Love it but anyone else having really weird issues?

christiansin · Aug 23, 2017

I love my XC90. I replaced my Porsche Macan S with this vehicle and it is great. Drives smooth, great luxury, awesome audio set up, beautiful lines and good acceleration. The technology is unbelievable. However, before I go back to the dealer with the following weird complaints, I wandered if they are at all common amongst us. I am hopeful that a software update will fix all of this.

So here's the strange list:
-Once or twice a week I will get into my drivers seat and the lower lumbar is inflated and uncomfortable. Not sure why and seems really random. I am the only driver.
-Almost everyday, I have to turn the A/C on and off for it to work, otherwise it will blow warm air all the way to work until I can't take it anymore here in Arizona.
-The radio stations won't switch using the steering wheel all the time...sometimes I have to press it 5 times to get it to start working and then its fine after that.
-Annoyance, my heads up display loses the calibration once a week and I can barely see it so I need to re-calibrate it. (I am the only driver btw).
-Sometimes when I go to change radio stations on the steering wheel, it pulls up a gray image of the car with a park in and park out feature that then quickly goes away.
-The rear view camera sometimes won't come on until the sensus display has activated the main menu items (map, radio, etc).
-This one is likely my misunderstanding: when the kids turn up their air in the second row, it trumps my settings and puts the front row on high.
-Mnior, but for an audiophile this is incredibly annoying and the only non-software complaint I have about the vehicle: par tof the right door vibrates so much during "chill" channel music that I have to change the station even when lower volume. At first it sounded like a bad speaker but its not.

Anyway, love my XC90 and every legitimate inconvenience i have experienced seems software related. Are the above common, like seats and head up changing on you and the air conditioning not working unless you cycle it?? Not looking forward to driver-less cars!

thanks
chris

phillipu · Aug 24, 2017

christiansin said:
I love my XC90. I replaced my Porsche Macan S with this vehicle and it is great. Drives smooth, great luxury, awesome audio set up, beautiful lines and good acceleration. The technology is unbelievable. However, before I go back to the dealer with the following weird complaints, I wandered if they are at all common amongst us. I am hopeful that a software update will fix all of this.

So here's the strange list:
-Once or twice a week I will get into my drivers seat and the lower lumbar is inflated and uncomfortable. Not sure why and seems really random. I am the only driver.

As I think you've seen, there's already a thread about this. I've had this issue in the past but the updates earlier in the spring seemed to have solved them for me, but not everyone.

christiansin said:
-Almost everyday, I have to turn the A/C on and off for it to work, otherwise it will blow warm air all the way to work until I can't take it anymore here in Arizona.

I've never experienced this personally. Without turning it off and on since you've identified that as a workaround, have you tried just changing the temp? What about setting it all the way to low? What does your outside temperature displayed in the dashboard read? There are some who've experienced faulty ambient/outdoor temperature sensors that will affect the effectiveness of then A/C as it thinks it's cooler outside than it really is.

christiansin said:
-The radio stations won't switch using the steering wheel all the time...sometimes I have to press it 5 times to get it to start working and then its fine after that.

I have noticed a couple things about this. First, there is sometimes a delay while it tunes in the next station if HD radio is enabled. Second, for some reason it appears to arbitrarily skip some stations. I don't know of fixes for either of these being available yet.

christiansin said:
-Annoyance, my heads up display loses the calibration once a week and I can barely see it so I need to re-calibrate it. (I am the only driver btw).

This is a known issue.

christiansin said:
-Sometimes when I go to change radio stations on the steering wheel, it pulls up a gray image of the car with a park in and park out feature that then quickly goes away.

This I have not seen or heard about this one. Are you sure it isn't just coincidental with you being close to another vehicle at a stop light such that it thinks you're parking?

christiansin said:
-The rear view camera sometimes won't come on until the sensus display has activated the main menu items (map, radio, etc).

Mine comes up almost instantly after switching to rear. Also, since the May 2017 update, it seems even more responsive than it used to be which may have something to do with upcoming US regulations that require the rear view camera to come up within seconds of shifting into reverse.

christiansin said:
-This one is likely my misunderstanding: when the kids turn up their air in the second row, it trumps my settings and puts the front row on high.

