Photo: Ford / edited
Since November 2022, automakers and the NHTSA alike issued three urgent warnings in regard to deadly airbags produced by Takata. Certain vehicles that had their Takata airbags replaced may feature incorrectly installed airbag inflators, with the Ford Motor Company recalling 98,550 pickup trucks over this concern.
The Critical Concern Review Group within FoMoCo started investigating reports of improperly installed airbag inflators in November 2022. Said inflators replaced Takata’s deadly airbags as part of two previous recalls (campaign numbers 17V-788 and 18V-022) from December 2017 and February 2018. The Dearborn-based automaker originally called back a whopping 361,523 units of the 2004 to 2006 Ford Ranger, then issued the second recall for 33,310 units of the 2006 model.
On both occasions, the Ford Motor Company relied on its authorized dealers and third-party mobile repair teams to replace the Takata-supplied frontal passenger airbag inflator. The second-largest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit provided detailed instructions for this service procedure, but alas, certain inflators were not installed as per the instructions in question. The incorrect orientation of the replacement airbag inflator was discovered by a mobile repair team rather than a Ford dealership.
Come December 2022, the Blue Oval identified two more examples of front passenger airbag inflators installed the other way around. According to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Ford identified technicians who incorrectly installed airbag inflators, technicians who didn’t follow the instructions provided by Ford.
If that’s not negligence, then what is? Back in January 2023, the Ford Motor Company decided to rework the service kits to ensure that the replacement inflator can only be installed in the correct orientation. The service packager has also been tasked with adding an instruction sheet to the service kit, illustrating the correct and incorrect orientations. The Dearborn-based automaker is aware of at least seven pickups with incorrectly installed airbag inflators, with five of them discovered by mobile repair teams and two by Ford when conducting reviews of dealership repairs. All seven have been repaired.
Campaign number 23V-125 includes 98,550 pickup trucks produced for the 2004 to 2006 model years at the Edison and Twin Cities assembly plants. Build dates range from May 2003 through March 2004 for Edison-built Rangers and May 2003 through May 2006 for Twin Cities-built Rangers. Affected owners will be notified of this recall no later than March 31st by first-class mail.
The third-gen Ranger ran between the 1998 and 2011 model years in the United States. The Ford Motor Company replaced it with the T6-platform Ranger for 2019 at the 2018 North American International Auto Show, a design that has already been replaced by the T6.2 in overseas markets. The T6.2-platform Ranger is due to enter production at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne in the second half of 2023 as a 2024 model.
On both occasions, the Ford Motor Company relied on its authorized dealers and third-party mobile repair teams to replace the Takata-supplied frontal passenger airbag inflator. The second-largest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit provided detailed instructions for this service procedure, but alas, certain inflators were not installed as per the instructions in question. The incorrect orientation of the replacement airbag inflator was discovered by a mobile repair team rather than a Ford dealership.
Come December 2022, the Blue Oval identified two more examples of front passenger airbag inflators installed the other way around. According to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Ford identified technicians who incorrectly installed airbag inflators, technicians who didn’t follow the instructions provided by Ford.
If that’s not negligence, then what is? Back in January 2023, the Ford Motor Company decided to rework the service kits to ensure that the replacement inflator can only be installed in the correct orientation. The service packager has also been tasked with adding an instruction sheet to the service kit, illustrating the correct and incorrect orientations. The Dearborn-based automaker is aware of at least seven pickups with incorrectly installed airbag inflators, with five of them discovered by mobile repair teams and two by Ford when conducting reviews of dealership repairs. All seven have been repaired.
Campaign number 23V-125 includes 98,550 pickup trucks produced for the 2004 to 2006 model years at the Edison and Twin Cities assembly plants. Build dates range from May 2003 through March 2004 for Edison-built Rangers and May 2003 through May 2006 for Twin Cities-built Rangers. Affected owners will be notified of this recall no later than March 31st by first-class mail.
The third-gen Ranger ran between the 1998 and 2011 model years in the United States. The Ford Motor Company replaced it with the T6-platform Ranger for 2019 at the 2018 North American International Auto Show, a design that has already been replaced by the T6.2 in overseas markets. The T6.2-platform Ranger is due to enter production at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne in the second half of 2023 as a 2024 model.
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