AutoUtility currently tracks 40 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2021 Volvo XC40. Electrical System issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 12 complaints (30% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 2 filings cite a crash, 1 reports one or more injuries.
- • Total NHTSA Complaints: 40 reports
- • #1 Reported Problem Area: Electrical System (12 reports • 30% of submitted complaints)
- • Secondary Problem Areas: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (12), Fuel & Propulsion System (7)
- • Crash-Citing Complaints: 2 filings
- • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
- • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Most Reported Problems for 2021 Volvo XC40
Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records
Electrical System
NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #21V109000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:PROPULSION SYSTEM:TRACTION BATTERY:MANAGEMENT SYSTEM/ENERGY CONTROL MODULE (BMS/BECM):SOFTWARE
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech
NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #25V908000 BACK OVER PREVENTION:SOFTWARE
- Campaign #25V282000 BACK OVER PREVENTION:SOFTWARE
Fuel & Propulsion System
NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #21V109000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:PROPULSION SYSTEM:TRACTION BATTERY:MANAGEMENT SYSTEM/ENERGY CONTROL MODULE (BMS/BECM):SOFTWARE
Visibility, Wipers & Glass
Powertrain & Transmission
Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2021 Volvo XC40
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"1. OBC failure. Stranded unable to charge. Situational could be dangerous. 2. Rt side mirror defaults to extreme angle after locking car evert time. Dealership could not troubleshoot solution."
"I was driving this car on Highway 99 on 7/11/2025. The dashboard flashed the message " Stop safely The vehicle will stop Propulsion system failure." I cut the lane and stopped my car on the Highway 99 shoulder. Just right, my car stopped on the Highway shoulder; it disabled itself and couldn't move..."
"The contact owns a 2021 Volvo XC40. The contact stated that while reversing, the back over prevention screen image malfunctioned and started flickering before displaying a blank screen. During the failure, the message "Camera Unavailable" was displayed. The cause of the failure was not yet..."
"After having the rear camera software update to address the safety recall on 05/28, the “camera unavailable” problem persists. This vehicle has underpowered chipset in the IHU and the entire IHU should be subject to recall."
"Turning out of parking lot , car started pulsing, and stopped. Propulsion failure box popped up. Thankfully no cars behind us (young daughter in car seat)or was not attempting to merge on highway. Tow truck manually pulled car as no electric (cannot unlock or open trunk), completely shut down."
Complaint History for Volvo XC40
Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2019–2026)
| Model Year | NHTSA Complaints | Crash Reports | Safety Recalls | Detailed Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Volvo XC40 | 30 | 4 | 4 | View 2019 Problems → |
| 2020 Volvo XC40 | 12 | 1 | 1 | View 2020 Problems → |
| 2021 Volvo XC40 Current Page | 40 | 2 | 5 | Current |
| 2022 Volvo XC40 | 0 | 0 | 3 | View 2022 Problems → |
| 2023 Volvo XC40 | 43 | 7 | 4 | View 2023 Problems → |
| 2024 Volvo XC40 | 28 | 5 | 4 | View 2024 Problems → |
| 2025 Volvo XC40 | 11 | 1 | 2 | View 2025 Problems → |
| 2026 Volvo XC40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | View 2026 Problems → |
Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2021 Volvo XC40
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 23 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications
| Vehicle Component / System | Total Complaints | Crash Reports | Fire Reports | Reported Injury Entries | Reported Fatality Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SEAT BELTS,LANE DEPARTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES,BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STRUCTURE,VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.
Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.