Volvo recalls nearly two lakh cars in the US over faulty airbags issue

Swedish luxury automaker Volvo has announced a recall for 195,000 vehicles in the US over a faulty airbag issue. The automaker says that the front driver's airbags could explode and send shrapnel into the cabin injuring the occupants inside the cabin.

The latest recall by Volvo impacts the models such as XC70 and V70 wagons that were built between 22nd February 2001 and 4th May 2007.

The latest recall comes as Volvo's third recall in the US for the same issue. Earlier this month, Volvo recalled nearly 260,000 older cars in the US for the same problem, which was in addition to a recall from November last year. This takes the total number of affected vehicles to more than half a million. The faulty airbags were made and supplied by ZF/TRW, reports AP.

At least one death due to the accident involving this faulty airbag has been reported in the US. Volvo said that the fatality is the only inflator rupture case the company knows of.

The problem involving the ZF/TRW airbags is very much similar to the widespread trouble of airbag inflators that were manufactured by Takata. The Japanese airbag manufacturer made faulty airbags that went to various automakers around the world and resulted in the largest vehicle recall in the world of automobiles.

In the case of the Takata airbags, a chemical can deteriorate over time and when exposed to high heat and humidity, it had a tendency to burn too fast, blowing apart a metal canister, sending shrapnels all around the cabin. In the US alone 19 people were killed due to exploding Takata inflators. Globally a total of 28 people were killed due to the same reason. Also, more than 400 people were injured due to the same in the US alone.

However, the Volvo inflators do not use ammonium nitrate like Takata airbags. However, the propellant can still deteriorate when exposed to high heat and humidity, claims the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA.