Urgent: 2006 Ford Ranger Fatal Airbag Warning

Ford Urges 2,900 Ford Ranger Owners To Stop Driving After Takata Air Bag Death

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it had confirmed a second death in an older pickup truck caused by a defective airbag inflator of Takata Corp and urged 2,900 owners in North America to stop driving immediately until they can get replacement parts.

The second largest U.S. automaker said it confirmed in late December that a July 2017 crash death in West Virginia in a 2006 Ford Ranger was caused by a defective Takata inflator. It previously reported a similar death in South Carolina that occurred in December 2015.

Ford said both Takata deaths occurred with inflators built on the same day installed in 2006 Ranger pickups. At least 21 deaths worldwide are linked to the Takata inflators that can rupture and send deadly metal fragments into the driver’s body. The faulty inflators have led to the largest automotive recall in history. The other 19 deaths have occurred in Honda Motor Co vehicles, most of which were in the United States.

Ford issued a new recall for automobiles that had been previously recalled in 2016. Of those 391,000 2004-2006 Ranger vehicles, the new recall announced on Thursday affects 2,900 vehicles. These include 2,700 in the United States and nearly 200 in Canada. The new recall will allow for identification of the 2,900 owners in the highest risk pool.

A Mazda Motor Corp spokeswoman said Thursday the company would conduct a similar recall and stop drive warning for some 2006 Mazda B-Series trucks, which were built by Ford and are similar to the Ranger.

Japanese auto supplier Takata plans to sell its viable operations to Key Safety Systems, an affiliate of China’s Ningo Joyson Electric Corp, for $1.6 billion. Takata did not immediately comment Thursday on the Ford action.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urged owners to heed Ford’s warning. “It is extremely important that all high-risk air bags are tracked down and replaced immediately,” NHTSA spokeswoman Karen Aldana said.

Ford said it would pay to have vehicles towed to dealerships or send mobile repair teams to owners’ homes and provide free loaners if needed.

Takata said in June that it has recalled, or expected to recall, about 125 million vehicles worldwide by 2019, including more than 60 million in the United States. Some 19 automakers worldwide are impacted.

Takata inflators can explode with excessive force, unleashing metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks and have injured more than 200. The defect led Takata to file for bankruptcy protection in June.
In 2017, prosecutors in Detroit charged three former senior Takata executives with falsifying test results to conceal the inflator defect. None have come to the United States to face charges.

Last year, Takata pleaded guilty to wire fraud and were subject to pay a total of $1 billion in criminal penalties in a U.S. court in connection with the recalls.

Automakers have struggled to get enough replacement parts for the massive recalls. A November NHTSA report said about two-thirds of U.S. vehicles recalled have not yet been repaired.

Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, said in a statement on Thursday the latest death is evidence of “the very definition of a failed recall” pointing to the earlier Ford death in 2015. NHTSA must do more, he said, to make the recall a priority.

In November, NHTSA rejected a petition from Ford to delay recalling 3 million vehicles with potentially defective airbag inflators to conduct additional testing.

In June 2016, NHTSA warned airbag inflators on more than 300,000 unrepaired recalled 2001-2003 model year Honda vehicles showed a substantial risk of rupturing, and urged owners to stop driving them until getting them fixed. NHTSA said they have as high as a 50 percent chance of a rupture in a crash.

But people wonder why I am opposed to the idea of an exploding bag that hits you in the face being installed on the steering wheel.

I agree with adsm08 mostly. But I do see the merit in having something slightly softer than a semi hit me in the face as opposed to the semi itself. I think we should have adjustment switches for the airbag sensors. They could have settings like;

I'm a tough guy, turn it off.

Only if I would definitely die without it.

Only if it would be more than a flesh wound.

Whatever sensitivity the manufacturer thinks I need.

I don't think it blows up often enough.

I'm a crybaby. Save me when I hit the brakes.

I'm stupid, paranoid and afraid to leave my own bedroom. Please blow up when I insert the key in the ignition.

I think Ive been waiting about 2 years ever since I got the recall notice to get new airbags.

I imagine the day will come when these self driving vehicles are all that's available, and you won't be able to drive a car on the road. It will all be done in the name of safety to eliminate traffic fatalities and injuries. Then you won't need airbags. Technology is going to eventually take all of the fun out of life.

couldnt you just unplug the airbag and it wouldnt go off? my current ranger doesnt have a airbag anyhow, but if it did id have no issues with disabling it. some of this new stuff i absolutly hate, cant powerslide arond a corner in the snow becase of stupid traction control for example. abs brakes can be helpful but ive grown up without them and feel comfortable driving something that doesnt have it. self driving vehicles.... yuk. and i can see it becoming a reailty. hope im not here when it does.

don't forget the small bomb under the drivers seat to tighten the seatbelt during a collision. my '05 has one.

worst case scenario, I'll get smashed in the face while something is shoved up my......

Jim Oaks said:

I imagine the day will come when these self driving vehicles are all that's available, and you won't be able to drive a car on the road. It will all be done in the name of safety to eliminate traffic fatalities and injuries. Then you won't need airbags. Technology is going to eventually take all of the fun out of life.

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If there isn't at least 2 things that can kill you at any moment then life is not being lived to its fullest.

I imagine the day will come when these self driving vehicles are all that's available, and you won't be able to drive a car on the road.

Click to expand...

I hope they are never "all that's available" because I don't want one. They are definitely coming. Working at a BMW manufacturing plant, I am often hearing little tidbits about what's coming. BMW is trying to stay in the forefront of the electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles markets.That's part of being a world leading auto manufacturer these days. Since many governments are mandating the changes to these vehicles, it is inevitable. Autonomous vehicles are being tested in many places. There is even a road near here with signs warning; "Caution, self-driving vehicle testing area". We sold over 100,000 electric vehicles last year and this years goal is much higher. This stuff is coming faster than you think. I even saw a news blurb here in the plant a few minutes ago, bragging about 3 electric semi-trucks being used by BMW in Munich.

