Volvo S60 Reliability by Year
Best & Worst Years, Problems & Recalls — NHTSA Data
Comparing used Volvo S60 options? We analyzed 10 model years (2017–2026) using real NHTSA complaint and recall data so you can spot stronger years, avoid riskier ones, and know what to inspect before buying.
Model-year trends show patterns. Run a VIN check for the exact Volvo S60 you plan to buy.
Based on NHTSA complaint data, the Volvo S60 has 261 owner complaints and 32 safety recalls across model years 2017–2026. The most reported issue area is ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. 2022 drew the most complaints; 2025 drew the fewest.
- Make
- Volvo
- Model
- S60
- Model years analyzed
- 2017–2026 (10 years)
- Total NHTSA complaints
- 261
- Safety recall campaigns
- 32
- Crash-related complaints
- 11
- Fire-related complaints
- 6
- Worst model year (by complaints)
- 2022 (70 complaints)
- Best model year (fewest complaints)
- 2025 (0 complaints)
- Top reported issue area
- ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
- Reliability signal
- Poor
Volvo S60: Which Years to Avoid & Which to Buy
Based on total NHTSA owner complaints per model year. Higher complaint counts indicate a riskier year to buy used — lower counts suggest a cleaner reliability record.
These years have the most owner complaints. Inspect carefully and always run a VIN check.
These years have the fewest owner complaints on record — lower risk starting points.
⭐ NHTSA NCAP Crash Test Ratings
New Car Assessment ProgramNCAP crash tests measure how well a vehicle protects occupants in controlled frontal crash, side crash, and rollover scenarios. Stars are awarded per category (5 = safest). These laboratory results are independent of owner complaints and are performed by NHTSA engineers on new production vehicles.
NCAP crash test ratings for this model are not yet loaded or this vehicle was not tested in the years analyzed. NHTSA tests a subset of new vehicles each year. Check nhtsa.gov/ratings directly for the latest results.
What the Complaint Data Suggests
PoorThe VOLVO S60 has 261 NHTSA complaints and 32 recalls on record. 11 complaints involve crash-related incidents. This data reflects owner-reported issues submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- 261 total complaints filed with NHTSA
- 32 federal recall campaigns
- 11 crash-related complaints on record
- Review NHTSA complaint history for the most-reported components
- Check recall completion status at nhtsa.gov/recalls
- Verify service records for frequently complained components
Consult the by-year breakdown to identify model years with elevated complaint rates.
Consult the by-year breakdown to identify model years with fewer reported issues.
- Run a VIN check on the specific vehicle you are considering
- Verify all open recalls are completed at nhtsa.gov/recalls
- Request service records for the most-reported complaint components
- Have a certified mechanic inspect the vehicle before purchase
🔔 NHTSA Safety Recalls
32 recalls foundSafety recalls are mandatory repair campaigns ordered by NHTSA when a vehicle defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety. Manufacturers are required to fix recalled vehicles free of charge. Always verify open recalls before buying a used car.
Safety Recall
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Safety Recall
Source: NHTSA Recalls Database. Data covers model years 2017–2026. Always run a VIN-specific check below for the most up-to-date open recall status.
🔧 Most-Reported Problem Areas
Based on component keywords extracted from all 261 NHTSA complaints.
📋 NHTSA Complaint Reports
261 totalThese are consumer-submitted safety complaints filed directly with NHTSA. Each complaint describes a real owner's experience. Complaints flagged as crash-related or fire-related are highlighted.
The contact's son owns a 2017 Volvo S60. The contact’s son stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the driver’s side door unexpectedly opened. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the driver’s side door latch had failed and needed to be replaced. The contact also stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the passenger’s side door unexpectedly opened. The vehicle was taken back to the mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the passenger’s side door latch also had failed and needed to be replaced. The mechanic informed the contact that the vehicle could be associated with a recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The mechanic referred the contact to the dealer for further assistance. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000. The VIN was not available.
Front driver door latch malfunctioning. There was a recall on these, but does not include my vin number.
Yesterday I took my one year old granddaughter to North Carolina, which is an hour and a half drive away. We had breakfast with family members and I loaded her into the back seat. When I closed the door it looked as if the door closed, but as I began to drive, the door swung open. I attempted to close the door again, and the latch would not connect to the hook inside of the driver side rear door. I ended up needing to have my son sit in the back seat and hold the door closed the entire ride home (an hour and a half) to make sure that the door would not open again. I am currently driving my "new" car with a ratchet strap going from door to door to hold the door closed so that I can go to work. I found information stating that there was a recall on the Volvo S60 (2017) but when I enter my VIN nothing displays. I just bought the vehicle in February and the dealership is telling me that this will cost me $450 to repair on my MAX CARE warranty. Why? When the vehicle had a recall on it in 2020 that obviously was never addressed, prior to me purchasing it.
