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What 17 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 Volvo XC90 T6

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 (17)Electrical system (5)Brakes (4)Engine (3)Backup camera & sensors (2)Driver assistance (2)Steering (2)Transmission & drivetrain (2)Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness (1)Fuel system (1)Seat belts (1)

2 of 17 complaints match · Steering · clear filters

Aug 27, 2024SteeringTransmission & drivetrain

Vehicle steer violently on pilot assist and powertrain disabled, not allowing us to steer the wheel on a highway. (Last year) We were lucky no other cars were nearby, needed a reboot for the wheels to work again. Dealership isn’t sure what happened. Now we have a hybrid system failure which a lot of cars with the same model Xc90 T8 is having with the hybrid system. Please investigate into this

NHTSA ODI 11611104

Mar 13, 2023SteeringEngine

On two separate occasions, while driving car on highway at high speed, the car has gone into a special shutdown mode, where a turtle icon lights up on the dash and the car begins to shut itself down rapidly, limiting maximum speed of vehicle to 35mph. There is no warning or advanced alert. Suddenly the car reduces speed and feels like it is dead, and the systems begin to alert you that they are going into a reduced function mode. This was extremely scary thing to happen at highway speeds with flowing traffic. I had to crawl to side of rose at very low speeds. I could have been injured. I took the car to dealer for service and they said it was a software issue. A few months after, this happened yet again, also while at highway speeds. I have read that others are having similar issues with the Volvo XC90 model. This is so dangerous and the dealerships are writing it off as a software matter! It is extremely dangerous.

NHTSA ODI 11511651

Working with the data? Download all 17 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 18, 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 2021 Volvo XC90 T6 verdict →