This is a misunderstanding. I think there is only one fan assembly that provides the air flow to the climate system. If a rear passenger requests more airflow, it increases the fan speed accordingly but you should not notice a change to the front air flow. At least not a significant one. The increased noise should be the only difference.

christiansin said:
-Mnior, but for an audiophile this is incredibly annoying and the only non-software complaint I have about the vehicle: par tof the right door vibrates so much during "chill" channel music that I have to change the station even when lower volume. At first it sounded like a bad speaker but its not.

I've resorted to stuffing the side pockets with towels to absorb the resonance of the door pocket outer surfaces. That seems to have solved the problem for me. It's also quite handy to have them around to dust things off and clean the screen.

christiansin said:
Anyway, love my XC90 and every legitimate inconvenience i have experienced seems software related. Are the above common, like seats and head up changing on you and the air conditioning not working unless you cycle it?? Not looking forward to driver-less cars!

thanks
chris

I can't wait until my car can drive me where I want to go without any more input than providing a destination. When they're proven safe, of course.

krypttic · Aug 24, 2017

Yes, I have the lumbar issue too. My dealer already verified that I have the latest software and stated they have never seen this issue before. I have a 2018 XC90 Inscription, so the hardware should be current too. What year/trim is your vehicle?

What part of AZ are you in? It would be nice to have someone else local experiencing this so I can tell my dealer I'm not the only one.

christiansin said:
I love my XC90. I replaced my Porsche Macan S with this vehicle and it is great. Drives smooth, great luxury, awesome audio set up, beautiful lines and good acceleration. The technology is unbelievable. However, before I go back to the dealer with the following weird complaints, I wandered if they are at all common amongst us. I am hopeful that a software update will fix all of this.

So here's the strange list:
-Once or twice a week I will get into my drivers seat and the lower lumbar is inflated and uncomfortable. Not sure why and seems really random. I am the only driver.
-Almost everyday, I have to turn the A/C on and off for it to work, otherwise it will blow warm air all the way to work until I can't take it anymore here in Arizona.
-The radio stations won't switch using the steering wheel all the time...sometimes I have to press it 5 times to get it to start working and then its fine after that.
-Annoyance, my heads up display loses the calibration once a week and I can barely see it so I need to re-calibrate it. (I am the only driver btw).
-Sometimes when I go to change radio stations on the steering wheel, it pulls up a gray image of the car with a park in and park out feature that then quickly goes away.
-The rear view camera sometimes won't come on until the sensus display has activated the main menu items (map, radio, etc).
-This one is likely my misunderstanding: when the kids turn up their air in the second row, it trumps my settings and puts the front row on high.
-Mnior, but for an audiophile this is incredibly annoying and the only non-software complaint I have about the vehicle: par tof the right door vibrates so much during "chill" channel music that I have to change the station even when lower volume. At first it sounded like a bad speaker but its not.

Anyway, love my XC90 and every legitimate inconvenience i have experienced seems software related. Are the above common, like seats and head up changing on you and the air conditioning not working unless you cycle it?? Not looking forward to driver-less cars!

thanks
chris

ncatoffice · Aug 24, 2017

My XC90 has a lot of issues with the entertainment system. Your best bet would be to report all these to your dealer. If you can take videos when these issues happen, its easier for them to exactly see what is happening.

jjd416 · Aug 24, 2017

ncatoffice said:
My XC90 has a lot of issues with the entertainment system. Your best bet would be to report all these to your dealer. If you can take videos when these issues happen, its easier for them to exactly see what is happening.

My car has many software bugs. I have been reporting them to my dealer since I purchased that car in March 2016 and almost none of the software issues have been fixed. It is extremely annoying that Volvo has not fixed these known software bugs in my 18 months of ownership. I love my car, but I seriously doubt I would buy it again unless I knew for sure they fixed Sensus. Sensus could have been one of the cars greatest selling points but ends up being the cars greatest weakness. Whom ever heads up Sensus should be replaced. It's completely unacceptable!

djsaad1 · Aug 24, 2017

jjd416 said:
My car has many software bugs. I have been reporting them to my dealer since I purchased that car in March 2016 and almost none of the software issues have been fixed. It is extremely annoying that Volvo has not fixed these known software bugs in my 18 months of ownership. I love my car, but I seriously doubt I would buy it again unless I knew for sure they fixed Sensus. Sensus could have been one of the cars greatest selling points but ends up being the cars greatest weakness. Whom ever heads up Sensus should be replaced. It's completely unacceptable!

