Volvo recalls more than 500,000 cars worldwide for fire risk | Business

More than 500,000 Volvo cars are recalled worldwide, including 70,000 in the UK, due to a fire hazard in the engine.

The manufacturer said that a plastic part of the engine had rarely melted and had been deformed, which could cause a fire. The models concerned have four-cylinder diesel engines and are 2014-2019 versions of the following cars: S80, S60, V70, XC70, S60 Cross Country, V60, XC60, Cross Country V60, S90, V90, Cross Country V90, XC90 , V40 and V40 Cross Country.

A spokesman said that there had been only "a few" fires so far, no injuries were reported.

Letters have been sent to the owners of the cars concerned. Drivers were told that it was prudent to continue using their vehicle, but Volvo said they should be aware of the potential problem and "symptoms" in the car, including lack of power, and that they should be careful if the engine warning light comes on.

The manufacturer plans to contact the owners again to inform them of the fix as soon as it is available.

In a statement, Volvo said: "We take this situation very seriously and we are working on developing a fix for cars.

"We take full responsibility for ensuring the highest standards of quality and safety of our cars. We will do our utmost to perform this action without any unnecessary inconvenience to our customers and we apologize for the inconvenience caused and are grateful for the cooperation of our customers. "

Sweden's Volvo, a Swedish company, recalled about 30,000 diesel vehicles in the UK in January due to a fuel pipeline failure that could have caused cracks and fires.

British automaker Vauxhall has recalled this year 235,000 Zafira cars for the third time due to a fire hazard. The cars were recalled in two stages in 2015 and 2016 after activists said more than 300 had caught fire.