For failing to report safety defects that led to recalls in 2010, Volvo Car Corp. would have to pay a $1.5 million fine. Volvo is formerly owned by Ford Motor Co. but is now owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. The U.S. auto-safety regulators said that Volvo didn't disclose six defects. In a statement posted on its Web site, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that U.S. law requires that if a safety defect exists, the automaker has to file the report within five business days after determining that there’s a safety flaw. In the statement, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said that it would be vital to everyone’s safety that automakers report safety defects promptly and take action right away to resolve the matter.
The NHTSA said that all producers have to obey laws and they shouldn’t delay in addressing automotive safety concerns. Around 32,000 vehicles were involved in the seven recalls. Three of the recalls took place before Ford closed on its sale of Volvo to Geely in August 2010. About 4,850 vehicles were involved in the recalls under Ford’s ownership.
Two were linked to erroneous tire-pressure information that is seen on labels and in the owner’s manual. A recall in June 2010 covered 536 vehicles, guaranteeing that some parts in the gearshift assembly were properly tightened. The recalls that came later included air bags that run the risk of not deploying in a crash and wrongly calibrated software that may cause the engine to stall. In 2010, Toyota Motor Corp. was forced to pay record fines of $48.8 million to the NHTSA for its failure to announce a recall models that had flaws related to unintended acceleration.
