Luxury brand Volvo has recently announced a recall for some of its models. Vehicle recalls are an important safety protocol that automobile producers are obligated to do once a prevalent problem in their vehicles has been identified on the roads. This constant monitoring ensures that all road users are kept safe and that vehicle producers can change their production methods if a particular aspect of the vehicles needs to be updated or changed during this phase.
The NHTSA plays an important role in vehicle recalls
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) plays an important role when it comes to vehicle recalls. The NHTSA is a is a federal agency within the Department of Transportation. Their role is to improve road safety for all road users by reducing road accident incidents, ensuring traffic laws are bring enforced, running crash testing programs, and gathering data in order to inform road safety interventions.
According to the NHTSA website, the NHTSA takes the following steps when it comes to issuing a vehicle recall:
- Gathering complaints together that share a common problem
- Launching an investigation
- Initiate a vehicle recall when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle, equipment, car seat, or tire creates an unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards.
If a recall is issued by the NHTSA, the expense to fix the vehicle does not fall onto the driver, but is the responsibility of the manufacturer to fix:
“Manufacturers are required to fix the problem by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund, or in rare cases repurchasing the vehicle,” describes the NHTSA website
These Volvo models are part of the mass 450,000 recall
Volvo has recently announced a mass recall of over 450,000 of its vehicles. A recall of this extent is usually because models over a large number of years need to be fixed, or when a recall is delayed by a manufacturer. Volvo’s recent recall is related to vehicles in both the US and Canada, which have problems with the rearview camera image. A software update is reportedly needed to fix the problem.
The issue was picked up 4 years ago
The problem was first reported to Volvo in 2021, however, the company has delayed taking action up until April of this year due to the NHTSA requiring Volvo to address the problem following a number of complaints over the issue within the past four years. Affected owners will be issued a notice by June 24, and will be able to have the software update installed either over-the-air or in-person at a dealership.
The following models from 2021-2025 are reportedly affected by the software issue:
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XC40
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C40
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S60
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V60
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V60 Cross Country
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XC60
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S90
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V90
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V90 Cross Country
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XC90
Vehicle recalls for other top vehicle manufacturers
Volvo is not the only major automobile manufacturer facing mass vehicle recalls. General Motors recently announced a massive vehicle recall for over 500,000 of their vehicles. However, this recall is not over a software issue but due to the engine itself in General Motor models. General Motor owns and manufactures vehicles for major American automobile companies Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac.
While Volvo’s vehicle recall is still significant, a recall such as the one from General Motors regarding an engine issue is considered more pertinent to address. If an engine were to fail while a vehicle is driving, the risk of an accident is much higher than that compared to a camera not working. Similar to Volvo, affected General Motors vehicle owners will be notified by June to bring their vehicles in to address the problem.
Regarding Volvo, for more information about this recall, you can check the Recall R10320 from Volvo.
