Dearborn, MI – Dec. 29, 2017 – The Ford Motor Company recently announced a recall of more than 300,000 of its Ranger light pickup trucks over concerns that passenger air bags could have degraded over the years since they were produced, according to a defect filing made with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall includes 2004-2006 Ford ranger pickups.

Recall Summary

These air bags were made by a company called Takata, and used a chemical called PSAN as an inflator accelerant in the event of a crash. However, exposure to extreme conditions could have led that gas to degrade the air bags’ structural integrity over time. This is the third recall of affected vehicles, the first of which brought owners a temporary solution for the issue and the second broadened the scope of the initial action.

Ford is unsure how many of the hundreds of thousands of vehicles in the recall are affected by this issue. All these Ranger pickups were produced from March 24, 2003 to May 4, 2006. Mazda is currently undergoing a recall for late-model light trucks over the same issue as well.

Due to the potentially corrosive properties of the ammonium nitrate gas PSAN in conditions with extreme temperature, humidity and so on, the inflators for passenger frontal air bags in the affected Ford Rangers could rupture in the event of a crash that leads to deployment of those air bags.

As a consequence, metal fragments could launch into the passenger compartment at potentially high speeds, greatly increasing the risk of injury or even death.

Ford previously issued a recall for these vehicles in 2016, and this action is intended to provide a final fix for the problem. The issue was first noted in May 2015, when Takata submitted a noticed to the NHTSA about the air bag inflator issue, which prompted Ford to examine the potential effects on its own vehicles.

On May 26, 2015, Ford’s Field Review Committee completed its investigation of the issue and approved the recall action.

The recall filing for the final remedy to the air bag problem was issued Dec. 11, 2017.

The repair

Owners will be notified by mail about the recall and will be instructed to take their late-model Rangers to a local Ford or Lincoln dealership where the frontal air bag inflators will be replaced free of charge. However, the automaker is not including reimbursement plans as part of this recall because it would have been covered by the original warranty.

Dealers were notified of the recall Dec. 12, 2017, and owners were slated to receive notifications by mail in phases between Dec. 26, 2017, and March 31, 2018. The first phase of notifications was only slated to last from Dec. 26 to Dec. 31.

Is your vehicle part of the recall?

Over 300,000 vehicles were originally part of this Ford Ranger recall. As of April 9, 2021 – the last date information was available – 164,779 airbags had been replaced. To see if your car still needs to be repaired, use MotorSafety’s free lookup tool.

Recall Masters – December 28, 2017

Ford Recalling 2018 Escapes Over Side Airbag Diffuser Issue

The Ford Motor Company recently issued a recall of more than 10,000 of its Escape light sport utility vehicles from the 2018 model year, citing concerns over side curtain air bag inflator diffusers, according to a defect report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Specifically, the issue relates to vehicles that have side curtain air bags installed on either the driver or passenger side, which contain top-hat diffusers on their inflators. In the affected vehicles, these diffusers “do not have the expected part geometry,” and may detach during a crash in which the side curtain air bags deploy.
This is a similar issue to one seen in recent Kia and Hyundai model year 2018 recalls as well…

Read the entire article on the Recall Masters website

Dearborn, Michigan – Dec. 28, 2017 – The Ford Motor Company recently issued a recall of more than 10,000 of its Escape light sport utility vehicles from the 2018 model year, citing concerns over side curtain air bag inflator diffusers, according to a defect report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Specifically, the issue relates to vehicles that have side curtain air bags installed on either the driver or passenger side, which contain top-hat diffusers on their inflators. In the affected vehicles, these diffusers “do not have the expected part geometry,” and may detach during a crash in which the side curtain air bags deploy.

This is a similar issue to one seen in recent Kia and Hyundai model year 2018 recalls as well.

Of the 10,157 Escape SUVs in the recall, only 1 percent are expected to come with this defect. All were produced between Nov. 13-29, 2017, but not in VIN order.

The Defect

The air bag inflator diffusers being an unexpected shape – and therefore not fitting properly with the inflator – may cause the air bags may not inflate properly in the event of a crash in which they are deployed, and could even launch the diffuser as a projectile into the vehicle itself, both of which increase the risk of injury.

The supplier of the part was the first to identify the issue during a testing period, and informed Ford of the potential problem as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, there is no way for drivers to know whether this defect impacts their vehicles before they take the Escapes in for repairs.

Timeline of Events

On Nov. 16, 2017, the supplier was performing lot acceptance testing on the diffuser parts when it noted a potential issue, and determined that the improper metal forming of a sub-supplier’s top-hat diffuser could lead to the problems related to the recall. Additional testing turned up more lots of inflators that may have had the diffuser defect.

The supplier notified Ford of the potential issue Nov. 28, and the automaker’s Field Review Committee assessed the situation and approved the recall Dec. 11.

To this point, Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the defect.

The Solution

Ford will ask owners of the potentially affected vehicles by mail to take their Escapes to local Ford or Lincoln dealers, where the side curtain airbags on both the driver and passenger sides will be inspected for the defect. If they’re discovered, the components will be replaced at no charge.

The recall will not include a reimbursement plan because all such repairs would be covered under the original warranty.

Ford notified dealers of the recall Dec. 19, and will begin notifying owners Jan. 29, 2018 by mail. That notification period will likely end by Feb. 2, 2018.