A massive electronic control unit equipment recall issued by Bendix has prompted a large vehicle recall by Volvo Trucks North America.
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall documents, Volvo Trucks is recalling nearly 127,000 model year 2020-25 VN, VAH, VHD and VNRE trucks that are equipped with Bendix EC80 Advanced ECUs. Electrical noise and low signal to the power line carrier may cause the ECU to incorrectly process commands or stop working.
Consequently, certain safety systems that depend on the Bendix ECU may perform poorly or completely lose functionality, increasing the risk of a crash.
Those systems include automatic traction control, anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control, active cruise control and collision mitigation system.
Defective EC80 ECUs were installed in “towing vehicles.” Bendix’s ECUs use a “power line carrier” network that allows a tractor and trailer to communicate through a signal on the electrical connection between the two. Signal failure is more likely on trucks that tow more than one trailer than on those that pull only one trailer.
As of Wednesday, Oct. 23, Volvo Trucks had reported 55 warranty claims where the ABS light came on and the feature went “offline” without the other safety systems in use. There had been no field reports, crashes or injuries related to the Bendix ECU issue.
Authorized dealers will reprogram affected Bendix ECU software for free. Notification letters to owners of affected trucks will be sent on Dec. 13.
Volvo Trucks’ recall stems from a larger Bendix ECU recall issued on Oct. 11. That recall affects more than 400,000 ECUs that were sold to Volvo Trucks and Navistar. As of Tuesday, Oct. 29, Navistar had not issued a related recall.
For more information about this recall, contact Volvo Trucks’ customer service at 800-528-6586 with recall number RVXX2409. NHTSA’s number for this recall is 24V-790. LL
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