I'm not sure that I am personally convinced about how much electric vehicles are saving the planet. They still have to be recharged. That electricity still has to be produced somewhere by hydroelectric, nuclear or burning gases or fossil fuels. It still takes a certain amount of energy to move a mass from point A to point B at a certain speed. I'm not sure that we're saving very much by producing that energy at some remote location, transmitting it across miles of wire and switching devices that have resistance and cause power loss, then converting it to DC, with more power loss in the process, then storing it and/or charging it into the batteries with more inherent power losses and then converting that back into mechanical motion with more losses. But I don't have all the data or the patience to do the math to figure that out.

Give me internal combustion engines that I can control myself or give me death. Cruise control is the limit of the autonomous driving experience that I want.

If a country doesn't have most of it's energy sources being renewable, electric vehicles are just plain stupid, burning coal and high sulfur diesel to produce energy pollutes way, way more than burning gasoline in a car.

Enviado desde mi PRA-LX2 mediante Tapatalk

pjtoledo said:

don't forget the small bomb under the drivers seat to tighten the seatbelt during a collision. my '05 has one.

worst case scenario, I'll get smashed in the face while something is shoved up my......

Click to expand...

Oh, the imagery that will haunt me for a few days...

ericbphoto said:

I hope they are never "all that's available" because I don't want one. They are definitely coming. Working at a BMW manufacturing plant, I am often hearing little tidbits about what's coming. BMW is trying to stay in the forefront of the electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles markets.That's part of being a world leading auto manufacturer these days. Since many governments are mandating the changes to these vehicles, it is inevitable. Autonomous vehicles are being tested in many places. There is even a road near here with signs warning; "Caution, self-driving vehicle testing area". We sold over 100,000 electric vehicles last year and this years goal is much higher. This stuff is coming faster than you think. I even saw a news blurb here in the plant a few minutes ago, bragging about 3 electric semi-trucks being used by BMW in Munich.

I'm not sure that I am personally convinced about how much electric vehicles are saving the planet. They still have to be recharged. That electricity still has to be produced somewhere by hydroelectric, nuclear or burning gases or fossil fuels. It still takes a certain amount of energy to move a mass from point A to point B at a certain speed. I'm not sure that we're saving very much by producing that energy at some remote location, transmitting it across miles of wire and switching devices that have resistance and cause power loss, then converting it to DC, with more power loss in the process, then storing it and/or charging it into the batteries with more inherent power losses and then converting that back into mechanical motion with more losses. But I don't have all the data or the patience to do the math to figure that out.

Give me internal combustion engines that I can control myself or give me death. (will you settle for an airbag inflater?) Cruise control is the limit of the autonomous driving experience that I want.

Click to expand...

back in the 60's we used to watch Disney animations about future travel. one was highways utilizing magnetic levitation for propulsion. combine that with oversized charging pads and that cartoon will become reality. just like Dick Tracy's wrist communicators.

Looks like I'm one of those 200 in Canada. I got the re-recall notice yesterday from Ford Canada. No urgency and do-not-use mention though.

The two previous recalls had been done

I'll make a visit to the dealer again, where they'll want to sell me a F-150 again. If they do, I'll remind them that last time they called, I told them I don't want that gigantic thing that they say is their best seller, call me again when the new Ranger is released, I'll go take a look.

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Ford Motor on Monday warned an additional 33,000 owners of older pickup trucks in North America to stop driving them until potentially defective Takata Corp air bag inflators can be repaired.

Ford told 2,900 owners of 2006 model year Ford Ranger trucks in January to stop driving immediately after a second death was linked to inflators built on the same day.

The expansion of the warning was prompted by additional testing, the second-largest U.S. automaker said in a statement, and now covers a broader timeframe of production.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Mazda Motor Corp was issuing a similar expansion for some 2006 Mazda B-Series trucks that were built by Ford after it had issued a warning for some trucks in January.

The agency said the vehicles pose "an immediate risk to safety" and asked owners to immediately schedule a free repair.

Ford and Mazda have replacement air bag inflators available now and will tow vehicles to a dealership for repair, and provide loaner vehicles free of charge, the companies and agency said. About 90 percent of the vehicles subject to the "Do Not Drive" warning are in the United States.

Two U.S. senators in January questioned why Ford’s warning only applied to a small number of the 391,000 2004-2006 Ranger trucks recalled for Takata air bags in 2016 in the United States.

Ford said last month a July 2017 crash death in West Virginia in a 2006 Ford Ranger was caused by a defective Takata inflator after a similar 2015 death in South Carolina.

At least 22 deaths worldwide are linked to the Takata inflators that can rupture and send deadly metal fragments into the driver’s body. The faulty inflators have led to the largest automotive recall in history. The other 20 deaths have occurred in Honda Motor Co vehicles, most of which were in the United States.

About a quarter of the 2,900 vehicles have been repaired since Ford issued the warning last month, the company said on Monday.

Takata said in June that it has recalled, or expected to recall, about 125 million vehicles worldwide by 2019, including more than 60 million in the United States. About 19 automakers worldwide are affected.

Takata inflators can explode with excessive force, unleashing metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks and have injured more than 200 people. The defect led Takata to file for bankruptcy protection in June.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ford-expands-do-not-drive-warning-to-33000-more-trucks/ar-BBJ2Jrw?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=ASUSDHP15

The truck is at the dealer for the recall. They couldn't have the parts before they had the truck so they must keep it 2 to 3 days. They were out of loaners so they sent me to a car rental company nearby. They were out of Fords, so I'm now driving a 2012 Kia Rio.