Daily Slideshow: Ford Truck Recalls Over the Years
As much as we love them, Ford is notorious for their vehicle recalls. Here we'll be looking at some of the most memorable.
1. The Great Seatbelt Recall of '72
If we're talking truly major recalls, the one we'd have to start out talking about was the one in 1972. Ford issued a safety recall due to a tendency for a crucial seatbelt component to wear and break. This component, called a grommet, could malfunction within affected model years, causing the seatbelt to come loose upon the event of a collision. Not only did this spoil the security of a seatbelt, it also significantly increased the risk of injury and death.
Fortunately for Ford at this time, the component was dirt-cheap to replace. Then again, the recall affected a total 4.1 vehicles encompassing most of those manufactured between 1970-1971. This was practically unheard of at the time, so it was always going to be an expensive mistake to learn from.
On the flipside, convertible vehicles were spared from this potential malfunction completely. So if anyone was living the high life driving in a topless Mustang around 1972, they could do so knowing they were under the protection of the best grommets.
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2. Ford fails to park in 1980
As one of the biggest auto companies, it makes sense that Ford would lay claim to many of the largest recalls in auto history. In their widest-sweeping recalls, it wasn't just the trucks that were affected, but everything they manufactured. For the historic recall in 1980, Ford recalled every vehicle they had produced between the model years of 1976-1980.
The problem? A malfunctioning safety mechanism that would spontaneously veer parked Fords into reverse without warning. You can imagine how bad that could make things. The consequences were massive. Between 6000 recorded accidents and a battering of subsequent lawsuits, the recall cost Ford 1.7 billion dollars This would have done under many other automakers instantly (especially considering the time this happened) but the 21 million (!) vehicles that needed recalling should also attest to Ford's strength and size as a business.
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3. Ford's on fire in 1996
Ford set another dubious record this time with the largest voluntary recall a single automaker had ever made to date. In certain cars and model years, the ignition switch had a bad habit of setting fire to the steering column. Sometimes, this might happen even hours after the engine had been turned off, posing an unsupervised risk to garages and anywhere else an owner might stow their vehicle.
Ford maintained that there was a very small number of ignition switches within potentially affected vehicles that posed a chance of lighting up, but the risk to life alone made this an instant case for a recall. The trucks affected by this one included the Explorer, Bronco, and any F-Series truck for the model years spanning 1988-1993. Considering how much of Ford's sales are accounted even by the F-150 on its own, it's unsurprising this recall amounted to nearly 9 million vehicles.
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4. Ford gets cruise control under control in 2005 (then again in 2009)
The threat of a defective control switch in certain F-Series manufactured between 1993-2003 (such as 2001 F-Series SuperCrews and 2000 F-150s) joined a host of other Ford favorites resulted in a recall totaling 4.5 million strong in 2005. The defective switch was a product of Texas Instruments, famous primarily for cornering the calculator market.
Both TI and Ford received considerable flak for using wire with the switch generally considered to be unsafe and flammable. Ford made the mistake of doubling down on the wire and defending it, saying it was the defective switch alone that was to blame. This failure to take the issue as seriously as it needed to be is probably part of what led to another 4.5 million vehicles getting brought in again in 2009.
Between the peril associated with cruise control and the risk of exploding vehicles, it almost seems like Ford created the most domestic and boring interpretation of the movie Speed imaginable. This problem had very real consequences, however, and put a lot of customers at potential risk. The defective cruise control switch is arguably the worst handling of a recall Ford have had in their history, and as fans of the company, we're glad that their other ones tend to be hassle-free in comparison.
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5. A problem with staying buckled in 2016
Towards the very end of 2017, Ford had recalled 177,000 vehicles from the prior model year for an issue related to the front seatbelts. The two models affected were 2016 F-150s and 2016 Explorers, although it should be mentioned that the recall did not include the entire model year, only those manufactured at select plants within a three month period. This still resulted in 177,000 vehicles being affected, and as small as this recent ordeal is compared to some of the ones in the past, bringing that many owners back to the shop is never going to be simple.
Ford addressed the problem as a slight possibility a component in the seatbelt may not secure passengers properly in a collision. Although there have been no reports of injuries due to this malfunction so far, any issue relates to safety would need to be addressed quickly. There's some irony that this recall echoes the first one we covered back in 1972, but glitches like this are nigh-inevitable when you're operating on a massive scale like Ford, no one knows better than them how expensive things can get if an issue like this isn't solved promptly.
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