Ford Recalls 100,000 Sedans Over Seatbelt Pretensioners

by Matt Posky

August 19th, 2019 5:10 PM

ford recalls 100 000 sedans over seatbelt pretensioners

Ford may be phasing out the Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans in the near future, that doesn’t mean you won’t see some the next time you’re visiting the dealership. Last week, the company announced a recall of 103,374 vehicles in the United States, 4,002 in Canada and 1,023 in Mexico due to bunk seatbelt anchor pretensioners.

According to the notice, increased temperatures generated during deployment of the driver or front-passenger pretensioner could degrade the tensile strength of the cable below the level needed to effectively restrain an occupant.

As nobody wants to be freestyling inside their automobile in the event of a crash, Ford said dealers “will apply a coating to protect the cable during a pretensioner deployment.”

Affected vehicles include all 2015 Ford Fusion vehicles manufactured at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant between August 2014 and January 2015. Impacted Lincolns include 2015 model-year MKZs built at the Hermosillo Assembly Plant between August 2014 and November 2014. Fusions assembled the Mexican location over the same timeframe were also included in the recall.

Ford said it is aware of one reported injury related to the defect. The recall will begin in earnest next month, when the company said it would begin contacting customers to arrange a visit at their local dealership. Repairs relating to the tensioner will be conducted free of charge.

[Image: Ford]

#2015 #Ford #FordFusion #FordMotorCo #FordMotorCompany #LincolnMKZ #Recalls #Safety #SeatbeltPretensioner

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12 comments

Cprescott on Aug 19, 2019

How bad must you be to have every other model with safely designed seatbelts and you don't copy that (or use that) in your bread and butter car? As a former ford Fanboi, I add this as yet another exhibit why I drive a Hyundai now instead of a Ford. This company half steps its way through anything that is not an $80k truck.

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- SPPPP on Aug 19, 2019
  
  Ford hasn't explained how these 108,399 cars' seatbelts differ in any way from the millions of other seatbelts they sold. So why are you assuming that the other ones are safely designed? With a little imagination, scary possibilities come to mind.
  
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- Subuclayton on Aug 19, 2019
  
  You would think a low-tech part like a seat belt, installed in all cars for at least 40 years, would have been perfected by now.
  
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- Highdesertcat on Aug 19, 2019
  
  @subuclayton I was surprised at how cranky the seatbelts were in our rental Expedition EL. The pretensioners would lock the belts if we were putting them on while the car was already rolling, or continued rolling. The only way to keep from having to rewind and re-release the belts was to put on the seatbelts at a dead stop. And that wasn't always possible, like when clearing a gas pump spot for pit stop parking at the store, or when reaching for your wallet to pay when entering a National Park, Beach parking, etc. Driving without a sealbelt fastened is harmful to your hearing and sanity with all the alarm binging and dinging and lights flashing.
  
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- Krhodes1 on Aug 19, 2019
  
  @subuclayton There is nothing low-tech about a modern seatbelt.
  
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- Bullnuke on Aug 20, 2019
  
  krhodes1 - Absolutely agree. Modern seat belt systems are far, far more than a nylon web belt with a release buckled bolted to the car.
  
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- Dukeisduke on Aug 20, 2019
  
  @highdesertcat Isn't that the inertia reel feature? A pendulum weight locks the seatbelt when the angle changes inside the retractor, like when the brakes are applied quickly, or the retractor "thinks" the vehicle is about to roll over. That feature has been around at least since the '90s. Pretensioners are a one-time thing, typically using an explosive charge, triggered by the airbag sensors, to take up slack in the belt. Pretensioner belts or buckles have to be replaced once they've fired.
  
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- Highdesertcat on Aug 20, 2019
  
  dukeisduke, it might very well be that it is the inertia reel feature, since I never had a Pretensioner or Airbag go off on me. Never been in an accident. My experience was that the seatbelt tightened automatically after having been put on and the person could not lean forward. It required the passenger who was reaching for snacks or pouring coffee from a bottle to unbuckle to relieve the tension and provide freedom of movement at 80mph.
  
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Hummer on Aug 19, 2019

They’re applying a coating? What, like flex seal?

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- 56BelAire on Aug 19, 2019
  
  Phil Swift has agreed to apply the tape to each and every car.......geez, I love that guy.
  
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Inside Looking Out on Aug 19, 2019

IIRC I had exactly the same recall in my previous 2014 Ford Fusion and it was 3 years ago. It was a great car though and replaced it with 2018 Fusion which did not had recalls so far.

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TheDumbGuy on Aug 20, 2019

Hey, sh#t happens. Ford first put seatbelts in their cars as an option in about 1956. Someone slipped up, it happens. I am sure that Ford did not intend that this part fail. A mistake was made in the design, the selection of the materials used, testing, manufacture, assembly, or installation. No one is perfect.

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