Ford recalling 1.2 million F 150 trucks and Lincoln

[PA5COR]

Ford Motor Co. agreed today to recall 1.2 million F-150 pickup trucks today, under government pressure, after more than 200 reports that its airbags were suddenly deploying. Ford will recall the 2004-2006 F-150 trucks and some 2006 Lincoln Mark LT pickups that have been under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency said it was reports of at least 269 airbag deployments and 98 injuries due to the trucks.

Injuries include fracture arms, burns and chipped teeth. Bet you’ll think twice if you make it out to the Ford Motor new car sales lot this weekend, won’t you?
NHTSA Administrator David Strickland says:

"We are pleased that Ford shares our commitment to safety and is taking action to protect consumers by expanding its safety recall to include an additional 1.2 million Ford F-150 and Lincoln Mark LT vehicles," he said. "We hope to continue working cooperatively with auto manufacturers to ensure safety defects are addressed quickly for the driving public."

Back in February, Ford said it would recall 135,000 2005-2006 F-150 trucks in the nation over the government’s same concerns. On January 26 of this year, the NHTSA demanded Ford to recall 1.3 million vehicles to prevent similar issues.

However in 2006, Ford made two design changes to the F-150 after sudden airbag deployment, yet they’re still having safety issues show up today. Ford chose to expand the recall to “reassure customers of Ford’s commitment to safety and eliminate any customer confusion,” it said in a statement. Ford F-150 owners will receive a new clockspring jumper wire installed with a mesh cover to prevent any future airbag safety issues.

Who knew a device like a safety airbag could create so many more safety issues to the driver?

[W3MIV]

Obviously, there's a problem. But, it is with trucks that are five to seven years old, and it is a very small number of them -- 269 out of 1.2 million is an extremely small fraction of the production. I don't think it would keep me from buying a Ford truck (were I in the market for a truck).

[W1GUH]

Airbags are expensive, dangerous, and useless to a good defensive driver. The only "goodness" are all the people making big $$$ off of their mandatory sales.

And...if you have an airbag, "they" say it's dangerous to drive with your hands in the 10-2 position (like a lot of us were taught is the best position). In that position, you're almost guaranteed a broken arm if the airbag goes off. The new recommendation is no higher than 9-3.

Source of that was in an AAA rag a bunch of years ago.

[NQ6U]

Airbags are expensive, dangerous, and useless to a good defensive driver. The only "goodness" are all the people making big $$$ off of their mandatory sales.

Tell me, what good are your defensive driving skills when someone makes a left turn ten feet in front of you without signaling, as happened to me a few years ago?

[W1GUH]

Tell me, what good are your defensive driving skills when someone makes a left turn ten feet in front of you without signaling, as happened to me a few years ago?

Car or bike? What were the circumstances?

[NQ6U]

Car or bike? What were the circumstances?

Car. The other driver decided she needed to turn left at the very last second and did it right in front of me. No signal, no nothing. All I had time to do was hit the brakes and say "shit!"

I came out of it okay. My little pickup took some sheet metal damage but I was able to drive it home. Her car was towed from the scene. The airbags fired off in both cars and, ironically, the only injury I sustained was a burn on my left forearm caused by the airbag. I learned to change the way I hold the wheel after that.

[W3MIV]

While I agree on the hand position in general, one may go a little higher than dead horizontal and still be safe. It is not so much the arms that are in danger as it is your face and eyes that can be hit by two forcefully propelled arms/hands. Still in all, in a head-on collision those injuries are infinitely preferable to what you are likely to not survive without the airbags.

My new Hyundai has airbags in the steering wheel, in the dash, in the sides of both front seats and full side curtain airbags. Plus the head restraints on the front seats are "active" in that they respond by moving forward to effectively restrain the rearward thrust of the head, protecting the neck in a collision. I often fantasize what it would be like to have all of those airbags deploy in a single, non-collision, accidental episode!

The passenger airbag in this car is activated only when a person over some minimum weight is in the seat in case anyone is stupid enough to let a child sit there. Of course, in a collision the lack of an active airbag is also going to be right hard on the kid in that seat.

[W1GUH]

"The passenger airbag in this car is activated only when a person over some minimum weight is in the seat in case anyone is stupid enough to let a child sit there."

When I was a kid, parents routinely let their kids stand on the front seat. Mine didn't...we had to stand on the floor in the back seat.


BTW, whonder how much all those airbags added to the price of the car? Last I heard (a while ago) they're $1500 @ to replace.

[W4RLR]

BTW, wonder how much all those airbags added to the price of the car? Last I heard (a while ago) they're $1500 @ to replace.

That is the reason why otherwise repairable vehicles are totaled in a crash. My Volvo wagon was totaled, and I drove it on the flatbed to have it towed to the body shop. Reason? Replacing six airbags.

[WØTKX]

Interesting about the hand position issues. If the vehicle has a tilt wheel, raising it a bit higher would help to keep the hands in a safer air bag position.

I used to have an old '69 Benz 280SE with a large steering wheel and it was comfy at 7 and 5.