Technically it probably is one of the cars greatest selling points, you just don't know how bad it can be until you own it. Sensus was the main reason I got this car.

GatorVolvo · Aug 24, 2017

I had the a/c not cooling problem for the first (and only) time 1 or 2 days ago. I have a failing external temperature sensor (already replaced once) and was looking for this as the culprit of non-cooled air but it was not. I adjusted the temperature down by at least 8 degrees without any change. I started the 2nd/3rd row a/c systems to try to engage the compressor. Not sure if that worked or if it was setting the a/c to LO. But after that it worked fine. If it happens again I'll try to simply turn the a/c off and on.

inteller · Aug 24, 2017

djsaad1 said:
Technically it probably is one of the cars greatest selling points, you just don't know how bad it can be until you own it. Sensus was the main reason I got this car.

Sensus is built on a **** OS. Volvo thinks they will be improving by switching in a few years to yet another **** OS, Android. Hope they plan on putting a lot of RAM and fast CPU in it cause they will need it!

chillg8r · Aug 24, 2017

I have not had the software issues you've described. I have, on occasion, has the same resonance issues with some music and when i bring my car in for its first servoce I will inquire about that. I think there may be some TJ's about that.

I wonder if they can reformat and reinstall the OS in the same way that I have to with my laptops, phones etc at home every now and again to get rid of the gremlins? As I said my OS works perfectly 98% of the time, about as often as my iPhone, so I know its possible.

Let us know what you end up doing.

KurosuHa · Aug 24, 2017

christiansin said:
-Almost everyday, I have to turn the A/C on and off for it to work, otherwise it will blow warm air all the way to work until I can't take it anymore here in Arizona.

As GatorVolvo suggested, I recommend you check your outside temp sensor is showing the correct reading. Those sensors are known to have a short lifespan and often need to be replaced.

jjd416 · Aug 24, 2017

chillg8r said:
I wonder if they can reformat and reinstall the OS in the same way that I have to with my laptops, phones etc at home every now and again to get rid of the gremlins? As I said my OS works perfectly 98% of the time, about as often as my iPhone, so I know its possible.

What model year is your car? I'm wondering if 2016s have more issues than newer models. Logically, I would expect it's all software related, but wondering if 2016s are effected more than 2017/2018s.

chillg8r · Aug 24, 2017

jjd416 said:
What model year is your car? I'm wondering if 2016s have more issues than newer models. Logically, I would expect it's all software related, but wondering if 2016s are effected more than 2017/2018s.

I have a 2017 that I picked up on May 25th, after the latest update. My car was delivered with the latest update installed.

christiansin · Aug 24, 2017

krypttic said:
Yes, I have the lumbar issue too. My dealer already verified that I have the latest software and stated they have never seen this issue before. I have a 2018 XC90 Inscription, so the hardware should be current too. What year/trim is your vehicle?

What part of AZ are you in? It would be nice to have someone else local experiencing this so I can tell my dealer I'm not the only one.

I am in Phoenix. Glad to see the responses to my post as well. The good news, is all this seems to be are software issues and nothing mechanical. I must laugh a little at the air sensor comment though. It is 110 out, the air conditioner should know that I am not only looking to establish 64 degrees, but not die in my car from this excruciating heat here in AZ! My suv is a 2017 XC90 6 inscription. I bought it in July so they said it already had the new version. It is a really nice vehicle and like I said above, a lot nicer than my 2017 Porsche Macan S and it was only 2k more.

chris

krypttic · Aug 25, 2017

christiansin said:
I am in Phoenix. Glad to see the responses to my post as well. The good news, is all this seems to be are software issues and nothing mechanical. I must laugh a little at the air sensor comment though. It is 110 out, the air conditioner should know that I am not only looking to establish 64 degrees, but not die in my car from this excruciating heat here in AZ! My suv is a 2017 XC90 6 inscription. I bought it in July so they said it already had the new version. It is a really nice vehicle and like I said above, a lot nicer than my 2017 Porsche Macan S and it was only 2k more.

chris

I just sent you a PM.

