XC40 Rumble Strip Noise on Braking
Discussion
Wife’s new XC40 B4 is occasionally making a weird noise on braking. It sounds similar to running over a white line rumble strip.
It only happens occasionally. Has never happened below 45mph, when it happens its usually when braking with “medium” effort from around 60.
Braking lightly has never triggered it. Braking hard has never triggered it. Increasing or decreasing braking force when it does happen doesn’t stop it, but it will immediately go away on releasing the brakes or if the car has slowed to around 45mph.
There’s no feeling, not even a faint one in either the steering or the brake pedal.
These cars have a starter/generator motor with regen braking as part of their mild hybrid system. The belt drive for this hybrid motor looks brand new from above but its hard to get much view of the other side of the belt that actually drives against the pulleys. Car has around 200 miles on it.
The noise doesn’t change with steering input, it seems no more or less likely to happen regardless of braking in a straight line or with some steering input (tut tut, should be completing braking before beginning turning).
When sitting in the passenger seat, the noise sounds like it’s coming from the front left wheel. When sitting in the drivers seat it sounds like its coming from the front middle. The starter/generator motor is on the other side of the engine from where the sound appears to be coming. The sound seems vaguely in the direction of the gearbox.
Sounds vaguely like an abs pump in action, but there’s no feeling in the brake pedal.
What is it causing it?
It only happens occasionally. Has never happened below 45mph, when it happens its usually when braking with “medium” effort from around 60.
Braking lightly has never triggered it. Braking hard has never triggered it. Increasing or decreasing braking force when it does happen doesn’t stop it, but it will immediately go away on releasing the brakes or if the car has slowed to around 45mph.
There’s no feeling, not even a faint one in either the steering or the brake pedal.
These cars have a starter/generator motor with regen braking as part of their mild hybrid system. The belt drive for this hybrid motor looks brand new from above but its hard to get much view of the other side of the belt that actually drives against the pulleys. Car has around 200 miles on it.
The noise doesn’t change with steering input, it seems no more or less likely to happen regardless of braking in a straight line or with some steering input (tut tut, should be completing braking before beginning turning).
When sitting in the passenger seat, the noise sounds like it’s coming from the front left wheel. When sitting in the drivers seat it sounds like its coming from the front middle. The starter/generator motor is on the other side of the engine from where the sound appears to be coming. The sound seems vaguely in the direction of the gearbox.
Sounds vaguely like an abs pump in action, but there’s no feeling in the brake pedal.
What is it causing it?
disago said:
Wife’s new XC40 B4 is occasionally making a weird noise on braking. It sounds similar to running over a white line rumble strip.
It only happens occasionally. Has never happened below 45mph, when it happens its usually when braking with “medium” effort from around 60.
Braking lightly has never triggered it. Braking hard has never triggered it. Increasing or decreasing braking force when it does happen doesn’t stop it, but it will immediately go away on releasing the brakes or if the car has slowed to around 45mph.
There’s no feeling, not even a faint one in either the steering or the brake pedal.
These cars have a starter/generator motor with regen braking as part of their mild hybrid system. The belt drive for this hybrid motor looks brand new from above but its hard to get much view of the other side of the belt that actually drives against the pulleys. Car has around 200 miles on it.
The noise doesn’t change with steering input, it seems no more or less likely to happen regardless of braking in a straight line or with some steering input (tut tut, should be completing braking before beginning turning).
When sitting in the passenger seat, the noise sounds like it’s coming from the front left wheel. When sitting in the drivers seat it sounds like its coming from the front middle. The starter/generator motor is on the other side of the engine from where the sound appears to be coming. The sound seems vaguely in the direction of the gearbox.
Sounds vaguely like an abs pump in action, but there’s no feeling in the brake pedal.
What is it causing it?
Hi OP did you ever get to the bottom of this? I've got a 2023 B3 XC40 that does the same, it's going into Volvo next week for diagnosis along with a recall on the turbo oil feed. CheersIt only happens occasionally. Has never happened below 45mph, when it happens its usually when braking with “medium” effort from around 60.
Braking lightly has never triggered it. Braking hard has never triggered it. Increasing or decreasing braking force when it does happen doesn’t stop it, but it will immediately go away on releasing the brakes or if the car has slowed to around 45mph.
There’s no feeling, not even a faint one in either the steering or the brake pedal.
These cars have a starter/generator motor with regen braking as part of their mild hybrid system. The belt drive for this hybrid motor looks brand new from above but its hard to get much view of the other side of the belt that actually drives against the pulleys. Car has around 200 miles on it.
The noise doesn’t change with steering input, it seems no more or less likely to happen regardless of braking in a straight line or with some steering input (tut tut, should be completing braking before beginning turning).
When sitting in the passenger seat, the noise sounds like it’s coming from the front left wheel. When sitting in the drivers seat it sounds like its coming from the front middle. The starter/generator motor is on the other side of the engine from where the sound appears to be coming. The sound seems vaguely in the direction of the gearbox.
Sounds vaguely like an abs pump in action, but there’s no feeling in the brake pedal.
What is it causing it?
