Photo: Ford
Ford has quickly responded to the latest installment in the Takata saga with an extension of a recall. The Blue Oval has announced that it will expand the recall of the 2004-2006 Ranger pickup truck by 391,394 units.
Out of these, 361,692 vehicles were sold in the United States of America, while 29,334 were sold in Canada. The remaining pickup trucks were sold in emerging markets, except 54 units in Asia, and one vehicle sold in South America.
The purpose of the recall is to replace the driver’s side airbag inflator. Naturally, the replacement will come at no cost to the owner. All the affected vehicles were built in North America and featured Takata airbags and airbag inflators.
These inflators have been linked to ten deaths caused by their malfunction. Out of these, one was in an accident involving a Ford Ranger.
The problem with the defective airbag inflators made by Takata is that they may fall apart on deployment and throw plastic and metal shrapnel at the person in front of the airbag. As if the situation were not dangerous enough, it happened during a car collision, when the built-in airbags were supposed to protect their occupants.
This accident in the United States caused the death of a South Carolina customer who was driving a 2006 Ford Ranger, revealing the issue with the airbag inflators fitted to this model. The event occurred in December 2015, but it took investigators almost a month to release their findings. Owners of the affected vehicles will be contacted by Ford starting February 22.
Since the cars might have changed owners since the initial sale, owners of 2004-2006 Ford Ranger pickups can visit Ford’s official website, where they can enter their Ranger’s Vehicle Identification Number on the safety recalls page.
Ford announced in November 2015 that it dropped Takata as an airbag supplier in future vehicles, Autoblog notes.
However, the American company stated at the time that it would still purchase other components from the Japanese supplier. In November 2015, the Blue Oval had to start a recall of 1,509,535 vehicles worldwide to replace Takata airbags.
The purpose of the recall is to replace the driver’s side airbag inflator. Naturally, the replacement will come at no cost to the owner. All the affected vehicles were built in North America and featured Takata airbags and airbag inflators.
These inflators have been linked to ten deaths caused by their malfunction. Out of these, one was in an accident involving a Ford Ranger.
The problem with the defective airbag inflators made by Takata is that they may fall apart on deployment and throw plastic and metal shrapnel at the person in front of the airbag. As if the situation were not dangerous enough, it happened during a car collision, when the built-in airbags were supposed to protect their occupants.
This accident in the United States caused the death of a South Carolina customer who was driving a 2006 Ford Ranger, revealing the issue with the airbag inflators fitted to this model. The event occurred in December 2015, but it took investigators almost a month to release their findings. Owners of the affected vehicles will be contacted by Ford starting February 22.
Since the cars might have changed owners since the initial sale, owners of 2004-2006 Ford Ranger pickups can visit Ford’s official website, where they can enter their Ranger’s Vehicle Identification Number on the safety recalls page.
Ford announced in November 2015 that it dropped Takata as an airbag supplier in future vehicles, Autoblog notes.
However, the American company stated at the time that it would still purchase other components from the Japanese supplier. In November 2015, the Blue Oval had to start a recall of 1,509,535 vehicles worldwide to replace Takata airbags.
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