54,000 First-Gen Volvo S60 And S80 Models Recalled In U.S. Over Airbag Issue

Volvo is reportedly in the middle of recalling 54,124 vehicles due to an airbag defect, according to a filing with U.S. regulators.

The Swedish carmaker is recalling first-generation (2001-2003 model year) S60 and S80 sedans sold or registered in high humidity U.S. states. As for the issue, that would be the possibility of the driver side frontal airbag inflator rupturing, sending metal fragments flying towards the driver if the airbag is deployed.

Based on this filing, Volvo will replace the old units with a modern propellant and inflators. The new parts are expected to be available by March, reports Autonews Europe.

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The states in question are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Owners can contact Volvo Car customer service with the number for this recall being R10058.

The NHTSA has already confirmed that one person in the U.S was killed when a ZF/TRW FG2 twin driver airbag inflator containing 5AT-148N propellant exploded. While Volvo has yet to comment on the recall, the carmaker and the NHTSA have been talking about this issue since August of 2019.

The agency stated that this was the only such incident that it knows of on a global level, as far as this type of inflator was concerned. The NHTSA will also coordinate with Volvo to gather and review data about other vehicles with this inflator in order to determine if additional actions are needed.

As for the ZF Group, they said that Volvo notified them back in August regarding this issue, and that they “promptly informed NHTSA and, together with Volvo, began investigating the incident.”

Of course, the NHTSA is no stranger to airbag inflator ruptures, seen as how the largest automotive recall in history involved some 100 million inflators produced by supplier Takata.