It doesn’t happen as much anymore but I think we got to the bottom of it. It happened once when my wife was pulling up to park and I got a chance to hear it while standing outside the car - it came from the brake caliper / brake pad. It lasted long enough, in reality just a second or two, but was long enough to look where the sound was coming from and it was coming from the direction of the caliper assembly, not from the disc and not from inside the engine bay. So probably just the pad vibrating in the caliper sometimes but as the brakes have worn in it seems to have subsided.
Bit weird because I’ve heard squealing brakes before on other cars and I’ve felt brakes vibrating through the pedal because of deposits on the disc but this sounded totally different - louder and more like a nasty mechanical sound.
Bit weird because I’ve heard squealing brakes before on other cars and I’ve felt brakes vibrating through the pedal because of deposits on the disc but this sounded totally different - louder and more like a nasty mechanical sound.
disago said:
It doesn’t happen as much anymore but I think we got to the bottom of it. It happened once when my wife was pulling up to park and I got a chance to hear it while standing outside the car - it came from the brake caliper / brake pad. It lasted long enough, in reality just a second or two, but was long enough to look where the sound was coming from and it was coming from the direction of the caliper assembly, not from the disc and not from inside the engine bay. So probably just the pad vibrating in the caliper sometimes but as the brakes have worn in it seems to have subsided.
Bit weird because I’ve heard squealing brakes before on other cars and I’ve felt brakes vibrating through the pedal because of deposits on the disc but this sounded totally different - louder and more like a nasty mechanical sound.
thanks - its had a software update pushed to it now which seems to have changed the engagement of the hybrid system and no noise now!Bit weird because I’ve heard squealing brakes before on other cars and I’ve felt brakes vibrating through the pedal because of deposits on the disc but this sounded totally different - louder and more like a nasty mechanical sound.
Interesting, I've currently got a PHEV XC60 and the brakes do this from time time. The feeling to me is as if the ABS has kicked in but as the OP said it's when braking moderately, certainly doesn't need an emergency stop to cause it. If a software upgrade is necessary I'll pop it over to the dealer for them to do it. Incidentally, compared to the PHEV XC60 I had previously I don't like the brakes on the XC40 at all. I find that there's very little brake feel through the pedal and occasionally, and unpredictably, when I apply moderate brake pressure it feels as if the car decided to press on regardless so in response I have to brake harder which causes and abrupt stop. I would add that 96% of times the brakes feel normal but just occasionally I get this running on feeling. Most odd.
Edited by RichB on Saturday 6th September 21:27
RichB said:
Interesting, I've currently got a PHEV XC60 (I think it's a B4) and the brakes do this from time time. The feeling to me is as if the ABS has kicked in but as the OP said it's when braking moderately, certainly does't need an emergency stop to cause it. If a software upgrade is necessary I'll pop it over to the dealer for them to do it. Incidentally, compared to the PHEV XC60 I had previously I don't like the brakes on the XC40 at all. I find that there's very little brake feel through the pedal and occasionally, and unpredictably, when I apply moderate brake pressure it feels as if the car decided to press on regardless so in response I have to brake harder which causes and abrupt stop. I would add that 96% of times the brakes feel normal but just occasionally I get this running on feeling. Most odd.
with mine, it was when the car was coasting, above 40mph and triggered by the braking force described. the dealer couldn't replicate the sound but when I discussed it with the tech he thought it might be the gearbox raising oil pressure. I asked them to install the update and they wouldn't on the basis they have to pay Volvo - its still under warranty so frustrating but the update was pushed to the car by Volvo over the air less than a week later so all good.
since the software update the engine doesn't kick back in from coasting upon pressing the brake pedal so no noise.
hope you get sorted.
RichB said:
I don't like the brakes on the XC40 at all. I find that there's very little brake feel through the pedal
They are s
t for feel, effective but zero feelRichB said:
occasionally, and unpredictably, when I apply moderate brake pressure it feels as if the car decided to press on
Definitely echo that - i'm used to it now but on the test drive it was the main thing i noticed and for the first few weeks of driving too.Has anyone managed to fix this issue with Volvo? My XC40 with the B3 engine, model year 2025, started making this noise more frequently and louder after updating to version 3.7. I don’t have any official documentation from the dealer, only their verbal confirmation that they don’t have a fix for this issue yet.
mond25 said:
Has anyone managed to fix this issue with Volvo? My XC40 with the B3 engine, model year 2025, started making this noise more frequently and louder after updating to version 3.7. I don’t have any official documentation from the dealer, only their verbal confirmation that they don’t have a fix for this issue yet.
The post just above yours seems to be telling you what the answer is, did you read it?mond25 said:
I did. But did you read what I wrote? It’s a 2025 model with the same issue, and the 3.7 software did not fix the problem.
Correct, and in your post you said this.mond25 said:
louder after updating to version 3.7. I don’t have any official documentation from the dealer, only their verbal confirmation that they don’t have a fix for this issue yet.
Implying that it is still a software issue that the dealer can't fix, and so answering your question yourself.E-bmw said:
Implying that it is still a software issue that the dealer can't fix, and so answering your question yourself.
I don’t have the energy to explain the logic behind this. If Volvo hasn’t fixed the problem since 2023 and it’s still happening in 2025, it’s reasonable to assume they’re just covering it up because they don’t know how to solve it. So, has anyone here managed to get a deal from their dealer—such as returning the car, getting a replacement, or something similar? And E-BMW, please stop replying without giving real answers.Gassing Station | Volvo & Polestar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff