Volvo to recall quarter of a million cars over faulty seat belts

Swedish carmaker Volvo is planning to recall 244,800 vehicles in China from January 2021 over faulty seat belts, according to China's product-quality watchdog.

A steel cable that anchors the front seat belts to the car could weaken, which could reduce the belts' ability to restrain occupants in a crash, said the State Administration for Market Regulation on Tuesday.

The 244,800 vehicles to be recalled involve both imported and China-made models produced from 2006 to 2019, including S60L sedans and XC60 SUVs.

The move is part of a global recall Volvo initiated in July involving more than 2 million vehicles because of the same problem. The recall is the biggest in Volvo's history.

Volvo recorded an operating loss of 989 million SEK ($110 million) in the first half of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the company.

During the first half, the company sold 269,962 cars at a revenue of 112 billion SEK, a decrease from 340,826 with 130 billion SEK in revenue during the same period of 2019.

Its sales in China fell 3 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2020.