This week, Volvo Cars issued a recall on about 2.1 million vehicles globally. The recall is a preventative safety measure. A steel wire that connect the front seat belts to the car can be weakened under certain conditions. This issue is not particularly easy to replicate, but the safety-obsessed car company have decided to do the right thing and be proactive about it.
This 2.1 million vehicle recall is the largest ever undertaken by Volvo Cars. Here’s a list of vehicle models affected by the safety recall:
- Volvo S60
- Volvo S60L
- Volvo S60CC
- Volvo V60
- Volvo V60CC
- Volvo XC60
- Volvo V70
- Volvo XC70
- Volvo S80
- Volvo S80L
These are for models manufactured between 2006 and 2019, a rather substantial 13 year period. Its not clear which model years apply to which models, but if you feel concerned about your Volvo, contact your local dealership for more information on whether you car is affected by the recall. They’ll probably need some time to get the parts in for the recall, but you can at least find out if it affects you.
While some comments have pointed towards Volvo Car’s acquisition by Chinese auto conglomerate Geely Auto as the reason for this quality oversight, it’s important to note that Volvo Cars was owned by Ford until 2010, so the problem seems to have stemmed from an earlier time. Additionally, none of the models currently sold by Volvo are affected by this recall.
With these sort of ownership transfers, it can take many years before new supply contracts and new protocols are implemented. To be clear, it would also be unfair to put the blame on Ford as owners. The buck should stop at Volvo Cars, and they are indeed shouldering the cost by implementing this global recall.
Rather importantly, no deaths or injuries have been reported as a result of this oversight. It’s not clear whether the fault was discovered in a controlled environment or through customer experience.
As a reminder, Volvo Car have envisioned that no one would be killed or seriously injured in any of their current models by this year. They’ve even gone as far as to limit speed limits on new Volvos to this end.