Multiple doors unexpectedly open. Door latches do not lock.
4 new Bridgestone WEATHERPEAK BL 235/45R18 tires were purchased for "mom’s" low mileage vehicle. 8 months / 3,850 miles later, while my daughter was driving it in the center lane of the highway, the front left tire suddenly exploded! Fortunately, there were no injuries but had there been another vehicle at her side, this might have been a different story. The vehicle was towed back to the tire dealer to have the tire replaced. Combined with Bridgestone’s known past tire issues, we are now afraid to drive on the highway on these tires!!
The vehicle was sold with automatic 911 in the case of an accident. That is no longer functional since it uses 3G. Volvo chose to use 3G even though it was supposed to stop working.
The driver door will not latch and stay shut. We are in a warm climate and it happened suddenly. There was no warning lights and the car will drive without the door shut. Extremely dangerous. It hasn’t been looked at by a mechanic yet…it will have to be towed.
The driver door won't lock. The latch on the door is not locking causing the driver door to remain open presenting a safety issue. If the door swings opened because it is not closed properly a accident could occur. Other vehicles in that are the same make, model, and year is under recall. The problem first occurred on Saturday, May 7, 2022. I was driving the vehicle and there was no warning that the door latch had a problem. The door came opened while driving. The vehicle was towed to Southwest Volvo Sevice department and it is determined that the door latch needs to be repaired.
The contact owns a 2017 Volvo S60. The contact stated while entering her vehicle, the sunroof glass detached from the sunroof frame and the glass shattered. The contact was cut from the shattered glass but did not seek medical attention. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 42,427.
Ran into a pole due to a-pillar blind spot, right side of vehicle. No warnings prior to incident.
MANUFACTURER HAS FAILED OR IS UNABLE TO REMEDY THIS SAFETY RECALL FOR MY VEHICLE IN A TIMELY MANNER
CHECK ENGINE LIGHT KEEPS GOING ON. BRING IT TO A BODY SHOP AND NOTHING CHANGED. CAR JUST SHUTS DOWN WHILE TRYING TO DRIVE IT.
THE CAR HAS INTERMITTENT NOISE COMING FROM THE RIGHT SIDE HUB BEARING. THE DEALER AND VOLVO CORP REFUSING TO FIX THE ISSUE AND EVEN PUT THE CAR ON THE LIFT. IF HUB WILL SEIZE IT CAN CAUSE A BIG ACCIDENT IF IT WILL BE ON THE HIGHWAY . ALL THE DEALER AND VOLVO RAP DID WAS DROVE THE CAR AROUND THE BLOCK DIDN'T HEAR THE NOISE AND REFUSING TO DIAGNOSE MORE AND REPLACE THE FAULTY PART. VOLCO CORP CLOSE THE CASE ON THIS ISSUE AND REFUSING TO OPEN ANOTHER ONE. MEANWHILE THE CAR NOT VERY SAFE TO DRIVE. SAME ISSUE WAS WITH LEFT SIDE AND IT TOOK VOLVO MONTH TO FINALLY REPLACE IT EVEN THEY HERD THE NOISE BUT DIDNT WANNA BELIEVE IT WAS THE HUB. DEALER IS KUNDERT VOLVO OF HASBROUCK
BRAKES FAILED WITHOUT ANY WARNING WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY. DRIVER WAS ABLE TO STOP THE CAR BY SWITCHING THE GEAR TO PARK POSITION AFTER TURNING INTO LOCAL ROAD. BRAKE LEVER WAS GOING ALL THE WAY DOWN BEFORE CAR CAME TO STOP AND ALSO WHILE TRYING TO RESUME DRIVING. CAR WAS STOPPED AND CALLED FOR ASSISTANCE.
SPONTANEOUS EXPLOSION OF OVERHEAD SUNROOF WHILE DRIVING. CAR WAS PURCHASED NEW IN SEPTEMBER 2017 AND ONLY HAS 10,000 MILES OF IT. THE SUNROOF HAD NO SCRATCH, DENTS, OR CHIPS - DEFINITELY NO REASON TO SUGGEST THAT IT MAY LITERALLY EXPLODE OUTWARD OVER MY HEAD WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE INTERSTATE. AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT I WAS ACTUALLY ON THE PHONE WITH MY MOM AND THE EXPLOSION WAS SO LOUD THAT SHE THOUGHT I HAD WRECKED MY VEHICLE DOWN AN EMBANKMENT.
