Owners have filed 822 complaints on the Volvo V70, covering 1998–2010. The system named most often is Vehicle Speed Control (118 reports). Worst years by volume: 2001, 1998, 1999; cleanest: 2009, 2010, 2007. 32 reports describe a crash, 22 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 6.1 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Volvo V70
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 822 V70 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Vehicle Speed Control 118 Read
The first incident occurred when my wife and I were picking up my granddaughter at her home located on a steep hillside with a steep drive probably 8 plus degrees. I put the car in reverse and started to back down the drive. I had to back over the concrete drive edge as I had pulled off into the yard to make room for…
Pulling into restaurant parking space. Pushed on brake and vehicle shot forward. Ended up in restaurant. Not sure what happened, but never accidentally hit throttle before. Concerned, insurance checked recalls and found a problem
Initially noticed erratic acceleration, then my wife was accelerating from a stop light and the vehicle actually lost acceleration and she was hit behind by a pickup truck. The dash readout showed the message "performance reduced". Our insurance paid for the $2600 in damages. Our volvo mechanic determined that the…
Electrical System 109 Read
While driving at 15 mph consumer was involved in a minor collision. Upon impact, front of vehicle caught on fire, melting the wires in engine and electrical system. After inspection of vehicle, it was determined that fire started in turn signal light. Manufacturer has been notified. Please provide additional…
Today I received a warning message that my low beam was out. I stopped in the auto parts store and bought the passenger side low beam replacement bulb. When I went to disassemble it I noticed that the wiring harness was burnt. I'm going to replace the wiring harness but this is very concerning. It's not old and just…
I wanted to bring to your attention an incident regarding a car fire, and resulting total loss of my leased 2006 volvo v70. I leased the car on january 20, 2006. On saturday afternoon, january 13, 2007, I was driving with my two young grandsons. We were just starting to head south on the charter oak bridge when I lost…
Engine And Engine Cooling 94 Read
My new volvo v70 with only 7000 miles almost took my life as well as my 18 month old son's life! I was driving down a four lane road when another driver motioned me to pull aside. I thought I had a flat tire so I pulled over. The car was on fire! When I looked back the car had flames shooting out from under the driver…
While driving, complainant heard a clunk-type noise from the engine compartment then saw smoke coming out of the engine compartment. Complainant immediately pulled over and got out of the car and notified police. Within minutes the entire engine compartment and passenger compartment were engulfed in flames. Vehicle…
The contact owns a 2001 Volvo V70. The contact stated that while the vehicle was idling, the engine caught fire. The air bag warning light was illuminated. There was damage to the garage. There were no reported injuries. The fire department extinguished the fire and confirmed the origin of the fire was the engine. A…
Power Train 82 Read
Vehicle was parked inside a parking lot. Vehicle was in drive and driver removed key from ignition. When she returned to pick her car up, vehicle had rolled down the hill, and hit a parked vehicle. Dealership was aware of problem.*ak
Vehicle was in parked and without prior warning it jumped out of gear and rolled down the street
My entiire transmission failed and had to be replaced by the manufacturer. My turbo has now failed and warranty recently expired. The current quote is $1000.00 or more to repair this. The airbag did not deploy on 2 occasions when it should have. The dealership refused to check it because it was too expensive. When I…
Fuel System 79 Read
The contact owns a 2005 volvo v70. While approaching a stop sign at 55 mph, the vehicle began smoking under the hood. The contact exited the vehicle right before it burst into flames. The fire department arrived at the scene and a report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed and towed to a repair shop. The fire…
The contact owns a 2005 volvo v70. The contact stated that the vehicle constantly stalls. On one occasion, the vehicle stalled while driving 60 mph and the check engine light illuminated. The contact noticed that when she kept the fuel amount at half a tank, the vehicle would not stall. The dealer stated that the fuel…
Car stalls dies in traffic
Service Brakes 66 Read
ABS/ traction computer failure, premature brake failure, side airbag deployed falsely (volvo v 70 AWD cross country)
1) pulled out of my driveway 2) complete brake failure 3)tbd - car at dealership, but dealership and volvo usa refuses to acknowledge the brake failure
Traveling about 30mph, stepped on brake pedal, brakes did not activate
Exterior Lighting 44 Read
The contact owns a 2002 volvo v70. While driving, the exterior lighting failed to illuminate, which included the headlights, brake lights, and turn signals. The "position light failure, stop light and multiple bulbs failure" message appeared on the instrument panel. The contact stated that the headlight bulbs had been…
I am very concerned about the very poor quality of illumination provided by the headlights, particularly the low beam, of my 2004 volvo v70r. If I drive on a highway with oncoming traffic such that I can not use my high beams I will be overdriving my low beams at any speed over 30 mph. I have already been back to the…
Vehicle warning light for airbag is alarming since my airbag didn't deploy in my 2017 car accident when my car was hit from rear, front and driver side. Car was total. Seat beat and airbag failure in vehicle during accident while moving. This vehicle had a small tap accident but airbag warning light continues to…
Air Bags 33 Read
When we first purchased the car we drove it for about a week before it started surging forward and stalling a lot. My fianc and I would have to pull over, park the car, have to turn the key three times before starting. Would have to repeat process every 5 minutes. So we took it to paramount volvo of hickory, ended up…
"takata recall" I was driving east bound on arlington blvd in virginia and proceeded to stop on a yellow light when a car driving over 55 mph hit my 2002 volvo from the rear and my vehicle spun out of control and hit another car front/side from the west bound intersection in the 3rd lane coming the opposite side and…
The road: 2 lanes each way, wide median, paved shoulders which rolled off into a drainage ditch, 60 mph limit with sto plights. While in left began to pass vehicle2 [SUV] in right lane. Vehicle 2 moved into left lane forcing me onto shoulder. While on shoulder and attempting to reenter lane after completing pass began…
V70 years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Electrical System,engine | — | — | |
| 2009 | Electrical System,air Bags,seats | — | — | |
| 2008 | Electrical System | — | 1 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | — | 1 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | — | 1 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | — | 1 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags,electronic Stability Control (esc),fuel/propulsion System | 2 | 6 | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 4 | 3 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 6 | 2 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 7 | 2 | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 9 | 5 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 408 |
| Average complaints per series | 2 |
| Worst single series | 14 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.1 years |
A model average of 2 hides a worst series at 14. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the V70?
By complaint volume, 2001, 1998, 1999 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which V70 years are the cleanest?
2009, 2010, 2007 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Volvo V70 have?
822 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1998–2010. Of those, 32 describe a crash and 22 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.