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Seat Belt Pretensioners Cause Ford F-150s to Catch Fire, 2 Million Recalled

Nearly two million Ford F-150 pickup trucks will be recalled in the following months by the American manufacturer to check for a possible problem with the driver and front passenger seat belt pretensioners.
Ford F-150 SuperCrew 13 photos
Photo: Ford
2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition2019 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition
Unexpectedly, the reported problem does not endanger the lives of the passengers by not properly restraining them in case of a crash, but rather poses the danger of setting the vehicles on fire.

Ford says that because of an excessive amount of spark generated when the pretensioners deploy, and of the gasses released in the lower portion of the B-pillar when that happens, an explosive mix may result that in turn could lead to a fire.

The pretensioner helps the seatbelt lock in place when sudden deceleration is detected, allowing the occupants to be properly restrained when in a crash.

There were 17 reports of smoke or fire caused by this issue submitted to Ford, none of which apparently resulted in accidents or injuries.

To avoid further dangers, Ford will recall a great deal of the F-150s Regular Cab, and SuperCrew Cab manufactured from 2015 to August 2018. Affected vehicles are 2015-18 Ford F-150 vehicles built at Dearborn Assembly Plant and 2015-18 Ford F-150 vehicles built at Kansas City Assembly Plant.

“There are approximately 1,995,776 vehicles in North America relating to this concern, with 1,619,112 vehicles in the United States and its federalized territories, 339,884 in Canada and 36,780 in Mexico. The Ford reference number for this recall is 18S27,”
says the carmaker in a statement.

After the owners of the affected cars are notified, they will have to report to dealerships for repairs. Mechanics will remove insulation material from the B-pillar trim, remove remnants of wiring harness tape in the B-pillar area, and apply heat-resistant tape to the carpet and its insulation.

This invasive and rather messy operation will conclude with the modifying of the back interior panels of Regular Cab vehicles. All the work will be conducted as usual at no cost to F-150 owners.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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