While slowing down and just about to make a turn into a private residence off of a highway, multiple indicator lights illuminated and audio warning "dinging" occurred for approximately 3 seconds. As I had already been slowly applying the brakes and starting to slightly turn the wheel towards the driveway when those warnings briefly came up, the moment the lights and sounds stopped, vehicle then maintained speed (while still on the brakes) and locked steering position it was at simultaneously. Having no control at that point, it continued until crashing into a wooden fence. Once at a complete stop, cabin lights and "dinging" activated as it acknowledged the impact. And although it was only going about 15 mph, seemingly to only have damage to the front passenger side bumper/headlight area, it would not shift into any gear or turn off. Not to mention that the front passenger side airbag(s), or any of them, deploy- seriously raised even more concerns as the main reason I purchased a Volvo was for their well known status of safety standards. Had this obvious electrical malfunction happened moments before at higher speed/steering straight ahead, it would've resulted in very serious injuries to myself and others while it speed through 2 intersections at a highway ramp just down the hill. Was towed to a local collision repair & auto body shop until Progressive Insurance took it to their damage assessor where it was declared a total loss. I've owned it for almost 3 years and always had weird inconsistent electrical "quirks"- nothing ever of serious concern though. Has spent a total of 4-5 months in the past 3 years at different Volvo dealerships and mechanics but no one could ever explain why different warnings would be displayed randomly for days-weeks, off/on for no apparent diagnostic reason, 12V power socket was the same way... Please investigate the electrical components that directly affect the operational use and control! Extremely common & dangerous issue with these!

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

The steering sticks/locks and pops when turning to the right making if very hard to impossible to steer, but works fine when turning to the left. The problem is worse when the car first starts and improves as it is driven. The steering gear has been replaced twice now (at 34K and 92K miles). The Volvo dealer reported no problems with the steering pump and could not explain the reasons for the repeated failure, simply reporting the steering gear needed to be replaced again. The problem did go away after replacing it again. The issue was also reported to Volvo of America, as this could be a serious and life threatening failure, by impeding adequate steering.

- Roanoke, VA, USA