NHTSA Complaint #11562233 — 2023 VOLVO XC40

The brake systems have failed repeatedly on this vehicle, and have been replaced by the manufacturer TWICE since purchase (April 28, 2023). Brakes continued to intermittently freeze or lose pressure, so car is now classified as a lemon. However, as we have waited months and months for the lemon process to complete, the transmission began to fail. At first, we had incidents of the car seeming to shift into neutral at speeds of 30-40 MPH. The car’s engine would rev and yet forward propulsion would become coasting. Lifting foot from accelerator and then putting fit back on would often result in the gear “catching” and the car lurching into gear. On the most recent and dangerous iteration of this transmission/engine problem, when merging onto an interstate and traveling at 45-50 MPH, I attempted to accelerate and merge. Instead of downshifting to give me more power, the car entered a seeming neutral state (both hands were on the wheel, indicator said I was in Drive). The engine revved and yet the car coasted. I was unable to pull into traffic, on a very short entrance ramp. I pulled my foot off the gas pedal, waited a second, and put it back on. The car lurched into gear and shot forward. We have stopped driving this car while awaiting Volvo’s agreed upon lemon law payout. The dealer will not fix the car, given its lemon status. The buyback company, Sedgwick, takes no responsibility. We are fortunate enough to be able to afford a new car while awaiting the payout. But had we not been able to, these transmission/engine problems could easily have caused an accident. No other person should be in danger from these cars. The service manager at our dealer states that they are in the process of multiple XC40 buybacks right now. Volvo has a problem and it is simply buying back these cars. I will list the date of the most aggregators transmission issue (the merging problem) below.