My sunroof glass spontaneously shattered while I was driving on the highway on 10/9/2025. There was no apparent cause. It sounded like an explosion, and glass came down all over me and the seats. Very disturbing!
The check engine light appeared on my 2018 Volvo s60. After taking the car to 2 Independent mechanics and the dealer, it was diagnosed as an Engine Control Module (ECM) failure. My 2018 Volvo s60 has ONLY 44,200 miles. The dealer stated that they "haven't seen this failure in cars with such low mileage. Usually, cars have 125,000+ miles if/when the ECM fails". The dealer and an Independent mechanic both stated that the brakes, steering, starter, thermostat, etc., could fail at any time. This could put my family, and other families on the road, at risk. Volvo refused to pay for the repairs.
The contact owns a 2018 Volvo S60. The contact stated that the HVAC system fan was inoperable, and the front windshield could not be defrosted. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced the fan, and the failure was remedied. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 77,000.
WHEN PRESSING BRAKE PEDAL A POPPING SOUND WAS NOTICED AND THEN BRAKES WERE LOST. FORTUNATELY CAR WAS PARKED IN A STREET. SERVICE LOCATION STATED THAT "BRAKE BOOSTER BROKE, IT IS A MAN MADE PART". CAR HAS ONLY 10500 MILES ON IT.
The DIM (Driver Instrument Module) flickers intermittently and I have no idea when it's going to go out completely. It actually does go out and there's a solid white panel or colored lines, but it comes back in. This displays the speedometer & fuel. This is a safety issue. I would hate for this to go completely out while I am driving. I do not know the cause for the malfunction. However, per the Volvo tech; they're aware this is a reoccurring issue.
Showing 20 of 261 total NHTSA complaints. Source: NHTSA Complaints Database
Before You Buy, Check the Exact Volvo S60
These pages show model-year patterns across 10years. Enter a VIN to verify the exact vehicle's accident history, title brands, odometer records, and open recall status before purchase.
📖 Understanding This Data
What is an NHTSA Complaint?
An NHTSA safety complaint is a report filed directly by a vehicle owner or driver describing a safety-related issue. Anyone can submit a complaint at NHTSA.gov. The number of complaints is a signal of how common a problem is — but complaints per model-year matter more than raw totals, since popular vehicles naturally receive more reports. The Volvo S60 has 261 complaints on record across 10 model years.
What is a Safety Recall?
A safety recall is a mandatory campaign issued by NHTSA when a vehicle component poses an unreasonable risk to safety or does not comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards. Unlike complaints (which are owner-reported), recalls are formally investigated and confirmed by regulators. Manufacturers must fix recalled vehicles free of charge. The Volvo S60 has 32 recall campaigns in the NHTSA database.
What Are Crash Complaints?
Crash complaints are NHTSA filings where the owner indicates a crash occurred as part of the incident. 11 of the Volvo S60's 261 complaints involved a crash. This metric is particularly important because it indicates how often defects resulted in actual collisions — a key safety signal beyond general reliability.
How Is the Reliability Verdict Calculated?
The reliability verdict (Poor) is generated by analyzing the vehicle's total complaints, recall history, crash complaint ratio, fire complaint ratio, and top component failures relative to class averages. This verdict gives buyers a quick interpretation before they review year-level details and VIN-level history. It should be treated as one decision input, not a substitute for a VIN-specific report.
Why Do Newer Years Have Fewer Complaints?
Newer model years appear to have fewer complaints because there has been less time for owners to file them. Complaints accumulate over years of ownership. A 2020 model year vehicle will typically show fewer complaints than a 2015 model year even if it is less reliable — simply because fewer owners have had time to report issues. Focus on complaints per year of market presence when comparing across model years.
Fleet Data vs. Individual VIN
Everything on this page reflects aggregated data across all Volvo S60 vehicles on the road — not any specific car. Two Volvo S60 vehicles of the same year can have very different histories: one may have been in three accidents and have an open recall; another may be clean. A VIN check gives you the individual car's history: accidents, title brands, odometer records, service history, and real-time recall status.
What Are NHTSA Investigations?
When NHTSA receives a pattern of related safety complaints, it opens a formal investigation. A Preliminary Evaluation (PE) is the first stage — NHTSA determines if a safety defect may exist. If evidence is strong, it escalates to an Engineering Analysis (EA), which can result in a mandatory recall. The Volvo S60 has 0 investigations on record (0 active). Investigations listed above may have already led to the recalls shown on this page.
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