Volvo Issues Recall After Air Bag Fragments Kills Driver

Volvo announced that is recalling 54,000 vehicles after a driver was killed by a fragment from the driver's side airbag. Volvo said the recall is for all 2001-2003 S80 and S60 cars in the United States.

Volvo said that the frontal airbag inflator on the driver's side can rupture and explode, sending metal fragments flying as the airbag deploys following a crash.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the rupture was the first and only one reported in the world for that type of inflator. Volvo is working with the agency to determine whether other vehicles equipped with the same inflator should be recalled.

Volvo said it will notify owners starting in January and will replace the inflator for free. The car company estimates that of the 54,000 recalled vehicles, 13,800 are still in use.

According to the Washington Post, the inflators, which are manufactured by auto parts supplier ZF/TRW, are similar to airbag inflators made by Takata. Those airbags have resulted in 26 deaths and were the subject of the most extensive series of auto recalls in U.S. history. The Takata airbags used ammonium nitrate to generate a small explosion that would inflate the airbag in a crash. Over time, the ammonium nitrate would degrade when exposed to moisture in the air.

The inflators used by Volvo used a different propellent, and the NHTSA did not say if the rupture was caused by the chemical degrading over time.

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