Has anyone heard anything more on this and what exactly do they recommend fixing/changing? I am on a roadtrip---sounds scary!

KEN THOMAS

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Ford Motor Co. says it will recall nearly 150,000 F-150 pickup trucks to fix airbags that could deploy without warning. The government had raised concerns about the problem.

Ford said Wednesday the recall covers trucks from the 2005-2006 model years in the United States and Canada for what the company calls a “relatively low risk” of airbags deploying inadvertently.

But the recall is much smaller in scope than what the government had requested. Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told the company the recall should cover 1.3 million vehicles from the 2004-2006 model year, citing dozens of injuries.

The recall was first reported by the Detroit News.

 

I read that the 2004-2006 might be affected. They (ford) are looking at a chafing of the wire under the horn mounting plate.

 

I am just reading a few newspapers online this morning and found another article with more details---will be asking dealer at oil change this week if mine is affected.
**********************
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
WASHINGTON --

Under government pressure, Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it will recall nearly 150,000 F-150 pickup trucks to fix air bags that could deploy without warning.

The recall covers trucks from the 2005-2006 model years in the United States and Canada for what the auto company calls a "relatively low risk" of the air bag deploying inadvertently.

The recall, however, is much smaller in scope than what the government had requested. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, citing 77 injuries, told the company in a November 2010 memo that the recall should cover 1.3 million F-150 trucks from the 2004-2006 model years.

The F-150 is the flagship of Ford's popular F-Series pickup trucks, the best-selling vehicle in America. The government expanded its investigation into the air bag problems in January 2010.

A Transportation Department spokeswoman said the agency was currently reviewing Ford's response to see if the recall was adequate. If the government determines that the recall is too limited, it could lead to a rare public hearing to decide whether Ford should expand its safety action.

NHTSA said in a Nov. 24 memo that it knew of 238 cases in which the air bags improperly deployed and noted that Ford made production changes to the trucks in 2006 and 2007 to fix the air bag wiring and other issues.

Government regulators said in the memo that Ford did not believe the issue "warrants any corrective action" because the number of reports and incidents were low, owners received "adequate warning" from the air bag warning light and the "resulting injuries are minor in nature."

Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood said in a statement Wednesday that the recall covered trucks built at the Norfolk, Va., assembly plant from November 2004 through June 2005.

Sherwood said the majority of the complaints involved trucks built during the first shift of production at the Norfolk plant and the rates of air bags accidentally deploying were much higher in trucks built at the Virginia plant than those built at plants in Michigan and Missouri.

Ford said an air bag wire located in the steering wheel could have been improperly positioned so it would chafe, expose bare copper and create the possibility of a short circuit that would light up the airbag warning lamp.

Ford said most of the air bag issues happened within the first few seconds of the vehicle starting up and the company said it was aware of "one customer that jumped from the vehicle" after the air bag deployed while the truck was parked in a driveway.

The recall, which was first reported by the Detroit News, is expected to begin in early March. Owners will be notified and told to bring their truck to their dealer.

 

This is what I found on CNN.

"The trucks being recalled were produced between November 2004 and June 2005 at Ford's Norfolk, Va., assembly plant. In the U.S., 135,000 trucks are being recalled and 9,000 more are being recalled in Canada."

The rest was of the article just restated what Big Red posted

 

I can't really blame Ford for wanting to avoid a 1.3 million truck recall when only 150k need the fix, but a “relatively low risk” of your airbags suddenly popping seems like a pretty high risk, anyway.

I hope you get through your trip without issue. That's gotta be stressful.

 

Saw the recall today also. I drive a 05 Screw so will see if I get a letter, If I dont in a few weeks I will go ask at the dealer. Those airbags arent soft when they come out.

 

How can you tell where your truck was manufactured. I don't know if mine was built in Norfolk or Detroit?

 

Mine was built in Kansas city as per sticker on wind shield so guess im ok

 

Just got my Recall notice today through the Ford owners site....guess I know what I am doing this weekend

 

good luck...my dealer tells me I am not affected so will finish my 1500 mile drive with some peace of mind.

 

I had a call from Ford a while back and asked about the air bag recall and spark plug change interval for my 2005 F150 Supercrew with the 5.4 liter engine. Never did get a reply but then got another call from Ford recommending a 100,000 kilometer service. My truck has about 96000 kilometers on it but after all the horror stories re plugs took it to the local Ford dealer.

Yep, the airbag recall applied to my Kansas city built truck and that was fixed for free.
$1380.00 later they had replaced the plugs (And only broke one!),changed engine oil and filter , serviced the transmission, rotated the Pirelli Scorpions, re programmed the computer, etc. Mileage towing our small trailer is around 20 liters/100 km ( Approx 13-15 mpg ) and the truck runs very quietly at highway speeds.

 

take the trucks VIN number to a dealer and they will look it up
it is a 45 minute fix and most dealers have the part in stock to fix it

 

Took my truck in last week and an hour later they were calling me to pick it up.

 

Yeah mine was real fast as well had the recall and an alignment done and was out in just over an hour.

 

I had my truck in for an alignment and they went ahead and did the recall repair. It took about an hour total.