A Software Update Fixed Our Volvo EX30's Most Annoying Quirk

written by Steven Ewing^{Director, Editorial Content
Steven Ewing has worked in the automotive industry since 2003. In that time, he's written thousands of articles and tested just as many vehicles. Steven is Edmunds' director of editorial content and has previously been on staff at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog, Motor1.com, CNET, and was the U.S. correspondent for Top Gear magazine. Steven has also contributed to Automobile magazine, Car and Driver, The Drive, Jalopnik, Porsche Panorama, and dozens of other publications. In his spare time, Steven loves to play the drums, cook, and drive his 2000 BMW M Roadster.}
edited by Clint Simone^{Senior Features Editor
Clint Simone has worked in the automotive industry since 2015. He has tested and reviewed hundreds of vehicles over the course of his career. Before joining Edmunds as a senior features editor, Clint contributed to Motor1.com and InsideEVs, evaluating mostly electric cars. Clint loves hot hatchbacks more than any other type of vehicle but secretly enjoys driving big trucks when he gets the chance. He would never admit to that.}
6/21/2025
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We have a Volvo EX30 in our One-Year Road Test fleet.
It had a weird electronic quirk that was super annoying.
A trip to the dealer fixed this problem, but more tech issues remain.

When we last checked in on our cute little Volvo EX30, it was incessantly beeping due to a road sign notification feature that could not be turned off. To put this annoyance into context, it's a 22-mile drive from my home in northeast Los Angeles to Edmunds HQ in Santa Monica, California, and over the course of that drive, the EX30's infotainment system sounded its "bok" chime 27 times. That's 54 notifications in one daily commute. You can see how that'd get real old real quick.

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I watched a whole bunch of videos on YouTube showing European-spec EX30s where the feature could easily be turned off, but the menus on our U.S.-spec EX30 are different. A Volvo spokesperson confirmed that our car would need a software fix to resolve this issue, and unfortunately, despite having over-the-air update capabilities, the EX30 would need to make a trip to the dealer.

My advice: If you own a Volvo EX30 and are similarly annoyed by this undefeatable feature, take your car to the dealer and ask for the version 1.5.3 software upgrade. It can be turned around the same day and doesn't cost anything. Don't wait around for an over-the-air update that'll never come.

Are all of our tech issues resolved? Not quite …

The EX30 is so much nicer to live with following the 1.5.3 update; 27 audio notifications over the course of 22 miles is just insane. But our subcompact Volvo isn't free of tech gremlins — at least, not yet. For what it's worth, we also had some problems with a recent Volvo EX90 test.

We're still having trouble maintaining reliable wireless Apple CarPlay connections while driving. On a couple of occasions now, the CarPlay portion of the EX30's infotainment screen will go completely black. Meanwhile, the rest of the software operates as intended — well, mostly; when this CarPlay freakout happens, the audio volume controls stop working, which is weird.

Another issue that's cropped up suddenly? The passenger side window's auto-up function is no longer working. The weirder part? The EX30 only has two window switches — you swap between the front and rear windows via a "rear" button on the center console — so you'd think the auto-up function would be broken for both passenger-side windows. But it isn't. Just the front doesn't work. Cool.

I'm really hoping this isn't a case of our Volvo swapping one electronic issue for another. And I'm doubly hoping that an over-the-air push is all we'll need this time.

Photos by Tyler Clemmensen

by Steven Ewing

Steven Ewing has worked in the automotive industry since 2003. In that time, he's written thousands of articles and tested just as many vehicles. Steven is Edmunds' director of editorial content and has previously been on staff at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog, Motor1.com, CNET, and was the U.S. correspondent for Top Gear magazine. Steven has also contributed to Automobile magazine, Car and Driver, The Drive, Jalopnik, Porsche Panorama, and dozens of other publications. In his spare time, Steven loves to play the drums, cook, and drive his 2000 BMW M Roadster.

edited by Clint Simone

Clint Simone has worked in the automotive industry since 2015. He has tested and reviewed hundreds of vehicles over the course of his career. Before joining Edmunds as a senior features editor, Clint contributed to Motor1.com and InsideEVs, evaluating mostly electric cars. Clint loves hot hatchbacks more than any other type of vehicle but secretly enjoys driving big trucks when he gets the chance. He would never admit to that.

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A Software Update Fixed Our Volvo EX30's Most Annoying Quirk

Do you own a Volvo EX30? If so, go get the 1.5.3 software update — ASAP

Are all of our tech issues resolved? Not quite …

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