2020 Volvo XC90
This year drew an ordinary 87 complaints for a Volvo XC90 — the model's median is 51. What they were about is the unusual part: 31% of them mention because, against 10.7% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Volvo XC90, which began in 2016. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
| Complaints filed | 87 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 51 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- because — 31% of this year's complaints, against 10.7% across the other years of this generation (2.9×).
- speed — 24.1% of this year's complaints, against 7.7% across the other years of this generation (3.1×).
- little — 17.2% of this year's complaints, against 5.9% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: little, notice, seen.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
The electrical rear axle system fails at around 39k miles in the Volvo XC90 with little notice. I purchased my pre owned 2020 XC90 recharge in Jan of 2023. The failure of the ERAD system Caused complete power failure instantly and the engine to cease operating…
The instrument cluster display on my 2020 Volvo XC90 went completely out while driving my vehicle. This was a single point of failure and SAFETY ISSUE as it affected my speedometer, gas gauge, etc. I was driving without any functioning indicators on the highwa…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V144000 FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE Fixed free of charge.
- 21V716000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 21V414000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 21V273000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 23V001000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 23V827000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 25V179000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volvo XC90 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2020 Volvo XC90? What happened to yours?
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