Volvo Trucks North America has taken two actions regarding complaints about its front axles.
In March, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed a petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, asking the agency to investigate alleged defects in Volvo trucks. The vast majority of complaints concerned the front end of the truck,

including severe vibration, shaking and noise; trouble steering and controlling the truck, premature wear on steer tires; other parts wearing out prematurely; parts failing and falling off the truck; and the electrical system malfunctioning.
Volvo announced Friday that it has filed a "voluntarily non-compliance notification" - a voluntary recall - with NHTSA relating to the weight rating on the certification label and the distribution of the weight on the front axle of the truck when bobtailing. It affects 1,577 VN series model trucks manufactured between November 22, 1997 and August 28, 1999.
According to published reports, Volvo dealers will replace the weight certification label with a correct one; replace front axle tires, rims or tie rod tubes; or replace or relocate fuel tanks to address the weight distribution problem.
A company press release says this action is unrelated to the OOIDA petition. However, an association spokesperson told Truckinginfo.com that OOIDA believes it is related. Several Volvo owners having problems told OOIDA that their truck is overweight on the steering axle, even when not hitched to a loaded trailer.
The OOIDA petition covers all Volvo trucks manufactured in North America between 1989 and 2000. OOIDA said it has received 185 written complaints involving 260 Volvo trucks, but Volvo says only 42 OOIDA members have officially come forward in the petition.
"We've been working on their issues with OOIDA for some time now," said Christopher W. Patterson, Volvo executive vice president of sales and marketing. "About a year ago, OOIDA allowed us to contact approximately a dozen of the 42 owners in question, and [we] have found maintenance practices to be the prevailing factor for their current performance issues.
"We want to continue working with every one of the 42 customers who have raised these issues to make certain that the vehicles are properly evaluated to determine the basis for their complaints."
Volvo asked NHTSA to open a Preliminary Evaluation regarding the petition. According to federal law, NHTSA has 120 days to determine whether or not the agency sees a need to initiate the first phase of such an investigation, a Preliminary Evaluation. Volvo is calling for the agency to grant the request earlier than that deadline in order to bring this issue to a close.