It seems that my new (since Sept) S60 AWD has attitude. Last week, early in the morning, clear sky, -4C, I went to start the engine and nothing happened. The dash lights came on but the engine did not turn over. I turned off the key and tried again and nothing. This time I noticed a message in the message center on the dash and saw “Start Prevented – Try Again”.

So I tried the key again and this time the engine turned over but the car did not start, and the same message was displayed again. I tried the key again and the engine turned over again and still did not start. At this point I was very unimpressed and tried it one more time. This time the engine fired and there was no message. It was is as if the event never occurred.

My questions to the community are:
What would cause a start to be prevented?
Has any one else experienced this as well?
Could this be a symptom of a bigger problem? (sensors or computers/software)
Is this similar to “Not tonight dear I have a headache?”