Volvo Recalls Nearly 10,000 Vehicles Due to Faulty Driver Airbag

The North American division of Volvo is responsible for a recall affecting nearly 10,000, the NHTSA announced recently, with the problem concerning potential driver airbag issues.According to a notification posted on the official National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website, no less than 9,746 S80, XC70, XC60 and V70 vehicles are being recalled by the automaker.

“Volvo is recalling certain model year 2010-2011 S80, XC70, model year 2011 XC60 and model year 2010 V70 vehicles,” the safety warning reads. According to the NHTSA, there may be an intermittent fault in the driver’s airbag clockspring wiring connector for the supplemental restraint system.

In case you're wondering what could happen, the first obvious result is the malfunctioning of the airbag itself. This means it could even not deploy at all, therefore the driver could be left unprotected if an incident occurs. But here's the official explanation published in the NHTSA notification:

“In the event of a crash, the driver’s frontal airbag may not deploy as intended or at all, and therefore will not be able to properly protect the driver, increasing the risk of injuries.”

The recall is expected to start on or before October 29, 2010. To fix the issue, dealers will install a metal shim in the driver’s airbag clockspring wiring connector.

However, since we are talking about model year 2010 and 2011 vehicles, they are obviously under warranty, so you shouldn't be worried that you'll have to pay for the repairs. Volvo further confirms that this service will be performed free of charge.

Owners may also call Volvo at 1-800-458-1552 for more info.