LRobXC90 · Aug 25, 2017

I had the same issue today. Driver's side was blowing warm air, while the passenger side was much cooler. It did that for like 10 min then the compressor kicked in for my side. Started to cool again. My car goes in tomorrow for the rear window " trail of tears" I will mention this to the dealer and see if they can provide a solution to this issue. MY 2017 you would have thought that this would have been resolved by now. Geez!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

HsyN · Aug 25, 2017

Wow, after seeing this thread and how things that would look like minor "annoyances" due to pickyness of the driver are actually real issues, I am not sure I can live with these on a brand new vehicle. I think Volvo made a very fine looking vehicle, and overall it works great, but I think they depend so much on electronics, it seems like they fix one thing, but break another and it will probably take another year or two for it to finally settle.
Please keep reporting these issues, no matter how minor or little they may seem, if enough people report it, (and hopefully dealers report it back to Volvo) we'll have one of the best vehicles on the road in couple of years.

Another Volvo · Aug 25, 2017

Some of these are rather intriguing. The A/C needing to be switched on twice and the park assist turning on are ones I have never heard of. The lumbar and HUD are known issues. I think the rear camera and changing radio problems are just Sensus lag. The door resonance may be a loose panel. And the rear aircon is the car only having one fan.

christiansin · Aug 25, 2017

Another Volvo said:
Some of these are rather intriguing. The A/C needing to be switched on twice and the park assist turning on are ones I have never heard of. The lumbar and HUD are known issues. I think the rear camera and changing radio problems are just Sensus lag. The door resonance may be a loose panel. And the rear aircon is the car only having one fan.

And those are only the uncomfortable issues. There are many annoyances if you really watch for them like the dash switching to instant mpg display instead of average, the weather disappearing on the dash screen and instead displaying trip mileage, and losing the in lane auto guidance feature without any change in the white lines. I don't care about this last one at all as I have learned that no way in heck is it a good idea to push pilot assist and let it drive like that for more than a couple blocks which tapping the wheel every 20 sec. Like I said, love the car but when I get into my inscription at 6 am in 100 degree plus weather in Arizona, I am aggravated by the lumbar and side bulsters being inflated, the heads-up display needing to be re-calibrating, my weather gone and having to turn the A/C on and off to get it to kick on. I literally, but admit-ably rarely, had a day where all this happened at the same time, but my Pandora loaded quick which never happens so that made it easier. By the way, I know its hot here in Arizona where I live so this may not be a fair question, but do your AC seats work?

I agree with the other poster that if they work out the bugs this car will dominate. I think it is quite handily out selling Audi's Q7 which was also really nice.

chris

xgman · Aug 25, 2017

These should all be easy fixes for Volvo. It's sad that some of them persist still.

Another Volvo · Aug 25, 2017

christiansin said:
And those are only the uncomfortable issues. There are many annoyances if you really watch for them like the dash switching to instant mpg display instead of average, the weather disappearing on the dash screen and instead displaying trip mileage, and losing the in lane auto guidance feature without any change in the white lines. I don't care about this last one at all as I have learned that no way in heck is it a good idea to push pilot assist and let it drive like that for more than a couple blocks which tapping the wheel every 20 sec. Like I said, love the car but when I get into my inscription at 6 am in 100 degree plus weather in Arizona, I am aggravated by the lumbar and side bulsters being inflated, the heads-up display needing to be re-calibrating, my weather gone and having to turn the A/C on and off to get it to kick on. I literally, but admit-ably rarely, had a day where all this happened at the same time, but my Pandora loaded quick which never happens so that made it easier. By the way, I know its hot here in Arizona where I live so this may not be a fair question, but do your AC seats work?

I agree with the other poster that if they work out the bugs this car will dominate. I think it is quite handily out selling Audi's Q7 which was also really nice.

chris

I think Volvo were aiming for the big things with this car, but skipped on some of the smaller things. Some of the things you have said are nit-picky but they add up to some big things.

Unfortunately I cannot answer your question about air cooled seats because I have an R-Design.

Love it but anyone else having really weird issues?

christiansin

phillipu

krypttic

ncatoffice

jjd416

djsaad1

GatorVolvo

inteller

chillg8r

KurosuHa

jjd416

chillg8r

christiansin

krypttic

LRobXC90

HsyN

Another Volvo

christiansin

xgman

Another Volvo

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities