Volvo Trucks North America (Volvo) is recalling certain model year 2009-2015 Volvo VN trucks manufactured April 14, 2008, to December 23, 2014. The affected vehicles may experience corrosion of the ball joints due to the seals being compromised, possibly resulting in accelerated wear and failure of the ball joint.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Failure of the ball joint may cause separation of the socket and a complete loss of steering, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Volvo will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the drag links, free of charge. Parts are not currently available. Volvo issued an interim notification to owners on October 28, 2015. Replacement parts are now available. Notices to owners were mailed on March 1, 2016. Owners may contact Volvo customer service at 1-877-800-4945 option #1. Volvo's number for the vehicle inspection is RVXX1508. Volvo's number for the replacement of drag links is RVXX1509.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Suspension:front:control Arm:lower Ball Joint

Consequence: Failure of the ball joint may cause separation of the socket and a complete loss of steering, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Volvo will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the drag links, free of charge. Parts are not currently available. Volvo issued an interim notification to owners on October 28, 2015. Replacement parts are now available. Notices to owners were mailed on March 1, 2016. Owners may contact Volvo customer service at 1-877-800-4945 option #1. Volvo's number for the vehicle inspection is RVXX1508. Volvo's number for the replacement of drag links is RVXX1509.

Suspension:front:control Arm:upper Ball Joint

Consequence: Failure of the ball joint may cause separation of the socket and a complete loss of steering, increasing the risk of a crash.

12V510000 · Seat Belts

Oct 18, 2012

Volvo is recalling certain model year 2002-2013 VHD and VN trucks, manufactured from August 4, 2000, through June 22, 2012, and equipped with bench passenger seats. The seat belt d-ring weld may not be sufficient enough to meet the seat belt pull test. Therefore, these vehicles fail to conform to the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 210, "Seat Belt Assembly Anchorages."

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: In the event of a crash, an insufficient seat belt weld may prevent the seat belt from properly restraining the occupant. This increases the risk of injury to the seat occupant.

Remedy: Volvo Trucks of America will notify owners, and dealers will replace the suspected d-ring, free of change. The safety recall began on May 10, 2013. Owners may contact Volvo at 1-336-393-2000.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

AQ18005 · Discrepancies In Required Cfr Reporting

Opened Oct 22, 2018 · Closed Aug 4, 2023

Status: closed (inferred from source dates) · Communication

On October 22, 2018, an Audit Query (AQ18-005) was opened to assess the completeness and timeliness of Volvo Group's early warning reporting, safety recalls, and communications submissions to the agency.NHTSA's investigation determined that Volvo Group failed to recall vehicles in a timely fashion and to comply with other recall and reporting requirements, including notifying owners of recalls and reporting death and injury incidents.NHTSA and Volvo Group entered into a Consent Order on January 27, 2023 to resolve AQ18-005.As part of the Consent Order, Volvo Group agreed to a total civil penalty of one-hundred and thirty million dollars ($130,000,000), of which, sixty-five million dollars ($65,000,000) was paid on February 21, 2023.Also, of that total civil penalty, Volvo Group agreed to spend twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) on the specific performance obligation to create a safety data analytics infrastructure to detect and study emerging safety-related defect trends on its vehicles. The Consent Order also holds forty-five million dollars ($45,000,000) of the civil penalty in abeyance pending Volvo Group's satisfactory completion of the requirements of this Consent Order, and its compliance with the Safety Act, and regulations thereunder.The Consent Order is for a three-year term and may be extended by up to two years if NHTSA reasonably finds that an extension is warranted.In the Consent Order, Volvo Group agreed to several performance obligations, including enhanced oversight of its compliance with the Safety Act and the terms of the Consent Order through a third-party auditor and regular meetings with NHTSA.The third-party auditor will recommend and oversee implementation of process improvements to enhance Volvo Group's safety compliance processes and oversee the company's review of past recalls and submissions to NHTSA for accuracy and completeness.Also, via the Consent Order, Volvo Group agreed to create updated written policies, procedures, and training to ensure that its employees understand the requirements of the Safety Act, the regulations thereunder, and this Consent Order.Volvo Group further agreed to launch a user interface on its websites to allow users to search vehicle identification numbers (VINs) for open recalls and implement a system to support NHTSA's VIN lookup tool.Based on the Consent Order, this audit query investigation, AQ18-005, is closed.Closure of this AQ has no bearing on the terms of the Consent Order, including Volvo Group's ongoing performance obligations or legal obligations, and does not represent a determination by NHTSA as to Volvo Group's performance under the Consent Order to date.