2013 Volvo Xc90: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2013 Volvo Xc90
On the 2013 Volvo Xc90, the failure owners report most often is stalling while driving, with 3 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 35,000 miles.
What owners report breaking
Owners have reported 8 named failure modes on the 2013 Volvo Xc90, and the three most-reported carry 54% of everything filed.
Stalling while driving leads with 3 reports and about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles.
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault follows with 2 reports, median 135,000 miles.
Other electrical problem follows with 2 reports, median 45,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into engine (4), airbag (2) and electrical (2).
At what mileage it happens
12 of the reports on the 2013 Volvo Xc90 came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 35,000 miles.
Cumulatively, 58% by 50,000 miles and 75% by 100,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed.
The busiest stretch is between 30,000 and 40,000 miles, which alone holds 33% of the dated reports.
33% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the median reported mileage
What happens when these parts fail
Across the named modes, 3 a fire. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 5.15, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: stalling while driving at $300–$2,500, airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault at $300–$1,600, other electrical problem at $250–$2,000 and no-start or intermittent start failure at $200–$1,800. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
31% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stalling while driving | engine | 3 | 3 | — | 37k | — | 0.3 | $300–$2,500 | Critical |
| Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault | airbag | 2 | 2 | — | 135k | — | 0.2 | $300–$1,600 | High |
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 2 | 2 | — | 45k | — | 0.2 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| No-start or intermittent start failure | engine | 1 | 1 | — | 12k | — | 0.1 | $200–$1,800 | Moderate |
| Fuel pump failure | fuel | 1 | 1 | — | 110k | — | 0.1 | $600–$2,600 | High |
| Alignment fault and uneven tire wear | suspension | 1 | 1 | — | 25k | — | 0.1 | $150–$1,200 | Moderate |
| Other driver assistance problem | adas | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $250–$1,800 | High |
| Other body or interior problem | body | 1 | 1 | — | 67k | — | 0.1 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Unclassified problem | other | 1 | 1 | — | 28k | — | 0.1 | — | Moderate |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2013 Volvo Xc90 draws about 1.1 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 76th percentile of complaint rates among 2013 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 11,373 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2013 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Stalling while driving
Having bought a 2013 volvo xc90 with 36k miles on it, I was driving on a highway 2 weeks later when I saw smoke coming out of the engine. The engine stalled and shut down. I quickly pulled over the car and was able to get out as the smoke was increasing. Within 4-5 minutes, the car was on fire. It was completely gutted and destroyed. Volvo declined to accept blame and said that the cause of fire cannot be determined. This is supposed to be the safest car and I was surprised at their callous attitude. The dealer from summit nj was far more professional. The highway it happened on was rt. 295 near princeton nj. I hope others can learn from this debacle and get some help if there is a fundamental problem with 2013 xc90. They did have a recall for the 2010 xc90 for the same reason. I feel the cause was either an electrical short circuit or a problem with transmission.
Having bought a 2013 volvo xc90 with 36k miles on it, I was driving on a highway 2 weeks later when I saw smoke coming out of the engine. The engine stalled and shut down. I quickly pulled over the car and was able to get out as the smoke was increasing. Within 4-5 minutes, the car was on fire. It was completely gutted and destroyed. Volvo declined to accept blame and said that the cause of fire cannot be determined. This is supposed to be the safest car and I was surprised at their callous attitude. The dealer from summit nj was far more professional. The highway it happened on was rt. 295 near princeton nj. I hope others can learn from this debacle and get some help if there is a fundamental problem with 2013 xc90. They did have a recall for the 2010 xc90 for the same reason. I feel the cause was either an electrical short circuit or a problem with transmission.
Other electrical problem
The anti skid service is not functioning. The warning light keeps coming on and off periodicially. When this happens, I sometimes lose the dash lights, blinkers and the fuel door unlocks. The issue is not happening consistently it happens when the weather gets bad. Everything just goes out. Its stationary at the because I have no lights or one light wont go off.
The anti skid service is not functioning. The warning light keeps coming on and off periodicially. When this happens, I sometimes lose the dash lights, blinkers and the fuel door unlocks. The issue is not happening consistently. Sometimes it won't happen for months and then it will happen again multiple times. I have taken it to volvo twice and they are unable to determine why this issue is happening.
Better and worse years of the same car
Across the 18 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2006 comes out best at 64 and 2018 worst at 82.
Within the 2012–2020 generation specifically, 2019 is the strongest year at 73 and 2018 the weakest at 82.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2012-2020 generation, 2019 Volvo Xc90 scores best at 73 and 2018 Volvo Xc90 worst at 82.
What this page cannot tell you
13 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 13 reports, 12 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 92% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2013 Volvo Xc90?
The most-reported failures are stalling while driving (3 reports, median 35,000 miles), airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault (2 reports, median 135,000 miles) and other electrical problem (2 reports, median 45,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Which year of the Volvo Xc90 is best?
Within the 2012–2020 generation, 2019 scores best at 73 out of 100 and 2018 worst at 82. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
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