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Volvo recalls 21,000 cars over faulty fan

Sweden's Volvo Cars is set to recall will recall over 21,000 vehicles across Europe due to reports of faulty cooling fans, according to a company spokesperson on Monday.

Published: 21 April 2009 07:12 CEST

Volvo recalls 21,000 cars over faulty fan

The automotive company will ensure that the fan works correctly by installing a plastic cover, spokesperson Maria Bohlin said.

“There is a control module in the cooling system and because there was a manufacturing problem with this module… water might get into it and in the worse case scenario lead to short circuits,” Bohlin told AFP.

Some 21,380 Volvo owners of selected 2007 diesel models will be asked to return their cars to dealerships to have the cooling system repaired, Bohlin said.

The recall affects four-cylinder diesel engine models of Volvo’s C30 hatchback, its S40 compact saloon and its sister model, the V50 estate.

Bohlin said no customer had been injured as a result of the defect and said letters had already been sent out to Volvo owners asking them to arrange an appointment with their local dealers.

Volvo Cars, owned by the US automaker Ford, is reportedly an acquisition target for three Chinese automakers after its parent company announced last December it was ready to sell the Swedish brand.

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China derides Copenhagen democracy meet as 'political farce'

Demonstrators gathered outside the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The Copenhagen Democracy Summit was held Monday and Tuesday in the Danish capital and organised by the Alliance of Democracies, an organisation targeted by Beijing sanctions in March and founded by former NATO boss Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

In addition to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod also participated in the forum by video link, which Beijing said violated “the one-China principle.”

“This summit is a political farce,” the Chinese embassy in Denmark wrote in a statement published on Tuesday. “Inviting those who advocate Taiwan and Hong Kong ‘independence’ to the meeting violates the one-China principle and interferes in China’s internal affairs,” it said.

“Some hypocritical western politicians are good at meddling in other countries’ internal affairs and creating divisions and confrontation in the name of ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’. They are bound to fail,” it added.

At the conference on Monday, Kofod said it was “deplorable” that Beijing had imposed sanctions on 10 European individuals and organisations in response to EU sanctions on Xinjiang officials over their actions against the Uyghur Muslim minority.

Like most countries, Denmark applies the one-China principle — under which Beijing bars other countries from having simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taipei — though it does maintain relations with Taiwan.

Cut off politically from the rest of China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the territory is self-governing but is not recognised by
the United Nations.

Beijing considers Taiwan a rebel province that will one day return under its control, by force if necessary.

China’s sabre-rattling has increased considerably over the past year, with fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers breaching Taiwan’s air defence zone on a near-daily basis.

“Our government is fully aware of the threats to regional security, and is actively enhancing our national defence capabilities to protect our
democracy,” Tsai told the conference in a video address on Monday. US President Joe Biden is expected to present his China strategy soon, as
calls mount for him to publicly commit to defending Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.

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