Volvo South Africa recalling S60 and S80s over faulty airbags

Volvo Cars South Africa has announced a recall of over 4 000 S60s and S80s over possible airbag failure.

In a statement, the local arm of the Swedish automaker said the recall involves 4 128 S60 and S80s made between 2001 and 2003, and focuses on the potential sending of fragments into cabin of a faulty propellant canister once the airbag deploys. Only the driver’s side airbag has been signalled out.

The inflator, made by ZF and not by beleaguered components manufacturer Takata, will be replaced along with the airbag for a modern part with Volvo stating that the repair comes in response to a single fatality reported in the United States earlier this year.

“Despite this relatively low risk, Volvo Cars is replacing the driver airbag in all affected vehicles as soon as possible. Owners of S60 and S80 vehicles from model year 2001 to 2003 are encouraged to check if their cars are affected by the safety recall by visiting the Volvo website and entering their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) in the search box,” the automaker said.

“Because of the age of these vehicles, many of them are not active in Volvo’s retail network. Volvo Car South Africa will also therefore work through South Africa’s electronic national administration traffic information system (eNaTIS), with the help of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) to send Quality Bulletin (QB) recall letters to current registered owners.

“South African Volvo car owners of the S60 and S80 (model 2001 to 2003) are advised to keep a lookout for the QB letter”.

The recall comes on the back of a series of reports last month in which Volvo had identified 767 551 models being equipped with the faulty canister. According to Automotive News, the majority of the vehicles recalled reside in the US and also involve the S60 and S80.

In a follow-up report though, the online publication stated that a further 306 782 vehicles had been identified with the models involved being S60s and S80s made between 2003 and 2009 and from 2003 to 2006. Also included are V70s and XC70 build between 2001 and 2008.

“We are continuing to perform extensive investigations to determine whether other cars might be at risk. The issue only affects cars from a previous product generation. No cars in our current line-up are affected by this,” Volvo Cars spokesperson Thomas Schultz was quoted by the publication as saying.

For now though, only the models mentioned by Volvo Cars South Africa are subjected to the recall.