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What 38 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 Volvo XC90 T5

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (38)Crash / fire / injury (7)Electrical system (11)Engine (9)Brakes (5)Visibility & wipers (5)Airbags (3)Backup camera & sensors (2)Body & structure (2)Transmission & drivetrain (2)Engine & cooling (1)Fuel system (1)

2 of 38 complaints match · Backup camera & sensors · clear filters

May 16, 2025Backup camera & sensors

After a software update the backup camera’s field of view is super focused on the tailgate, license plate, and the immediate ground below. This is a safety concern as there have been a few near misses at parking lot speeds.

NHTSA ODI 11661570

Aug 19, 2022BrakesBackup camera & sensors1 injury

On 23rd July 2022 my son went underneath a reversing XC90 2019 vehicle. The front wheel went over his leg and arm. He miraculously survived and the event was close to taking his life. The vehicle was my wife's car. We are in possession of the surveillance video which shows that the vehicles safety features failed. Although the vehicle was left in the reverse gear, the car was stationary, after having been in a forward motion. This sequence automatically engages the park brake and only deactivated when the pedal is pressed. The pedal was not pressed. In addition the video shows the door was open when the brake was deactivated. Another safety feature which failed to prevent the event. My wife was outside of the car and pushing on the rear of the car, trying to stop it driving over my son. Both my wife at the rear bumper and my son on the floor behind the vehicle on the floor, failed to activate the reverse sensors safety feature. Although a small post did after the vehicle drove over my son. I have a video I can email but is too big for the upload feature. Please let me know how to send the video: be warned the video is not very pleasant. After the event I had the vehicle codes read at the local Volvo dealership. Multiple codes related to failures in the parking brake were identified. I contact Volvo and have been assisting them over the last two weeks with their investigation. They have had the car for 4 hours to run this investigation and I am aware the engineers in Sweden are involved. They have now come back to me and asked to see the vehicle again to read more codes. I have been very disappointed in Volvo through this process. The video clearly shows an "Event". and they keep referencing back to the car being fine at the point of the inspection; failing to reference or acknowledge the event timing itself. I am at the point I need to make sure their investigation is being done correctly, since I feel they are playing with words and not telling me the truth.

NHTSA ODI 11480231

Working with the data? Download all 38 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 21, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2019 Volvo XC90 T5 verdict →