Volvo recalls 750,000 cars over AEB fault

Volvo has announced it is being forced to recall 736,430 cars after a fault was discovered with the Swedish car-maker's autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system.

The issue, identified by the Federation of Danish Motorists (FDM) late last year, became apparent when the AEB on a Volvo XC60 failed its internal tests involving an inflatable obstacle.

According to the FDM, which relayed its results to Volvo, the XC60 test vehicle consistently failed to trigger its AEB system in a test its rivals passed.

Internal evaluations carried out by the Swedish car-maker highlighted that the AEB failure is common on all Volvo cars made since January 21, 2019.

Volvo says the vehicles affected are the XC40, XC60, XC90, V60, V90 and S90.

It insists the AEB issue is related to faulty software rather than any hardware failure, and is issuing a global recall of all affected cars to update their software free of charge.

"This support system – which is designed to brake the car automatically in specific conditions and only when a collision is imminent – may not function as intended in certain situations and in certain temperatures," said Volvo.

"This means that the AEB system may not brake the car as intended for certain objects, pedestrians and cyclists. However, in the case of pedestrians and cyclists, the system will always provide a visual and audible forward collision warning, as well as braking support.

"The affected cars are safe to use: the regular braking system in these cars is not affected by the AEB issue and has full functionality. We have no reports of any incidents or personal injuries connected to this issue."