Volvo XC90 battery cable failures

An NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation into Volvo vehicles. Closed 23 March 2006.

Investigation
PE05057
Type
Preliminary Evaluation
Opened
2 November 2005
Closed
23 March 2006

What NHTSA investigated

The office of defect investigations opened a preliminary evaluation, PE05-057 based on early warning data submitted to odi by volvo. The data contained field reports of thermal failures of the positive battery cable. On november 17, 2005, volvo notified odi that it had identified a safety defect in the positive battery cables in approximately 9,000 my 2005 volvo XC90 vehicles with six cylinder engines that could result in a fire.volvo recalled the affected vehicles to address the potential grounding condition (NHTSA recall #05V-529).THERE were 13 complaints, including 4 fires, and 10 warranty claims related to the condition addressed by 05V-529.DURING PE05-057, volvo also provided odi with information regarding three other issues related to the battery cable/terminals in my 2005 XC90 VEHICLES:1) under torqued battery cable attaching fasteners to the starter allegedly causing engine stalls and melted parts in the engine compartment (applicable to V8 engines ONLY).2) the jack handle may be critically mispositioned against the positive battery cable/post allegedly causing fires in some vehicles (applicable to all XC90 VEHICLES).3) a potential chaffing condition of the positive battery cable to a sharp edged sheet metal flange in the rear storage compartment. (applicable to all XC90 vehicles).the preliminary evaluation has been upgraded to an engineering analysis (EA06-006) to assess the scope, frequency and potential safety consequences of each of these issues.

The recall that followed

  1. Volvo — Electrical System: Solenoid05V52900017 November 200510,259 vehicles

Vehicles covered

MakeModelModel years
VolvoXC902005

Source

From NHTSA’s investigation file, rebuilt daily. To report a problem with your own vehicle, go to nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem. All open investigations.