A potential airbag problem leads Ford to recall 2005-2006 F-150s.
Responding to concerns that their airbags could deploy without warnings, Ford has announced it will recall 150,000 F-150 full-size pickups.
The announcement comes as government investigators raised concerns about the potential problem – but the recall is significantly smaller than the 1.3 million vehicles that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had previously suggested.
The airbag recall follows three weeks after Ford recalled 365,000 F-150 pickups due to a problem with potentially defective interior door handles that could result in a door opening during a crash.
The door handle problem involved trucks from the 2009 and 2010 model-years, while the latest recall impacts F-150 pickups built during the 2005 and 2006 model-years. (The NHTSA had also wanted Ford to include trucks built during 2004.)
The automaker says there is a “relatively low risk” of inadvertent airbag firings, though government regulators say they’ve had reports of 77 injuries resulting from 238 cases of airbags triggering without warning.
It says it decided to limit the recall because the problem appears to have largely been limited to trucks produced during the first shift at its assembly plant in Norfolk, Virginia, and not to those built elsewhere. The issue is a wire that could have been improperly installed, resulting in its chafing, creating the possibility of a short circuit that could lead to an airbag misfire.
Ford made wiring changes in 2006 to prevent the potential problem.
The NHTSA is studying Ford’s planned recall and could order a hearing if it determines the company response was not adequate.
The F-150 is the nation’s top-selling pickup and, along with other F-Series trucks, the biggest selling model in the industry overall.