Ford issues "do not drive" advisory for Takata airbags

[Owen Lucas]

Ford owners, check your VIN: https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls

"The "largest and most complex" automotive safety recall in US history is still not over, nine years after the first owners were contacted about a fix. Today, Ford issued a "do not drive" advisory for owners who still have not had their Takata airbags replaced, for a mix of vehicles that range from Ranger pickup trucks to the mid-engined GT supercar."

"Approximately 765,600 airbag inflators in Ford and Lincoln vehicles are impacted globally, including 374,300 in the US. Ford continues trying to contact customers about these recalls, with more than 121 million outreach attempts to date in the US alone, including letters, emails, phone calls, text messages and more than 1 million canvassing visits to customer homes. As a result, 95 percent of US customers completed Takata recalls," Ford said in a press release.

Some cars need their driver and passenger airbag inflators replaced: model year 2004–2006 Ford Ranger pickup trucks, 2005–2014 Ford Mustangs, and 2005–2006 Ford GTs. Others just need the passenger airbag replaced: 2006–2012 Ford Fusions, Mercury Milans, Lincoln MKZs, and Lincoln Zephyrs; 2007–2010 Ford Edges, 2007–2010 Lincoln MKX, and 2007–2011 Ford Rangers."


https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/0...bags-recalled-in-2015-stop-driving-ford-says/

 

[cptbarkey]

 

[UNC054]

You would think at some point common sense would say hey I don't want to get blasted in the face with an air bag

 

[Tdbo]

They have been done on both of my Fords, plus the recall on the Accord.
Also on our former Odyssey van.
For awhile, it was almost a PT job tracking the recalls and scheduling appointments on the fleet.

 

[bdcardinal]

I am eagerly awaiting all the phone calls our receptionist will transfer to me in parts to answer all the questions about this.

If anyone is wondering, so many times when you call a dealer you get sent to parts even for obviously non parts related questions is for a simple reason. We answer the phone. So far at 1405 today and being here since 0800 minus an hour for lunch, I have received 17 phone calls transferred from up front asking if there are any recalls on their vehicle and when they can bring them in. They are told that only parts can look up recalls, not true. sigh...

 

[Exhaustgases]

The most poorly engineered safety device there is. Imagine a pressure vessel with no over pressure relief system! And literally constructed from tin can material. Just crazy.

 

[bullwinkle]

I am eagerly awaiting all the phone calls our receptionist will transfer to me in parts to answer all the questions about this.

If anyone is wondering, so many times when you call a dealer you get sent to parts even for obviously non parts related questions is for a simple reason. We answer the phone. So far at 1405 today and being here since 0800 minus an hour for lunch, I have received 17 phone calls transferred from up front asking if there are any recalls on their vehicle and when they can bring them in. They are told that only parts can look up recalls, not true. sigh...

Your dealership sounds like all the Ford ones around here-there's almost no way to get a knucklehead service advisor to answer the phone, for any reason!

 

[GMBoy]

I am eagerly awaiting all the phone calls our receptionist will transfer to me in parts to answer all the questions about this.

If anyone is wondering, so many times when you call a dealer you get sent to parts even for obviously non parts related questions is for a simple reason. We answer the phone. So far at 1405 today and being here since 0800 minus an hour for lunch, I have received 17 phone calls transferred from up front asking if there are any recalls on their vehicle and when they can bring them in. They are told that only parts can look up recalls, not true. sigh...

Can you transfer those calls back? That is what I would do. I can only imagine your frustrations! The service advisors should be handling all customer inquiries.

 

[oil pan 4]

Eh just make sure you don't crash....

 

[bdcardinal]

Your dealership sounds like all the Ford ones around here-there's almost no way to get a knucklehead service advisor to answer the phone, for any reason!

It wasn't so bad, well it was but it wasn't as directly bad to me until the beginning of this month. One of our awesome counter people is a single mom and left to move closer to her extended family .

 

[meep]

I could see value in taking the calls, if they aren’t eating into other required tasks. Sometimes doing good work comes in many forms.

I say that, but I did get tired of wrong numbers for dominos pizza at one job I had. Most of them started to come from one particular number. I must admit that one day, after I’d corrected her so many times, i just took their order for family dinner. Even tried to upsell 2 liters of coke and a side of wings. Hint, I worked in a network deployment shop - no pizza on the menu.

 

[cptbarkey]

I listen to the under the hood podcast, they briefly mentioned how takata recalls have been endless, and yet here we are with another. At this point, what takata airbag hasn’t been recalled?

 

[ka9mnx]

My air bags were replaced by Ford years ago. Every couple of years I get a letter from them stating my Ranger was in an accident and the air bags need to be checked. Never was in an accident. I think they just want to get me in the dealership to drool over their new vehicles.

 

[ctechbob]

The most poorly engineered safety device there is. Imagine a pressure vessel with no over pressure relief system! And literally constructed from tin can material. Just crazy.

Err, what? Airbags have saved untold numbers of lives. Mine included.

The bags are designed to bleed pressure almost instantly upon deployment. I'm not sure where you're getting this 'pressure vessel' idea from

 

[jeepman3071]

Eh just make sure you don't crash....

Not so easy. I've been involved in 2 different car wrecks. Both times I was completely stopped at an intersection and was hit by another driver who lost control.

 

[bdcardinal]

Can you transfer those calls back? That is what I would do. I can only imagine your frustrations! The service advisors should be handling all customer inquiries.

I can... but its easier to just do it. A lot of times the writers are legit busy. It does get old when a call gets transferred to parts to check if we have parts for a recall, and the recall is a software update.

 

[bdcardinal]

I was driving our parts truck, an 04 B-Series, and almost got rear ended while I pulled over for an ambulance and Big Altima Energy behind me didn't. All I could think of was "at least this will be a rear impact so the bags won't go off."

 

[dubber09]

You would think at some point common sense would say hey I don't want to get blasted in the face with an air bag

Is think Ford would make it more effective and would save money by just running a few ads on TV and radio, and having posters at dealers.

 

[daves87rs]

How many still on the road I wonder…..

 

[KrisZ]

I’m m sure all these people that ignored the recall for years, will now listen to Ford and stop driving their vehicles