US Transport Authorities Order Countless Volvo Trucks off the Road Following Defect Disclosure

The US Department of Transportation recently issued an order, sweeping thousands of heavy-duty Volvo trucks off the road. The move comes in the backdrop of Volvo recalling a small number of vehicles last week over potential safety hazards.

John Mies, a representative for Volvo, confirmed that nearly 13,761 trucks had already been taken out of service, out of a pool of 18,638 vehicles sold in U.S. and Canada. Out of these, 6,300 have already been repaired. This marks the first time when safety regulators have taken a company's vehicles out of service. The move is viewed as an unusually stringent measure to address what could possibly have been, a minor safety defect in a handful of vehicles. The recall particularly affects the company's models VNL, VNM and VNX trucks.

The measure is a severe setback for Volvo, which has been making strong progress in markets of North America. Eric Starks, head of freight transport research group FTR, estimated that the move would push their US market share back by nearly 0.5 percent. He remarked, “Taking this many trucks off the road at one time is not normal, and that is going to get people’s attention.”

The safety regulatory authorities responded to the event after Volvo had informed them that 19 defective steering shafts had been installed among the 15,835 trucks it had sold in the country between May 11 and March 8. Bruce York from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who is currently helping to enforce safety measures in this current situation, said, “In this case we’re looking at a loss of control of the vehicle without prior warning, which is an extreme condition for these vehicles. The imminent risk is more severe than a lot of other recalls issued by other manufacturers.”

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