Turn indicator and lights "system faults"

[Jack21]

Hello everyone.

I live here in Spain and just bought the 2017 XC90 last May. All in all I love the car but I'm having strange electrical issues that the Volvo stealership can't seem to reproduce and therefore can't be fixed.

About a month ago I started getting random (ie, not repeatable) error messages upon use of my turn indicator control stick. The message that appears of the Sensus display is: "Turn indicator, System malfunction"

So what happens is the indicator starts to blink, then fails, then the message appears. Today for example, this happened 4 times in a row in the space of 20 minutes. I've also started noticing just recently that my headlights will flash brights all by themselves and then stop again, definitely annoying the poor driver ahead of me.

To me this seems like a failure of the entire indicator/light control wand assembly, but the dealer can't reproduce the problem and therefore have nothing to fix. Seems to me when they connect my car up to the OBD2 port their sophisticated computer equipment should be able to read the many lines of error messages that have collected in the car's memory.

So I'm having a definite WTF do I do moment with my new 60,000€ car. Just looking for thoughts or input here.

Vehicle: 2017 XC90 Momentum; D5 AWD; LED headlight system; etc.
Km: 18,000

Thanks all.

[apnicolle]

I had a similar error which escalated into a 'battery fault' message. Turns out it was nothing to do with the battery but was a problem with the steering control module.
They replaced that (including the indicator/ light stalks) and everything has been fine since.
Like you, no error messages were stored at first by the car, only once it escalated into a total failure.
The dealer said it was a common fault across many SPA cars...

[jmot]

have someone video the car doing it as proof

[Jack21]

[QUOTE=apnicolle;2338796]

I had a similar error which escalated into a 'battery fault' message. Turns out it was nothing to do with the battery but was a problem with the steering control module.

Interesting. I'll bring that term up when I return to the stealership next week.

They replaced that (including the indicator/ light stalks) and everything has been fine since.
Like you, no error messages were stored at first by the car, only once it escalated into a total failure.

Well I do get an error message on the Sensus screen, and I assume it's being stored in memory. But the jerks at Volvo Tarragona wouldn't answer that question. And yeah, my problem with the indicators/lights seems to be escalating as well.

The dealer said it was a common fault across many SPA cars...

Sorry to be dense here. What does "SPA" mean?

[Jack21]

Originally Posted by jmot

have someone video the car doing it as proof

LOL. I would if I could. The issue pops up fast and is random. Almost always seems to happen when I'm driving alone as well. Guess I could keep the iPhone at the ready to start recording when the damn flashing brights starts up again.

[nu11eaf]

[QUOTE=Jack21;2338845]

Originally Posted by apnicolle

Sorry to be dense here. What does "SPA" mean?

Scalable production architecture

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by apnicolle

Sorry to be dense here. What does "SPA" mean?

Scalable Product Architecture is the basis for current '60 and '90 series cars.

[volvo for ever]

suprising still getting fault on indicators ,,your dealler should be looking at SWM and new stalks replacing ,

also make sure on latest sw for everything

[Jack21]

surprising still getting fault on indicators ,,your dealer should be looking at SWM and new stalks replacing

Sorry. SWM?? Agreed that the turn signal/light control console (stalks as you put it) should be replaced. Had the issue massively again today while getting on to the "autopista" (toll road motorway) and even managed to record the whole damn thing on my phone this time. Thanks @jmot for the tip!

also make sure on latest sw for everything

Yeah. On my last visit to my Volvo stealership here in Tarragona they said all software and Sensus stuff had been updated. Yeah thanks. How about fixing the GD problem!??

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by Jack21

Sorry. SWM?? Agreed that the turn signal/light control console (stalks as you put it) should be replaced. Had the issue massively again today while getting on to the "autopista" (toll road motorway) and even managed to record the whole damn thing on my phone this time. Thanks @jmot for the tip!


Yeah. On my last visit to my Volvo stealership here in Tarragona they said all software and Sensus stuff had been updated. Yeah thanks. How about fixing the GD problem!??

I think if you can you need to get a new dealer.

The car typically has random software faults which are either:- transient, unusual and never appear again or are continual and very common. There are plenty of examples of the later such as the battery low warning. Examples of the former crop up now and again.

However I think your problem is not purely software.

The car also suffers from apparent software problems where a software fault appears but it is caused by a faulty bit of hardware which causes the issue. Due to the indicator and headlight flash sharing a stalk this looks like it is your problem. A dodgy unit, or dodgy connection to the unit, causes the unwanted operation.

There are plenty of examples of the above too. Mine suffered from wiper failure warnings continually for months and then the dealer replaced the stalk unit, downloaded the new software and the error was never seen again.

Indicator failures have been known since day one. Erin Baker from The Daily Telegraph here in the UK ran a long term test D5 maybe 24 months ago now and that was off the road for part of the time due to indicator failure.

So basically in my long winded way, I am saying your car obviously needs a new indicator stalk control module and your dealer obviously hasnt got a clue what it is doing.....