Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Volvo XC90

What it says about you

Opinion

You bought seven seats and a very specific idea of yourself, and both have held up. Nobody has ever gotten out of it and said anything other than 'that's a nice car'.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

22 model years on record, 1,894 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2018 (inspected), 2017 (hose), 2016 (oil), 2005 (shaft). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • because 2020, 2021 peak 41.2% of that year's complaints
  • several 2023, 2024 peak 35.3% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2027 nothing on record 0 complaints
  2. 2026 nothing on record 2 complaints
  3. 2025 2 recalls 54 complaints
  4. 2024 3 recalls 68 complaints
  5. 2023 6 recalls 78 complaints
  6. 2022 4 recalls 87 complaints
  7. 2021 6 recalls 51 complaints
  8. 2020 7 recalls 87 complaints
  9. 2019 6 recalls 114 complaints
  10. 2018 inspected 141 complaints
  11. 2017 hose 225 complaints
  12. 2016 oil 588 complaints
  13. 2014 0 recalls 4 complaints
  14. 2013 0 recalls 11 complaints
  15. 2012 0 recalls 3 complaints
  16. 2011 1 recall 19 complaints
  17. 2010 3 recalls 12 complaints
  18. 2009 1 recall 7 complaints
  19. 2008 3 recalls 29 complaints
  20. 2007 2 recalls 38 complaints
  21. 2006 3 recalls 53 complaints
  22. 2005 shaft 223 complaints

What does a Volvo XC90 say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.