Buyer Research

2017 Volvo S90 — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $12,000–$19,000. This is one of the more reliable vehicles in its class — here's what to watch for anyway.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 6 Volvo S90 years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

The first year of the S90, and the record for it is eight complaints with no recall campaigns — far too small to grade a car on, so read it as a thin file rather than a clean one. The eight are scattered, one apiece across suspension, doors, fuel and driveline, but two of them are unusually specific and useful: front struts that Volvo redesigned and now sells only in pairs, and a fuel leak a dealer traced to a low-pressure fuel sensor. The car itself is the bargain of the segment at this age, because big Volvos depreciate harder than the Germans they were built to fight while costing much the same to fix. That is the trade. Buy one with a Volvo service history, drive it over broken pavement with the radio off, and put your nose in the engine bay before you hand over money.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 8 owner complaints for the 2017 Volvo S90, and 4 recall campaigns.

That is too small a record to read a pattern from, so we are not going to pretend otherwise — with numbers this low one owner moves the percentage by a lot. What has been filed is grouped under the suspension (1), the body and structure (1), the fuel system (1). Treat those as things to look at, not as the vehicle's known weaknesses. A thin file usually means few of these were sold or few owners filed. It is not evidence the vehicle is trouble-free, and the issues below are our own research rather than a reading of this record.

4 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 2017 Volvo S90

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

Front struts redesigned by Volvo and now replaceable only as a pairMedium

An owner reports being told that the original front struts were known to fail, that Volvo re-engineered them with different mounting brackets, and that the old part is no longer made — so one worn strut means buying both sides. Take the specifics as one owner's account of what a dealer told them, but the practical warning holds and it is easy to check. On the test drive, pick a road with expansion joints or patched tarmac and turn the stereo off: you are listening for a knock or clonk from the front over small bumps, and feeling for a float or a second bounce after a dip. Also look at the top of each front tyre for uneven inner-edge wear, which is what tired struts and the alignment they ruin leave behind.

Repair cost (estimate): $900–$2,100 for the pair fitted and aligned

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the suspension (1).

Door latches freezing shut in hard cold, locking you out of the carMedium

An owner in genuine cold reports the latches freezing at around ten below zero so the doors would not open at all, and says Volvo had no fix to offer. If you live somewhere warm this is a curiosity. If you park outside in a northern winter it is the difference between a car and a sculpture, and it is worth asking a local independent Volvo specialist what they do about it before you buy. You cannot test it in July, so test what you can: work every door handle, inside and out, several times, and listen for a latch that sounds gritty or needs a second pull. A latch already slow to release in mild weather will be the first one to stick in January.

Repair cost (estimate): $350–$1,100 per door latch assembly fitted

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the body and structure (1).

Petrol smell through the vents from a leaking low-pressure fuel sensorMedium

One owner smelled fuel through the ventilation for several days, opened the hood and found petrol leaking from a hose near the engine; the dealer traced it to a leaking low-pressure fuel sensor and replaced it. The part is not expensive, but a fuel leak in an engine bay is the sort of thing you fix the week you find it, not the month. This one is free to check and almost nobody does: open the hood with the engine warm, lean in and smell along the fuel lines, then look for a wet, darker patch or a clean streak washed through the road dirt on the black plastic where fuel has been running. A faint petrol smell in the cabin at idle is the same signal from the driver's seat.

Repair cost (estimate): $250–$800 for the sensor and the fuel line work around it

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the fuel system (1).

Sensus centre screen freezing, rebooting or coming up blackMedium

Not in the complaint record for this year, so treat it as an inspection step rather than a finding about the 2017. It matters here more than it would on another car because Volvo put nearly every control into that portrait touchscreen: climate, heated seats, the defroster, the drive modes. When the screen locks up you lose them all at once, and on early cars owners learned the two-button reset before they learned the stereo. Sit in the car before you drive it and give the screen ten minutes of real use — swipe between the tiles, change the cabin temperature, open the camera view, connect a phone. A screen that reboots itself once while you watch will do it again on a dark motorway.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$1,600 from a software update at a dealer to a replacement display unit

Source: not yet checked against public records.

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Knock or clonk from the front suspension over small bumps with the radio off
✗Petrol smell in the cabin at idle or around the engine bay with the hood up
✗A door handle that needs a second pull or sounds gritty
✗Centre screen that freezes or reboots during a ten-minute sit
✗Uneven wear on the inner edge of the front tyres

Good Signs

✓Both front struts replaced together with the upgraded part, with the invoice
✓Four-wheel alignment done after any suspension work, with the printout
✓Low-pressure fuel sensor or fuel lines replaced and recorded on a repair order
✓Sensus software at the latest version, shown on a dealer invoice
✓Volvo dealer or specialist service history with the oil changes stamped on interval