Ford Expands Driver’s Side Air Bag Recall Nationwide
Ford Motor Co. said on December 18 it will expand a driver-side air bag recall nationwide, adding 447,310 additional vehicles as demanded by the U.S. government — the third of five automakers to do so.
Under government pressure, the automaker has recalled 502,489 vehicles for Takata driver-side air bags, along with another 36,000 for passenger-side air bags. The air bags can send shrapnel into drivers and passengers. Until now, most of the vehicles recalled were in high-humidity areas.
In total, 10 automakers have now called back more than 11.5 million vehicles with Takata airbags since 2013. The automakers met last week in Romulus to discuss hiring an outside engineering firm for independent testing, while NHTSA also has hired an outside firm for testing. Automakers still don’t know the root cause of the driver-side failures and Takata argues the risks are very very small.
Ford’s expanded recall includes 2005-08 Ford Mustang vehicles built Aug. 18, 2004 to June 25, 2007 at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant and 2005-06 Ford GT vehicles built Feb. 11, 2005 to Jan. 30, 2006 at the Wixom Assembly Plant in Michigan.
Ford said the new recall includes 462,911 vehicles in the United States, 27,516 in Canada and 7,578 in Mexico. Approximately 4,484 additional vehicles outside of North America are also included.
In calling for the nationwide recall, NHTSA cited an August incident involving a driver’s side air bag failure in North Carolina in a 2007 Ford Mustang that resulted in cuts and burns to the driver — outside the regional recall area. That’s in addition to five previous driver’s side air bag ruptures — including another in a non-high humidity state.