTSA recall 25V-282 we are still having issues with malfunctions of the backup camera system including warning messages that the camera is unavailable during attempts to drive in reverse.

Cameras stopped working and getting message “camera temporarily not available”. But does not appear to be temporary. Lots of discussion of this issue on message boards but nothing from Volvo.

There are frequent errors with the infotainment. Often times, when backing up—the screen will say “back up camera not available.” Recently, I experienced a problem where the blinkers were not working until I reset the software on the car.

Three issues: 1) in One Pedal Drive mode car when fully stopped on level ground and in Drive (at traffic signal) will accelerate rapidly without any driver contact with accelerator pedal. This happens once to several times a month. In the first incident the car entered the intersection before I stopped the car with the brake pedal. In another incident the car did this when a pedestrian was in the crosswalk. If I had not intervened the car may have hit the pedestrian. 2) the lane keep assist function will steer the car TOWARD large vehicles in adjacent lanes. This happens most often on curved sections of highways with large slab sided vehicles such as passenger buses and semi trailers. Collision avoidance requires driver intervention to steer the car away from the adjacent vehicle. 3) the rear view camera display in the vehicle center screen has stability issues. The display either does not start upon placing car in Reverse or lags or crashes during reverse movement.

Under acceleration, there is a knocking/loud rattling sound from both front axles and constant velocity joints. I am a former master technician and this is clearly a serious issue with these axles as they cannot tolerate the huge torque output from the electric motor. This is also a mechanical safety issue as if this issue is not rectified by Volvo, the axles could disintegrate leading to loss of control.

Rear hatch opens and closed unexpectantly. Closure has hit family members in the head and ear.

The vehicle started exhibiting steering and acceleration issues on the highway that mimicked high winds. Despite my efforts to keep it in its lane, the car would not respond to my slight adjustments for split seconds, causing a cat and mouse game of projecting it’s next move. The vehicle seemed to be accelerating in a way that made it feel as if is moving diagonally. The steering becomes stiff and unresponsive then releases, like two magnets separating, making only minor incremental changes. This caused the vehicle to swerve around the lane, merely veering into the lanes of a semi truck and several other vehicles. The lane keep assist did not respond or aid as it seemed caused by this very system. Once I reduced speeds to 20-30 MPH from 55-70 MPH, the steering began to make a metal-on-metal grinding noise which the steering turned. Having experienced this, I tested the forward collision very slowly- if it were not for my actions, the vehicle would have hit an object at 10 MPH.

There is a software issue in this car which causes the following: 1) Rear backup camera completely turns off multiple times DURING backing up 2) A fault which presents as a "propulsion" failure, which causes the car to stop unexpectedly, start jerking, and then limits top speed to 20 mph. I've taken the car into the dealership for evaluation and was told "there's a software issue, we don't know what date that will be released" Overall, Volvo software is incredibly feeble with multiple errors and slow performance. However, this is my first experience with a software issue that caused the car to malfunction while driving.

After ota software update, the vehicles braking systems (abs, traction control) and driver assistance systems(lane assistance, adaptive cruise control, one pedal driving mode) no longer functioned normally. The vehicle displayed warning information that read “stop safely, brake failure”; on the instrument cluster. This put my family and others at risk by changing the cars behavior by no longer operating in a one pedal mode and disabling common safety features like abs, traction control as well as the more advanced collision avoidance systems. If I had attempted to operate the pilot assistance it could have easily turned into an incident. The car is now at the dealership, and it sounds like a recent ota “failed to sequence properly” which might have damaged the hardware, or possibly just the software needs to be reflashed, but the technician made it sound commonplace from the last update. The vehicle is not available for inspection it is being remedied at the dealership.

Vehicle shakes at highway speed (62-75mph) and under heavy acceleration (highway on ramp) since 1st day of owning vehicle. Steering wheel vibrate and rear mirror shakes and is unusable. Took to dealer on 3rd day of owning car and they balanced tires and performed alignment with no improvement. Dealer stated it is a problem known to Volvo with no corrective action and they were instructed by Volvo to not fix anything.

The contact owns a 2023 Volvo C40. The contact spilled an unknown liquid inside the trunk and leaked onto the minor and major control units. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the upper and lower control units to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,304.

PIRELLI Scorpion Zero AllSeason Elect 255/40 R20. Rear passenger tire developed a bulge in the sidewall due to manufacturer defect that led to a blowout while driving at highway speeds. Tire was less than two months old (as was the vehicle) with just over 2,000 miles on it. Never had any curb rash, never caught a corner of a pothole, or any other damage. In doing some research perusing Volvo-related forums such as SwedeSpeed, this specific problem seems to be a recurring issue with Pirelli Scorpion tires on C40s and XC40s -- and according to consumers, Volvo has done nothing to rectify this dangerous issue involving the fitting of their vehicles with faulty Pirelli tires despite being notified of the problems and potential risks. My rear passenger rim was damaged and I incurred a $410 expense for the tire replacement as it was not warrantied by either Volvo or Pirelli. When the TPMS went off, I was on a large bridge over the Ohio River, in the left lane of a four lane highway. It was difficult safely navigating through rush hour traffic as cars were swerving to get away from me. I had to drive approximately a mile and a half on a flat tire to the exit where a tire specialty business was located. The problem I noted above was identified and confirmed by a knowledgeable employee at Tire Discounters (Newport, KY) where I brought my vehicle. They could not order the replacement tire due to a national backorder, however they reached out to the closest Volvo dealership (Volvo Cincinnati East) and was able to obtain a tire from them that was delivered the following day. I have a photo of the damaged tire with bulge visible right next to the sidewall blowout.