2004 Volvo XC90 problems
NHTSA has received 669 complaints about the 2004 Volvo XC90, and 24% of them involve electrical system. Next are transmission (16%) and fuel system (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 669 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 24% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 13 and 4
- Injuries and deaths
- 9 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 88,000 miles 587 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 31 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 26 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 67 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 134 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 91 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 98 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 66 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 29 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 31 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 8 |
| 200k+ miles | 6 |
What the data shows
Of the 587 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 88,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 94,000 miles (147 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 13 complaints mention a crash; 4 complaints mention a fire; 9 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 89% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2004 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 17 model years of the Volvo XC90 with enough data (230 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 6 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
March 25, 2005 had wreck, hit rear driver's side door; air bags on drivers side door and driver side rear door did not deploy. Volvo will not cooperate with car owner to fix problem with air bags. They said air bags did deploy. Owner would like further research on side curtin air bags.
My husband had a 55MPH crash in my 2004 volvo xc90 on the freeway. He rear ended another driver at top speed, was spun around several times on the freeway and ended up facing traffic. The passenger side airbag deployed, but the driver's side did not. The inspector from my insurance company said there was not reason the driver's side airbag did not deploy at that speed, other than a defect, as far as he was concerned.
Hit another car from behind before a red traffic light. Tried the best to stop my 2004 xc90, but seemed I lost the brake (fully or partially) and was not able to stop it to avoid the collision. Although I did all my best to brake it, did not feel ABS at all. I was not driving fast, 10 - 30 MPH, maybe. The weather was pretty nice, sunny and dry. Northern nj.
After driving 125 miles without incident, we left our 2004 volvo xc 90 t6 AWD parked for 4 hours before driving again. After less than a half mile at low speed, there was a "thump" from the front of the car, the wipers cycled, the gauges all went blank, some of the windows stopped working, the A/C went out (blower stayed on). The car stayed on, but seemed "stuck" in second gear and the brakes became "spongy," but operable. Turn signals were inoperable and the power steering went out.
Our 2004 volvo xc-90 developed a warning light that the stability control was inactive. In addition, we experienced a "sloshing" sound in the passenger compartment akin to a bottle of water rolling around the back. Upon inspection it was determined that the yaw sensor was damaged due to corrosion from defective sun-roof drains which allowed water intrusion into the vehicle body. No external leaks or issues were evident and the issue was well described upon an internet search.