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Recall alert: Volvo recalls nearly 260,000 older vehicles in US amid explosion risk

By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Volvo recall expanded Stock photo of the Volvo logo on display at the 2011 Amsterdam AutoRAI motorshow in the Netherlands in April 2011. The Swedish carmaker has expanded its recall of certain older-model sedans amid explosion risks linked to air bag inflators. (Sjo/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Volvo Car AB is recalling nearly 260,000 older cars in the United States because the front driver’s air bag can explode, sending shrapnel into the cabin.

In documents filed Monday, the Swedish carmaker told the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it has determined that moisture and high temperatures create the potential for propellant tablets in its vehicles’ air bag inflators to decay, leading dust particles to form and causing the inflator to rupture, Bloomberg reported.

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The recall also affects 200,000 vehicles outside the U.S., the news outlet reported.

Volvo said in a statement issued Tuesday that it expanded the recall from southern U.S. states to the entire nation out of an abundance of caution.

The latest recall is in addition to one from November 2020, initiated after an unidentified U.S. driver was killed, The Associated Press reported.

>> Related: Recall alert: Air bag fragments kill Volvo driver, spark recall

According to both outlets, the recall affects S80 sedans from the 2001-2006 model years and S60 sedans from 2001 through 2009.

The problem, the AP reported, is similar to widespread trouble with air bag inflators made by bankrupt Japanese air bag maker Takata, which resulted in at least 19 U.S. and 28 worldwide deaths. The Takata explosions have also been linked to more than 400 U.S. injuries.

According to Bloomberg, Volvo stated in a safety recall report submitted to the NHTSA, Volvo stated that it is aware of one rupture incident related to the issue, which resulted in a fatality.

A Volvo spokesperson said that the company will call back cars globally in markets that meet certain climate criteria and declined to comment on the estimated cost, the news outlet reported.

Tony Sapienza, spokesman for Livoni, Michigan-based ZF/TRW which makes the Volvo inflators, told the AP that the components were not sold to any other U.S. automakers.

According to documents filed with the NHTSA, dealers will replace the inflators with new ones “with a modern state-of-the-art propellant/inflator,” and owners will be notified by letter starting Nov. 29.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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