Model years › Volvo S60

2012 Volvo S60

Complaints about this year name low oil far more often than the other years of this generation — 16% of them, about 39× the usual rate of 0.4%.

Generation 2 of the Volvo S60, which began in 2011 and ran to 2018. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

What the complaints were about

• oil — 37.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the other years of this generation (16.4×).
• seized — 9.9% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (49.6×). Owners wrote it as: seized, engine seized, motor, recall engine.
• certified — 15.7% of this year's complaints, against 4.3% across the other years of this generation (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: certified, make model, locks, engage.

Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.

Also unusual this year

• checked — 13% of complaints, 33× usual
• get — 15% of complaints, 8× usual
• warning light — 10% of complaints, 25× usual

What owners wrote

WHILE MAKING A LEFT OR RIGHT TURN, THE LOW OIL LEVEL WARNING LIGHT FLASHED ON THEIR INSTRUMENT PANEL AND DISAPPEARED. THE CONTACT ADDED A QUART OF OIL AND APPROXIMATELY THREE WEEKS LATER WHILE HIS WIFE WAS DRIVING, SHE BECAME AWARE OF A KNOCKING SOUND COMING F…

WHILE DRIVING AT 55 MPH, THE VEHICLE STALLED. THE CONTACT WAS UNABLE TO RESTART THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A DEALER WHO STATED THAT THERE WAS NO ENGINE OIL IN THE VEHICLE AND DIAGNOSED THAT THE ENGINE NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAI…

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 11V508000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
• 11V303000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
• 12V075000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
• 11V311000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
• 12V101000 STRUCTURE
• 13V592000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
• 20V378000 SEAT BELTS
• 19V849000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.

Own a 2012 Volvo S60? What happened to yours?

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How this was worked out

Every year of the Volvo S60 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.

This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.

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