No Holding Back: Seat Belt Failures Spark Sizable Ford Recall

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Ford Motor Company has announced a recall of 680,000 vehicles to fix seat belts that might not protect occupants during a crash.

The automaker claims two crashes and two injuries are connected to the failure of driver and and front passenger seat belt anchor pretensioners in vehicles spanning four model years.

According to Ford, the pretensioners can overheat during deployment, leading to cable separation. Without that restraint, occupants face the risk of injury during a front impact collision.

Unlike the door latch woes that have plagued Ford over the past two years, this recall involves only two domestic models. The automaker says it will repair 2013 to 2016 model year Ford Fusions assembled at both the Hermosillo and Flat Rock assembly plants, as well as 2013 to 2015 Lincoln MKZs.

Of the recalled vehicles, 602,739 were sold in the United States, 35,614 in Canada, 8,665 in Mexico and 653 in federalized territories. The affected Fusions were built between Aug. 13, 2012 and April 2, 2016, while the MKZ models rolled out between November 14, 2012 and July 31, 2014.

Ford’s prescribed fix is an easy one:

Dealers will inject a conformal coating into the front driver and passenger seat belt anchor pretensioner to protect the cables from increased temperatures generated during deployment at no cost to the customer.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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 14 comments
  • NormSV650 NormSV650 on Dec 02, 2016

    So 3/4 of a million Sienna's recalled or about all of them made since 2011 because the door could open while driving is back page stuff?

  • WheelMcCoy WheelMcCoy on Dec 02, 2016

    Curious. Seat belt tech is not exactly new. Automakers and their suppliers know how to make this sort of thing. What changed?

    • See 7 previous
    • WheelMcCoy WheelMcCoy on Dec 03, 2016

      @Scoutdude Thanks, got it. I thought the belts were the typical pendulum / inertia design, hence was wondering what was new.

  • EBFlex EBFlex on Dec 03, 2016

    The profits now, recalls later business model of Big Al strikes again. This probably won't please the Ford advertising machine on this site though.

    • WheelMcCoy WheelMcCoy on Dec 03, 2016

      Nah, Ford needn't worry. As a counter balance, there are plenty of Mustang fans here, and a totally irrational love for the panther platform. :)

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