2015 Volvo S60 — Should You Buy One?
Typical asking price: $9,500–$14,500. There are 2 high-severity known issues you need to know before handing over a check.
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Kestrel Take
A split year: early 2015s carry the five-cylinder and six-cylinder engines, and the 2015.5 brings the new 2.0L four-cylinder Drive-E with its electronic dipstick. The record does not spare either — 25 of 57 complaints are the engine, mostly oil consumption at a quart per 500 to 1,000 miles, and two are fires. The Drive-E adds a failure of its own: a crank pulley that comes apart, shreds the belt into the timing belt and bends valves. Two recalls, door latches and seat belt anchors, need a VIN check. Buy with an oil-consumption test and a look at the crank pulley, and price in the risk on whichever engine it has.
What we checked
Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25
NHTSA holds 57 owner complaints for the 2015 Volvo S60, and 2 recall campaigns.
A big number here usually means a lot of these were sold, not that it is a bad vehicle — popular models collect more complaints for the same rate of trouble. So the total on its own says little. What is worth reading is the shape of it. 44% of them are about one thing — the engine. That much concentration is a genuine pattern rather than background noise, and it is the first thing to check on any example you look at.
2 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.
Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.
Known Issues for the 2015 Volvo S60
Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.
Owners describe a quart every 500 to 1,000 miles with no leak, a Low Oil warning that only appears when the sump is nearly empty, and Volvo confirming it with a $500 consumption test before replacing piston rings — sometimes twice. One catalytic converter failed from the oil going through it. On the 2015.5 Drive-E there is no manual dipstick, so the only check is the level readout in the driver display: scroll to it before the test drive and again after. Ask a Volvo dealer whether this VIN had the consumption test or ring repair; Volvo handled some cars as goodwill and some under a notice with an 8-year/100,000-mile limit that most 2015s are now past.
Repair cost (estimate): $2,500–$4,500 for pistons and rings; $1,500–$2,500 for a catalytic converter; $6,000–$9,000 for a replacement engine — around 75% of what this car is typically worth
Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (25).
Two owners describe the same chain of events: the rubber in the crankshaft vibration damper lets go, the serpentine belt shreds, the loose belt is pulled behind the timing belt cover and skips the timing, and the engine stops with bent or broken valves — one at 50,000 miles on a certified car, one quoted $13,000 to $15,000 to replace. This is a known weakness of the four-cylinder Drive-E. Look at the crank pulley from below with a flashlight: cracked or bulging rubber between the inner and outer rings, or a belt riding off-centre, is a car to walk from or to price a damper and belt into before you drive it.
Repair cost (estimate): $400–$800 for a damper and belts in advance; $4,000–$8,000 for valves and a head after a failure — around 67% of what this car is typically worth
Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the transmission and drivetrain (5), the engine (25).
Nine electrical complaints and most of them are a car that goes dead: screens black and the engine off on a two-lane road, a stall at a light that would not restart, a certified mechanic's car that stalls only in very hot or very cold weather with no light. Diagnoses where they exist were the battery and alternator. Related in the powertrain cluster: the auto stop-start cutting the engine and not bringing it back, and a shifter locked in park that needs the key in the release slot. Have the battery load-tested and the alternator output checked; a Drive-E with stop-start is hard on both.
Repair cost (estimate): $250–$450 for a battery; $600–$1,100 for an alternator; $100–$300 for a shift-lock or brake switch
Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (9).
Recall 19V849 covers 2011–2017 S60s: a part inside each door latch can fracture, so the door is hard to close or feels shut when it is not, and could open while driving. All four latches are replaced at no cost. Three structure complaints on this year fit the pattern. Shut every door from inside and out and push on it from outside; confirm the recall shows complete on the VIN lookup.
Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed
Source: 2 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.
Recall 20V378 replaces the steel cable that anchors each front belt to the seat on 2011–2018 S60s; it can wear with years of use and may not hold in a crash. Free at a Volvo dealer, issued December 2020. Check the VIN, pull each front belt fully out and back, and look at the anchor by the seat base for fraying.
Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed
Source: 2 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.
Walk-Away Red Flags
- ✗Oil level readout in the driver display below the midpoint on a car the seller says was just serviced
- ✗Cracked, bulging or shiny rubber ring on the crank pulley when viewed from below
- ✗Serpentine belt riding off-centre or frayed at the edge
- ✗Slow crank or dimming lights at start-up
- ✗Either recall still open on the NHTSA VIN lookup
Good Signs
- ✓Volvo dealer invoice for the oil-consumption test and a piston-ring repair, with the mileage noted
- ✓Receipt for a replacement crank pulley and belts on a Drive-E car
- ✓Recalls 19V849 and 20V378 both shown closed on the VIN lookup
- ✓Battery and alternator load test passed within the last year
- ✓Oil-change receipts at 5,000-mile intervals with the level recorded
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Known issues on this page are based on documented owner reports, NHTSA complaints, class-action records, and manufacturer technical service bulletins. Individual vehicles vary. A pre-purchase inspection by a trusted mechanic is always worth doing.
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