Buyer Research

2024 Volvo S90 — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $38,000–$52,000. There is 1 high-severity known issue you need to know before handing over a check.

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

Kestrel Take

Two complaints on the whole model year and no recall campaigns — a record far too small to grade a car by, and we are not going to read a short list as reassurance. What makes this one unusual is that one of the two is a vehicle fire: an owner driving at 45 mph saw smoke from the engine bay, pulled over, and the car burned. One report is not a pattern and nobody has established a cause, but a fire is not a complaint you skim past, and it belongs at the top of this page rather than in a footnote. The other is a driver's display that pixelated and went blank twice after an over-the-air software update. Between them they describe a modern Volvo accurately: conservative engineering, a lot of software, and a public record too young to have settled. Buy one with warranty left and check the software history as carefully as the service history.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 2 owner complaints for the 2024 Volvo S90, and 2 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 throttle and cruise control (1), the engine (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.

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 2024 Volvo S90

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

One report of the engine bay catching fire while drivingHigh — wallet impact

NHTSA holds one fire report for this model year: the owner of a mild-hybrid S90 was driving at about 45 mph with a passenger in the back when smoke came from the engine compartment; they pulled over and the car caught fire, and the fire department filed a report. That is a single filing and we cannot tell you what caused it — nobody has published a cause, and one event does not make a defect. What a buyer can do is look for the ordinary precursor to an engine-bay fire on any turbocharged car, which is fluid landing on hot metal. With the engine warm, open the hood and look for oil or coolant weeping down the back of the engine toward the turbo and exhaust, a burnt or sweet smell, and any scorched, discoloured or melted plastic or insulation near the exhaust side.

Repair cost (estimate): $200–$2,500 to trace and cure an oil or coolant leak onto hot exhaust parts

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

Driver's display pixelating and going blank after an over-the-air updateMedium

An owner reports that shortly after the car took Volvo's over-the-air software update, the driver's display twice lost the map view between the dials, broke into pixels, went white and then blank entirely. On this car the driver's display is where the speedometer lives, so losing it is not a cosmetic problem. It is also the thing most likely to be fixed by the next update rather than by a part, which is why the software history matters. Ask the seller what version the car is on and whether any updates were refused or interrupted, then sit with the engine running and watch the display through a full start-up and a few minutes of idle before you drive it.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$1,800 from a software update to a replacement driver display unit

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under throttle and cruise control (1).

Recharge plug-in: the charging cable and cold-weather range are part of the priceMedium

No complaint sits behind this — it is what separates a good used plug-in from an expensive one, and this year was sold as a plug-in Recharge alongside the mild hybrid. Two things get quietly lost between owners. The first is the charging cable, which is not cheap to replace and is routinely left in someone's garage, so open the boot and put your hands on it. The second is realistic expectation: a plug-in hybrid in winter uses battery energy to heat the cabin, so a car that shows a fine range in a mild driveway will show much less in February. Charge it fully while you are there, note the predicted range, and treat anything far short of the original rating as a reason to talk about price.

Repair cost (estimate): $300–$2,200 from a replacement charging cable up to an onboard charger repair

Source: not yet checked against public records.

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Oil or coolant weeping down the back of the engine toward the exhaust
✗Scorched, discoloured or melted plastic or insulation near the exhaust side of the engine bay
✗A burnt or sweet smell under the hood with the engine warm
✗Driver's display that pixelates, whites out or blanks during a few minutes of idling
✗A plug-in sold without its charging cable in the boot

Good Signs

✓A dry engine bay with clean plastic and insulation around the exhaust side
✓Driver's display holding a full, steady picture through start-up and idle
✓Software confirmed at the current version on a dealer invoice or in the car's own settings
✓Original charging cable present and a full charge achieved while you wait
✓Factory warranty still running, confirmed against the in-service date on the VIN