FORD RECALLS 144,000 F-150 Trucks Due to Airbag Problems
Imagine getting in your F-150 in the morning to go to work. You put the key in the ignition, start the truck and BAM! – the airbag deploys smacking you in the head, face, neck, chest, arms, hands, basically the entire front of your body from your waist up. Or even worse, what if this happened driving down the road with your family in the car? This will wake you up better than any coffee and knock you out cold in basically the same instance. Blindness, fractures, hearing loss all of these things are possible in this situation. If the airbag fires when there is no collision none of the other occupant protection safety systems are working. The airbag is just knocking you out. If you have one of these vehicles you may need a Board Certified Defective Product Lawyer to help you with your case.
Ford is recalling certain 2005 and 2006 model F-150 pickup trucks due to inadvertent airbag deployment – this means, the airbag deploys even when there is no wreck and without any warning. Several injuries have been reported, but luckily, so far, no deaths have been reported.
The company said on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 that it would recall 144,000 F-150’s because front-seat airbags could deploy without the vehicle being involved in a collision. This recall involves trucks built at Ford’s now-closed Norfolk, Virginia factory from November 2004 to June 2005 and sold in the 2005 and 2006 model years. The automaker claims to only be aware of 238 incidents of inadvertent airbag deployment in the trucks, causing at least 77 injuries. In typical automaker spokesman gibberish, Wesley Sherwood, III, a Ford spokesman says, “That includes cases that were confirmed to be related to the defect and other cases that were ambiguous and could not be ruled out as related to the issue.” Sure Mr. Sherwood, III, why don’t you come clean with the true numbers?
Federal safety regulators are reviewing Ford’s recall plans and looking into whether the recall is getting enough vehicles off the road that has this problem. Ford claims most of the trucks that have the problem were built during the first shift of Norfolk production from November 2004 through June 2005. Trucks built at factories in Dearborn, Michigan and in Kansas City, Missouri, had much smaller rates of unexpected airbag deployment.
Ford said that during the truck assembly, a “wire located in the steering wheel could have been improperly positioned so that it may chafe, expose bare copper and create the potential for a short-circuit that would illuminate the warning lamp. If not serviced, and unique circumstances occur, an inadvertent driver frontal airbag deployment may occur.”
Federal safety regulators had wanted Ford to recall 1.3 million of the trucks, a wider range that included vehicles from 2004 through 2006 model years. Officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say they were looking at Ford’s datea to determine whether it captures enough vehicles to solve the problem. I say the NHTSA needs to stand up to Ford and force the company to recall as many of the trucks as necessary to stop these needless injuries. A corporation can never needlessly injure people. This is a highly dangerous defect. Even if you don’t have one of these vehciles you are in danger. Imagine if you are coming at one of these vehicles on the road and the airbag goes off! That driver is going to lose control of that vehicle and could run into your car head-on! Why do these corporations continue to gamble with the safety of the public? And why do our government agencies that are tasked to protect the public let them get away with it?
About 135,000 of the trucks were sold in the U.S. and an additional 9,000 were sold in Canada. If you have an F-150, be on the lookout notice from Ford. It should be in the mail sometime in early March. You can take your truck to a Ford dealer to have the wiring harness replaced. Ford says the repair will take about half a day.
If you have additional questions about this recall or any issue related to a safety defect in an automobile, call us today at 877-307-9500. You will speak with a Board Certified Personal Injury Lawyer that has been in the trenches battling these automakers for years.