Volvo issues second major recall of 2026 over battery fire risk

Volvo, a brand that consistently ranks among global leaders in vehicle safety, issued its second major recall of 2026 in February, covering the EX30 electric SUV over a defect that could cause its battery packs to overheat and catch fire. The recall followed an earlier 2026 campaign covering more than 400,000 vehicles for a separate, less severe issue involving rearview cameras that failed to activate in reverse.

The recall came amid a broader surge in vehicle recalls that carried over from 2025 into early 2026: more than 23,000 vehicles were recalled in just the first two weeks of the new year alone. Industry trackers pointed to the increasing complexity of modern vehicles, packed with sensors, cameras and software, as a key driver of the trend, since any one of those additional components creates a new potential point of failure that older, simpler vehicles never had to contend with.