Volvo believes a Norwegian man has crashed his own electric car. In any case, the accelerator was pressed all the way down, says the importer.
Another electric car from Volvo is involved in a mysterious incident in Norway, where the car suddenly accelerated, crashed into something and then smashed it.
This is the fifth time in a very short time that something like this has happened to a Norwegian Volvo owner. This time it is a Volvo XC40 that has gone wrong. However, Volvo denies that it was the car's fault.
In the other cases, the importer has also blamed the owners. Nevertheless, Volvo has come under the media spotlight after a series of incidents where the brand's electric cars apparently 'unprovoked'.
The latest incident can be recounted by retired safety engineer Kåre Lindemann, whose Volvo XC40 suddenly accelerated into a pole.
– I feel pretty sure that I didn't step on the accelerator, Lindemann tells Motor.no .
Previous and similar accidents have raised concerns about the safety of Volvo's electric cars.
At the end of last year, there were four separate incidents in Norway where Volvo electric cars sped up. All of them ended in accidents.
One of these accidents resulted in a fatality after a Volvo XC40 fell four stories from a parking garage.
The latest incident with Kåre Lindemann's car once again casts doubt on the safety of newer, electric cars.
Kåre Lindemann has a long career in safety and control behind him. And he has been driving Volvo for many years.
On November 9th of last year, however, he experienced something he had never experienced before. On his way to a shopping mall, his Volvo XC40 suddenly began to accelerate and collided with a concrete pillar.
Fortunately, Kåre Lindemann and his son, who were also in the car, were not injured. But conversely, Volvo will not admit that there is anything wrong. The Norwegian importer believes that it is a fault 40. So the car's own fault.
– If I had accidentally touched the gas, it is completely unlikely that I would have pressed the pedal 100 percent, Lindemann tells Motor.
Kåre Lindemann uses the car's "one pedal drive" function, which makes it possible to brake the car using the engine.
He has considered various reasons for the incident and notes that several functions on the car stopped working the day before, after he had washed it.
– My life as a civil engineer has taught me that all electronic systems can be vulnerable and must have backup solutions that come into effect when necessary.
"I wonder if electric cars don't have sufficient backup systems," Kåre Lindemann wonders to Motor.
Volvo has previously recalled 5,000 units of the same model in Norway due to possible problems with corrosion in the wiring harness.
But Kåre Lindemann's car is a newer model that is not covered by the recall. Volvo has commented on the incident and stated that data analysis shows that the accelerator was pressed all the way down for a brief moment in order to brave the concrete pillar.
– After the incident, our technical specialists conducted data analyses of the car's control units and EDR (Event Data Recorder).
– The analysis shows that the accelerator was pressed all the way down for a short moment (less than 0.5 seconds) before the collision.
– This happened during a parking maneuver. We understand that it was an unpleasant experience for those involved, says Erik Trosby, head of communications for Volvo Cars Norway, to Motor.
