After Foot-Dragging, Ford Recalls 144,000 Defective F-150 Trucks

On Behalf of | Apr 29, 2011 | Auto Defects |

After years of widespread consumer safety issues with airbags, Ford reluctantly recalled nearly 150,000 pickups in its F-150 line of trucks. Ford’s slow-to-the-draw recall comes as somewhat of a surprise considering their long line of problems with the F-150s, including deadly fire hazards. With a loyal following by hard-working men and women in San Antonio and throughout Texas, you’d think that Ford would move swiftly on such a dangerous symptom like airbag defects.

F-150 drivers of the 2005-06 models have reported inadvertent airbag deployment for years now. It’s a problem that dozens of F-150 owners made Ford aware of, but the U.S.’ second biggest automaker refused to take mass action. For this reason, the federal government felt it needed to step in, formally urging Ford to take care of its mistake and recall 1.3 million of its vehicles to fix the faulty airbags.

Ford refused to budge, perhaps concerned about image in this era of mass auto recalls. The automaker cited the relatively low number of incidents and its belief that warning lights supposedly warned the driver of the problem before the random deployment. Insultingly, Ford also regarded the injuries – chipped and broken teeth, lacerations, burns, and cuts to the face – as minor. Apparently someone has to die before auto defect injuries can be classified as significant.

After lengthy rounds of feet-dragging, Ford finally recalled 144,000 of the vehicles, well short of the 1.3 million the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had urged.

The airbag defect is just the latest of series safety issues that have been documented with the Ford F-150 line. If you suffer serious injuries from a defect in your vehicle, contact a personal injury attorney experienced in auto defect litigation to discuss your potential claims.

Source: DailyFinance.com, “Ford Reluctantly Recalls 144,000 F-150 Pickup Trucks for Airbag Fix” February 23, 2011.