More than 360,000 F-150s are impacted by the recall in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
A defective door handle on late model Ford F-150 pickups could fail and pop open in the event of a crash, leading the Detroit maker to recall more than 360,000 of the trucks, it has announced.
The recall is the latest in a series of problems to strike Ford, a maker that has been gaining significant ground, in recent years, by emphasizing high quality and a focus on safety.
The latest action involves Ford F-Series pickups built between January 18, 2008 and November 30, 2009 at the maker’s truck plants in Kansas City and Dearborn, Michigan. A total of 280,946 trucks from the 2009 and 2010 model-years with chrome interior door handles are covered in the U.S. Another 68,000 models were sold in Canada, and 14,000 in Mexico.
During regular usage, the springs inside the door handles may fail or weaken, and the handles may not return to the fully-closed position. In the event of a collision, the maker said, that may cause a door to pop open – however Ford claims it has not been notified of any accidents or injuries related to the problem.
That underscores the tightening scrutiny potential safety problems are now receiving in the wake of last year’s numerous recalls at Toyota. The maker was sharply criticized – and ultimately paid out nearly $50 million in fines – for failing to respond quickly enough to potential safety problems.
Observers say that was one reason why recalls surged to more than 20 million, last year, a six-year high.
Toyota has continued struggling in 2011, most recently recalling 245,000 Lexus sedans for potential fuel line problems (Click Here for that story). But Ford has run into a series of quality problems of its own.
Just last week, the maker announced the recalls of 425,000 Windstar minivans due to problems with corrosion in 22 cold-weather states. That brings to more than 700,000 the number of vehicles impacted by the two recalls. By comparison, Ford recalls just 581,000 products for all of 2010, among the lowest of any major automaker.
Ford will begin notifying owners directly, later this month, on how to handle the necessary repairs on their F-Series trucks. A spring reinforcement may be added or the entire mechanism replaced. Repairs will be free of charge.