Tinfoil Dept.: Ford, The Next Public Enemy?
Welcome to Tinfoil Time. A public service for paranoids and their enemies. When the NHTSA went after Toyota for their runaway cars, some people (me, included) saw this as a transparent attempt to undermine Toyota in order to make GM and Chrysler (A.K.A new arms of the US government) more attractive both in terms of purchasing their products and the IPO’s. But now that the circus is leaving town, is the NHTSA looking for a new victim? Whilst searching the net, I saw (part of) an article (sub) which mentions how Ford’s North American market share is on the rise. Sure, Toyota’s market share in the U.S. dropped by 1.5 percent compared to September 2009. But GM did not pick up those sales. They lost 2.8 percent. The winners were Ford (+ 1.4 percent), and Chrysler (+2.1 percent).I also remember a poll that was taken which claimed that how 54 percent of people were less likely to buy a GM car because of their bailout. Rising sales at Ford and bad will towards GM? I’ve seen this scenario before! The next stage is now the NHTSA will tell us to stop driving our Fords. Trouble is, Ford doesn’t have any recalls of recent. So what can the NHTSA do? You recycle a recall.
The Detroit News reports that the NHTSA is urging owners of Fords to have their vehicle checked out over the infamous cruise control fire hazard. The NHTSA claims that only 40 percent of the 14 million+ vehicles which were affected, have come in for service. The industry standard is 70 percent after 18 months. “It appears that there are still far too many people who have ignored the company’s notification to bring their vehicles in for the free repair,” NHTSA administrator David Strickland said, “We’re urging owners of these previously recalled Ford vehicles to take them in to their Ford dealers for this vital repair if they haven’t already done so.” Ford was nothing but supportive. “We support NHTSA in this effort and have communicated extensively with customers in an effort to encourage higher repair rates,” said Wes Sherwood, Ford spokesperson, “We have notified all owners multiple times and continue to notify affected customers of the recall.”
I just find the timing of this “reminder” slightly suspect. This recall has been going on for significantly longer than 18 months. Why is the NHTSA only now reminding people? Why wasn’t Ford in the crosshairs of the NHTSA back when, when the dubious complaint database contained pretty much the same amount of unsubstantiated sudden acceleration allegations against Ford? Is this just a surreptitious way of containing Ford so they don’t get so big they encroach on GM? Yes, I know this is Tinfoil Hat territory, but this just runs too close to the Toyota scenario. Bertel, you got any lithium? My head is aching…. [ED: Sorry, no can do. The Japanese cornered the market. They’ll probably trade it for rare earth …]
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Z71, silly boy, read the article. There is a recall, it's just the response to it has not been very high, so NHTSA is giving the pudding another stir. Your post says that there was no recall. Now, why don't you go back to sucking on the tailpipes of Corvettes, or whatever it is you do to maintain that fine brain of yours in tip-top (indeed, unused) condition.
@Cammy Corrigan/Katie Puckrick: Yes it is time to put on your tinfoil hat. I would imagine with the fairly dismal response rate that this recall has had, this is probably an attempt to mop up the last of these old Fords that might still be out there, not fixed and unaccounted for. Most of these cars that have that cruise control hardware must be getting up to 20 years old or so, but with people keeping cars longer all of the time I think it makes sense to try and catch the last of them. I did get one of these for my 1990 Mercury Topaz years ago, I had the car taken in for it's repair(?), but by that time the cruise was another DOA item on that POS. Several years later, I bought a used Grand Marquis, but I refused to park that car in my garage (which is underneath my bedroom) knowing about the defect. Buying the car used, I had no way of knowing if it had been recalled and corrected or not. @Z71: Post away, baby! While I don't share your dislike of Ford products, I don't think you're doing anything different than all of the irrational comments that other posters on this board throw at GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, VW, et al, products. Hit that "submit comment" button as often as you like. I know I will.