Other engine problem on the 2012 Volvo S60
2 crashes 1 injury 3 of the 30 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Volvo S60 report other engine problem at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 23 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 55,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 95,425 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52,800 miles | 79,500 miles | 92,000 miles | 130,000 miles | 148,225 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 50,000 miles, and latest on the 2014 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2004 carries the most reports, with 57; the 2012 has 30. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl-the contact owns a 2012 volvo s60. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, the low oil warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the four quarts of oil were emptied but the failure was undetermined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 47,100. Djr
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 volvo s60. The contact stated that 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 repaired. The contact stated that the low oil pressure warning light failed to illuminate. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 86,111.
2012 volvo s60. Vehicle is at 64,114 miles. About a week ago, my check engine light came on and I noticed a high pitched whistle coming from the engine when driving. I took the car to the mechanic and he stated that a rubber diaphragm in the oil trap had ruptured causing the vehicle to go on full vacuum and in-take too much air and oil. In fact, it was taking in so much oil that the oil was nearly depleted. He stated that he has seen similar issues with volvos in the past. Approximately 6 months ago, I took the vehicle into the dealer for an oil service. At that time, he stated that the engine's oil was almost depleted. I'm now beginning to suspect that the broken diaphragm is related to that issue as well. I've seen other complaints regarding depleted oil (and the lack of a driver notification due to a malfunctioning oil sensor). This could potentially be the root cause of the oil depletion in these other cases as well.
Also reported on the 2012 Volvo S60
Complete engine failure or seizure
Excessive oil consumption
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Parking brake failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 30 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2012 Volvo S60?
Across 23 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2012 Volvo S60?
30 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.9 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed