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Your vehicleHome›Volvo›S90› 2016
Volvo · Midsize Sedan

2016 Volvo S90

Gas
Midsize Cars
2 EPA-rated configurations
Data refreshed 2026-11-04
B
Safety Signal
85 / 100 from the NHTSA recall record
RecallsNHTSA campaigns 2
Complaintsowner reports to NHTSA 0
Crash ratingnot rated by NHTSA —
Fuel economybest combined, EPA 27 mpg
20262025202420232022202120202019201820172016

The 2016 Volvo S90 is sold in the U.S. as a gas midsize sedan with 2 EPA-rated configurations. The EPA did not publish a separate 2016 certification; fuel-economy figures below are carried over from the 2017 listing. The most efficient version, the S90 FWD, is EPA-rated at 27 mpg combined. NHTSA lists 2 recall campaigns for this model year, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of B.

Volvo S90 — photograph via Wikimedia Commons
Volvo S90 · Photo: Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Specs & fuel economy

Source: EPA fueleconomy.gov
ConfigurationPowertrainDriveEngine / motorCityHwyCombAnnual fuel*
S90 FWDGasFWD2.0L 4-cyl turbo233427$3,050
S90 AWDGasAWD2.0L 4-cyl turbo223125$3,300

*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year at EPA reference fuel and electricity prices. fueleconomy.gov record ids: 37557, 37558. Figures carried over from the 2017 EPA listing; no separate 2016 certification was published.

Emissions & certification

Source: EPA emission certificates
ConfigurationSmog ratingEmission standardWhere it can be sold newSmartWay
S90 AWD, S90 FWD6 / 10LEV-III ULEV125 / Federal Tier 3 Bin 125All 50 states (federal, all altitudes); California and states following California standards—

Certified for all fifty states, so it can be registered new anywhere in the U.S.

The smog rating scores tailpipe pollutants other than greenhouse gases, 1 (worst) to 10 (best), and is comparable only within a model year. The standard is the federal bin or California tier the configuration was certified to. Both come from the EPA certificate behind the window sticker.

Also on file Beside the 2016 S90
Other years The 2026 S90 Recalls Volvo recalls
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Factory warranty running out?

The 2016 Volvo S90 is in the years where transmission, electronics and drivetrain repairs land on the owner. What an extended plan does and does not cover is worth reading before a dealer quotes you one.

What to check before you buy →

Affiliate disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you request a quote or buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing on this page changes because of it.

Recalls (2)

Source: NHTSA recall database
▲high

Seat Belts

R89708
74,027 vehicles 96% reported repaired built Feb 16, 2015 – Aug 22, 2016
Problem Volvo Car USA LLC (Volvo) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 XC90, S90, XC60, V60 Cross Country, V60, S60 Cross Country, S60, and S60 Inscription vehicles manufactured February 16, 2015, to August 22, 2016. On the affected vehicles, the front passenger seat belt buckle attaching stud may loosen, allowing the buckle to separate from the seat belt bracket. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 210, "Seat Belt Assembly Anchorages" and number 209, "Seat Belt Assemblies." Risk If the seat belt buckle separates from the bracket, the front seat passenger may not be adequately restrained in the event of a crash, increasing their risk of injury in the event of a crash. Fix Volvo will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the front passenger seat belt buckle stud, replacing the seat belt buckle as needed, free of charge. The recall began January 2017. Owners may contact Volvo customer service at 1-800-458-1552. Volvo's number for this recall is R89708.
Filed with NHTSAOwner letter PDFRemedy instructions PDF
NHTSA campaign 16V798000 reported Nov 2, 2016 Volvo Car USA LLC the full filing, and every vehicle covered →
▲high

Air Bags

R89707
43,766 vehicles 97% reported repaired built Apr 15, 2015 – Sep 19, 2016
Problem Volvo Cars of North America, LLC (Volvo) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Volvo XC90 and S90 vehicles manufactured April 15, 2015 through September 19, 2016. In the affected vehicles, the drain hose for the air conditioning may leak into the passenger compartment due to a drain hose installation error during manufacturing. Risk Significant water drainage into the passenger compartment may adversely affect air bag deployment in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of occupant injury. Fix Volvo will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the air conditioning drain hose for proper installation, replacing the hose as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on November the 14, 2016. Owners may contact Volvo at 1-800-458-1552. Volvo's number for this campaign is R89707.
Filed with NHTSAOwner letter PDFRemedy instructions PDF
NHTSA campaign 16V690000 reported Sep 26, 2016 Volvo Car USA LLC the full filing, and every vehicle covered →

These are vehicle campaigns — the ones the automaker filed against this model. NHTSA also records equipment recalls, filed by a parts maker against a component (a tyre, a child seat, an aftermarket part), and those are not listed here or counted above.

Whether any of this applies to one specific S90

A campaign covers a build range, not a model year, so two identical-looking cars from 2016 can differ. Type the VIN and the WhichTrim recall report sets aside the campaigns that name a different engine or drive, and narrows the rest to its build month.

Hear about a recall before the letter does

The manufacturer’s letter is the last step of a recall: it has up to 60 days after filing to mail owners, at the address on the registration. We email you the day NHTSA posts a recall on the 2016 Volvo S90, with what to do next. Nothing else, ever — no newsletter, no marketing, one-click unsubscribe in every message.

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Parts & accessories for the 2016 Volvo S90

Search by fitment on eBay Motors — OEM take-offs, aftermarket, and the trim pieces dealers no longer stock. The listing and the price are the seller's.

Find parts for this S90 →

Owner complaints

Source: NHTSA complaint database

No owner complaints on file with NHTSA for this model year.

Crash ratings

Source: NHTSA NCAP

NHTSA has not published 5-Star crash ratings for this model year.

Service bulletins & campaigns

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications
Communicationsfiled with NHTSA 60
Most recentmanufacturer date 2024-02-21
Kindsas classified by NHTSA 60 service bulletins

Most often about: Equipment, Electrical System, Engine, Unknown Or Other, Power Train.

  • 35924.1.4 Service bulletin
    2024-02-21 · Electrical System
  • This is a Technical Journal: VIDA Main battery diagnostic - Prompted to charge battery a second time. Use had held tester.
  • 26745.13.14 Service bulletin
    2024-01-12 · Electrical System
  • This is a Technical Journal: 12V Battery Testing Method
  • TJ35912.4.0 Service bulletin
    2023-10-31 · Unknown Or Other
  • Updated Chassis Range.
  • TJ3666530 Service bulletin
    2023-09-08 · Power Train
  • ERAD (Electric Rear Axle Drive) Bearing Noise
  • C00009 Service bulletin
    2023-07-21 · Electronic Stability Control (Esc) — Control Module — Software
  • COMPLIMENTARY UPGRADE C00009 DESCRIPTION.
  • 36678.1.0 Service bulletin
    2023-06-30 · Equipment — Other — Owners/Service/Other Manual
  • This is a Technical Journal. Recovering control modules stuck in “not responding” after failed SW download. Connect VIDA to read-out the car. Follow steps outlined in this TJ.
  • TJ3656330 Service bulletin
    2023-06-12 · Unknown Or Other
  • Rubber cushion
  • TJ3658411 Service bulletin
    2023-03-24 · Exterior Lighting — Headlights
  • Left front LED flickers after turning car off

A service bulletin is the manufacturer telling its dealers how to diagnose or repair a known condition. It is not a recall, not a finding that the vehicle is defective, and the work is not automatically free — though a bulletin is often what a dealer works from when you describe a symptom, so quoting the document number can save a diagnosis. The count is every communication filed; the list shows the most recent, one entry per campaign, because a single campaign is usually filed as several documents on the same day. The summaries are NHTSA's; the full documents come from the manufacturer.

Diagnostic trouble codes on file

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints

Codes documented against this model year in the federal record. A code appearing here does not mean this vehicle will set it — it means the code is part of this nameplate-year's documented history.

CodeWhat it meansMost often filed underWhere it appears
P05EBManufacturer-defined — the meaning is set by the automaker, not the standard.Engine1 bulletin

Generic codes (the second character is 0 or 2) mean the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States. Manufacturer-specific codes (1 or 3) mean whatever the automaker assigned, and no honest source can define them for you — which is why the ones here carry the evidence instead of a definition. A code is a link when enough separate federal documents name it across the catalogue to be worth a page of its own; the rest are listed here, where the vehicle is the context that makes them mean something.

Affiliate disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you request a quote or buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing on this page changes because of it.

S90 by model year

all years, side by side →
Year Safety Recalls Complaints
2026 A 0 0 28 mpg2025 C 4 0 29 mpg2024 A 2 3 25 mpg2023 B 3 3 30 mpg2022 B 3 2 30 mpg2021 C 2 0 30 mpg2020 D 4 3 30 mpg2019 C 4 3 29 mpg2018 B 2 16 29 mpg2017 C 4 8 27 mpg2016 this page B 2 0 27 mpg

Common questions about the 2016 S90

Source: EPA, NHTSA and manufacturer press kits

Does the 2016 Volvo S90 have any recalls?

NHTSA has posted 2 recall campaigns for the 2016 Volvo S90. The most serious on file is 16V798000, covering Seat Belts. Check your own VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls; a recall applies to specific build ranges, not every car.

How safe is the 2016 Volvo S90?

NHTSA has not published a crash-test rating for the 2016 Volvo S90 yet. On the recall record WhichTrim grades it B (85/100), which measures open and severe recalls rather than crash protection.

What is the fuel economy of the 2016 Volvo S90?

Across the 2 EPA-rated configurations of the 2016 Volvo S90, the best EPA combined figure is 27 mpg. Figures are the EPA's own, per configuration, and every one is listed above.

How clean is the 2016 Volvo S90?

The EPA smog rating for the 2016 Volvo S90 is 6 out of 10. That score covers tailpipe pollutants other than greenhouse gases, and it only compares vehicles within the same model year. It is certified for all fifty states, so it can be registered new anywhere in the U.S. Its configurations were certified to different standards — Federal Tier 3 Bin 125, LEV-III ULEV125 — which the table above lists per configuration.

Are there service bulletins for the 2016 Volvo S90?

The manufacturer has filed 60 service bulletins and related communications with NHTSA for the 2016 Volvo S90, most often covering equipment, electrical system, engine. The most recent is dated 2024-02-21. A bulletin is not a recall: it is the repair procedure a manufacturer sends its dealers for a condition it knows about, and the work is not automatically paid for. It is still worth knowing — if the symptom matches, quoting the bulletin number at the service desk can save a diagnosis. The document numbers and summaries are listed above.

What we hold, and what an empty row means

Paid vehicle-history reports will not tell you the difference between “nothing happened to this car” and “we never received that record” — both of the big two say as much in their own help pages. Most of what is on this page comes from complete federal registers, so we can tell you which is which, row by row.

DataHeldSourceWhat it covers — or what empty means
Fuel economy & configurations2 configurationsEPA certification recordsEvery configuration the EPA certified for sale, with its own test figures.
Emission certificates2 configurationsEPA emission certificatesSmog rating, standard and the sales area that decides where the car can be sold new.
Recalls2NHTSA recall campaignsA complete federal register: every campaign covering this model year, with severity and advisory flags.
Owner complaintsnoneNHTSA complaint databaseNo owner has filed one. On a car that sold in small numbers this says very little either way.
Crash ratingsnoneNHTSA NCAPNHTSA has not tested this model year. Cars are selected for testing, so untested is not unsafe.
Service bulletins60NHTSA manufacturer communicationsEverything the manufacturer told its dealers about a defect or malfunction, short of a recall.
InvestigationsnoneNHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationNo defect investigation has been opened.
Driver-assist crash reportsnoneNHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01No report has been filed. Only entities named in the order report, and only crashes they hear of — so this is also what an unequipped car, or a manufacturer without telematics, looks like.
Specifications filed with NHTSAnoneNHTSA vPIC, decoded from VIN patternsWe had no VIN pattern to decode for this model year, or the manufacturer filed nothing usable.
Trims, pricing & equipmentnoneManufacturer press kitWe have not transcribed a press kit for this model year yet. This is our gap, not the manufacturer's — the one row here where an empty cell means we are behind.

Rebuilt nightly; this page was generated 2026-11-04. Every figure above is traceable to the source named beside it, and the JSON for this page carries the same values with their identifiers.

Where to go next

pages beside this one
Other years The 2026 S90 The S90 model year with the cleanest record on file — grade A, 0 recalls.Recalls Every Volvo recall on file All campaigns filed against Volvo vehicles, newest first, with the manufacturer's own number.Recall Watch Watch this S90 by VIN Give it the VIN and you hear the night a campaign is filed — from $29 a month for a lot, free for ten.

Sources & method

Safety Signal starts every model-year at 100 and subtracts points per open NHTSA recall campaign by severity: critical 15 (fire risk, park-outside or do-not-drive advisories), high 8 (brakes, steering, airbags, loss of drive power, structure, battery), moderate 6, minor 3 (software, labels, lighting fixed by an update). The most serious recall counts in full and each further one counts 85% of the one before, because a vehicle sold in millions is recalled more often than a rare one without being more dangerous — and because a flat subtraction bottomed the scale out, scoring a vehicle with 22 recalls within a point of one with six. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Read it as what it counts: recall campaigns on the federal record, weighted by severity. The damping reduces the sales bias by roughly 40% but does not remove it: like our complaint counts, this is not normalized by how many were sold, so a best-seller still scores somewhat worse than an obscure model with the same real risk. NHTSA crash ratings, do-not-drive and park-outside advisories, and the crash, fire, injury and death counts in owner complaints are reported separately on every page and never blended into the letter — a vehicle can hold five stars and a poor letter at once, and where that happens we say so rather than leave you to notice. Because the scale subtracts from a clean sheet, a model year too new to have been recalled, complained about or bulletined scores full marks on an empty record; we label those grades provisional rather than present them as earned.

EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records. Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed nightly.

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