Volvo S60

Which Volvo S60 years should you avoid?

Going by 1,272 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Volvo S60 years to avoid are 2004, 2001 and 2002.

• 2004198 complaints, 2.7× a typical S60 year, most often about the engine; and 3.2× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (12 fires, 12 crashes).
• 2001223 complaints, 3.0× a typical S60 year, most often about the fuel system.
• 2002186 complaints, 2.5× a typical S60 year, most often about the fuel system.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2014 and 2016 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

Too new to judge: 2025. Complaints take a few years to arrive, so a new model year looks better than it is.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →