Buyer Research

2022 Volvo S60 — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $24,000–$34,000. There is 1 high-severity known issue you need to know before handing over a check.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 14 Volvo S60 years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

The year the S60 line became B5, B6 and T8 Recharge, with the Google-based infotainment replacing Sensus — and NHTSA holds 15 complaints and no recall campaigns for it. That is a thin record and it is not a verdict on the car; it says few owners filed. What they filed about clusters usefully, though: the centre display going blank mid-drive and taking the climate, the defogger and all audio with it, wheels bent or split by potholes inside 15,000 miles on the low-profile tires, and a T8 that lost motive power at 40 mph with a critical battery fault message on the screen. Two of those three are things you can check standing at the car with a flashlight. Go over the wheel rims, sit with the screen running for a solid ten minutes, and if it is a T8, get a Volvo dealer to print a high-voltage battery health report before you agree a price.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 15 owner complaints for the 2022 Volvo S60, 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 electrics and electronics (4), wheels and bearings (3), the engine (3). 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 2022 Volvo S60

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

Centre display goes blank on the move and the climate, defogger and audio go with itMedium

On this generation nearly every control lives in the touchscreen, so when it blanks you lose more than the radio. One owner reports the screen going dark at random, sometimes with a loud squeal from the speakers, taking all HVAC functions including the defogger and even the turn-signal chime, then sometimes recovering by itself after a few minutes. Another describes the car shutting off entirely on interstates and, on other occasions, refusing to switch off at all. Volvo addresses most of these with a software release, which is why the update history matters more on this car than on an older one. Start it cold and use the screen hard for ten minutes: climate, map, phone, drive modes. Ask the dealer to confirm the car is on the current software and whether the display unit was ever replaced.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$300 for a dealer software update; $1,500–$2,600 for a centre display unit

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (4).

Low-profile tires and big rims bend, split, and set off false pressure warningsMedium

Three complaints are wheels, and two of them are potholes doing damage a buyer will end up paying for: one owner replaced four tires inside 11,000 miles, another had three wheels bent and one blow apart within 15,000. The third is the indirect tire-pressure system — it reads wheel-speed rather than actual pressure, and it warned of low pressure in all four tires at 70 mph when the gauge said they were fine. That makes a real puncture easy to ignore. Kneel at each wheel and run a finger around the inner lip of the rim for flat spots and kinks, check the tire dates and tread, and see whether the car nags about pressures on the drive.

Repair cost (estimate): $400–$900 per wheel; $300–$500 per tire

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under wheels and bearings (3).

T8 Recharge can lose drive with a critical battery fault messageHigh — wallet impact

All three engine complaints are drivetrain stoppages on the plug-in hybrid. One car was doing 40 mph when it lost motive power and displayed 'Critical Safety Fault Battery — Stop and Service immediately'; it was towed in. Another came to an abrupt halt while reversing on battery power, lit the check-engine lamp and would not move in either direction. A third had a component in the engine bay replaced twice and the transmission hesitating between second and third. Volvo covers the high-voltage battery for 8 years or 100,000 miles, so the single most valuable thing you can do is confirm how much of that is left on the VIN and get a battery state-of-health printout. Drive it in pure-electric mode for at least ten minutes before you decide anything.

Repair cost (estimate): $3,000–$9,000 for high-voltage battery module work once the hybrid warranty has run out — about 31% of what this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (3).

Collision warning fires at cars that are nowhere nearMedium

Two owners report the forward-collision system alarming when the road ahead is clear, and one of the engine complaints repeats it independently. On this platform the warning comes from a windshield camera working with a grille radar, and both need recalibrating after glass replacement or any front-end repair — a step cheap glass shops often skip, and the commonest cause of phantom alerts. It matters because a false hard warning, or the braking that can follow it, is genuinely dangerous with traffic behind you. Look for a non-Volvo mark on the windshield, ask directly whether the car has had front bumper or glass work, and note any driver-assist message on start-up.

Repair cost (estimate): $300–$1,200 for a camera and radar recalibration at a Volvo dealer

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the driver-assist and automatic braking systems (2).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Centre screen that blanks, squeals or restarts during a ten-minute test
✗Flat spots or kinks on the inner lip of any rim
✗Tire-pressure warning that appears when a gauge says the tires are fine
✗Any battery or hybrid fault message on a T8, however briefly it shows
✗Aftermarket windshield on a car whose collision camera was never recalibrated

Good Signs

✓High-voltage battery state-of-health printout from a Volvo dealer on a T8
✓Original wheels straight and true on all four corners
✓Software confirmed current on a dealer printout, with the update history attached
✓Ten minutes of pure-electric running with steady power and no warnings appearing
✓Windshield original, or replaced by Volvo with a documented camera calibration