Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is requesting customers to bring back nearly 32,000 vehicles. The said vehicles are said to have faulty air bags on the driver’s side. The airbags may fail to inflate as expected in the case of an accident. The actual number of the affected vehicles has been confirmed to be 31,867 and the earlier stated 36,000.
Who is affected?
This models affected include; the 2016 – 2017 Lincoln MKL, the 2017 Lincoln Continental and the 2016 – 2017 Ford Edge. The majority are said to be in the U.S. and around 4,336 are said to be in Canada.
The deadly defect identified
The airbags were outsourced from Takata Corp., a Japan based supplier. The defect may not pose extreme danger as millions of others that have been recalled by Takata. The air bags recalled were identified as faulty after occurrences where they could inflate with very intense force followed by an explosion. The explosions spew shrapnel at occupants injuring them rather than saving them. A number of deaths have been reported while thousands have been badly injured.
Ford’s rather unique case
In the case of Ford, the situation is different all together. In this case, the air bags inflate but they do not fill up completely. This was explained as a result of misalignment of components. Ford stated that no accidents or injuries have been registered with them that is related to the defect. This has negative repercussions for Takata as Ford has openly said it will keep off Takata air bags in the future. Kelli Felker, the company’s spokesperson stated that Ford will stop using Takata airbags in any of its vehicles be it truck, car or even the SUV under development at the moment.
Takata’s ownership to the defect
Takata owned up the defects. It notified Ford of having identified production errors within the systems. Ford is expected to begin the recalling process by informing its customers during the week of March 13. The affected vehicles will have the faulty air bags replaced at no cost to the dealer. This is only possible once the parts are available.
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