Stop/Start system not working
 

Added to my Sensus issue we've also noticed that the Stop/Start system isn't working. All we see is the little stop/start symbol with a line through it on the lower-left section of the rev counter. There is no other warning message just the little symbol.
The car is driven regularly but not for as many miles as it would normally do for obvious reasons. The longest it has sat idle is about 2 weeks which is just a normal holiday length. Just this weekend it was driven to Kent from West Sussex at a decent speed so it had a good chance to put some charge in the battery.

So onto the dealer (Doves Horsham) I go to be told that it will be a battery issue due to the low mileage and that Volvo are not honouring any warranty claims. I proceeded to enquire where it said in the warranty documents that I had to do a certain number of miles in order to maintain the warranty but all I got in return was the "well, Volvo are not covering it on warranty" line.

Has anyone come across this issue before? Either the Stop/Start simply not working or the dealer stating that warranty claims for this will not be entertained by Volvo?

There may be an exclusion in the warranty terms relating to battery issues not caused by a manufacturing defect.

You could get some legal advice - is the CAB still operating a service?
Not fit for purpose is one issue (the Start/Stop system).
Refusal to honour the warranty is a second issue.

If the dealer still refuses to fix the Start/Stop under warranty, and the advice is that the dealer's refusal is spurious, have it fixed by an independent Volvo expert, then you could take out a Small Claim against the dealer to have the expense reimbursed.

My stop start hasn't worked since my dad died last year. Now I don't do 300 mile round trips to visit him, only local journeys, and not many of them at the moment.

It takes upwards of six hours to recharge the battery on the motorway so you won't see a fix from a short journey around the M25.

Has as been said many times on this forum, if your car has little use then Volvo recommend that the battery be charged every 2 weeks. Buy something like a Ctek intelligent charger. As we have 2 cars in the household, neither are getting much use during lockdown so we tend to swap them over every couple of weeks. I leave the Volvo on charge and when I use it the stop start starts to work within a mile even in the cold weather.

Add to this, the long list of conditions that must be met (outside temperature, distance driven, etc.), then it all adds up to a stop/start system that is mostly stopped.

Mine hasn’t worked for eight months, or so, due to lockdown, short journeys and the battery never at the level that stop/start needs to work. Whenever I’ve charged the battery enough to make it work, one or other of the list of caveats, means it hasn’t worked.

Roll on summer...

To be fair, if the battery is charged then I find the system pretty reliable.

Thank you, one and all. Maybe I am expecting too much of the Volvo stop/start system as the car is definitely doing fewer miles but does at least get driven regularly. 6 hours to fully charge? Then my 1hr there and 1 back wasn't enough it would seem.
All very strange as my BMW which has driven even fewer miles and sat stationary for long periods at a time seems to have a stop/start system that works just fine. It doesn't have its infotainment system shutting down when you listen to the DAB radio either.
Great cars these Volvos that seem to fail when challenged by the use they get from their owners......or maybe not. :confused_smile:

My stop/start starts stopping again once I've done about 100 miles on the motorway. I don't find it as annoying as some of the electronic gremlins that come up now and again.

Lovely car, shame about the computer.

Essex, I quite agree.