Topic: Airbag Recall

[1967 eight barrel]

There are only a couple manufacturers and both of my vehicles were recalled by GM ( Saab Convertibles) because of them throwing shrapnal and there have been five deaths attributed to them.

                                                                                    -Keith

[ChrisV289]

Passenger recall number is 16S26

[carlite65]

i have not gotten that one yet.

[jwc66k]

A rhetorical question, how did we ever get along driving our cars back in the 60's without an airbag?
Jim

[67gtasanjose]

A rhetorical question, how did we ever get along driving our cars back in the 60's without an airbag?
Jim

In '67, Ford put that HUGE and UGLY pad on the wheels! There! bang yer had on that and SUE US!...68, the hub got bigger and uglier yet...They actually did several Air Bag tests beginning in the early 70's...so if you think the late 2000's airbags were dangerous...how'd you like one of those early PROTOTYPE styles to go off in your face!!!???

[ChrisV289]

A rhetorical question, how did we ever get along driving our cars back in the 60's without an airbag?
Jim

There weren't as many crazy drivers on the road?  I was born in 79 so I can't say for certain....

[GT500KR]

   I had my wife's 09 done at the Ford Dealer in Heflin Alabama in June. They had parts in stock. My 07 GT500 lives in California. Called the dealer in Santa Monica the following week, and they had no parts, couldn't get parts, and had no idea when they would have parts available.

   A call to Ford shed a little light on this confusing topic. It was explained to me that  parts were being distributed in 3 phases, with high humidity locations given first priority. Then snowbelt, then everyone else. So, Arizona and California type climates will be the last to be serviced. Leads me to believe that corrosion may accelerate the rate of failure in their opinion.

   I'll be driving the GT500 back to Alabama next month, and WILL be having it serviced!

[ajd350]

  It's not 'an opinion'. They know that hunidity changes the characteristic of the ignitor charge and in some cases make it too explosive. We are changing them here in the midwest now and I looked over the differences in design. The diffuser cap (the part that turned to shrapnel) on the igniter looks to be of a thicker metal and has larger holes for the gas to fill the bag when deployed. I would assume that also the chemicals are either better isolated and/or changed to be more stable.

  The first round of recalls last year were to buy some time for cars in the field. Since the problem happened over time, it 'set the clock back to zero', so to speak,  by replacing the ignitors with the original design rather than to do nothing when they were still trying to figure out exactly what the cause and solution was. Then it took until recently to re-design, tool up, build and ship tens of millions of these things. That will keep us busy at the dealers for a while...

[Deuce]

An update to this dated thread:  Safety Recall Notice 16S26 / NHTSA Recall 16V-384.  (This is for the passenger side airbag). 

As some of you probably already have or likely will soon, I received a December 2017 letter from Ford Motor Company today which advises that the Passenger Airbag Inflator Replacement has been delayed because remedy parts are not yet available.   Excerpt from the letter:  "... we are expecting remedy parts to become available for certain vehicles in the Spring of 2018."

This December 2017 letter explicitly says: "... do not allow anyone to sit in the front row passenger seat."  The July 2016 letter letter does not say this.

18 months and counting, still awaiting parts.  And of course, Safety First!
 

[67gtasanjose]

...18 months and counting, still awaiting parts.  And of course, Safety First!

No, it is "Quality is Job-1", not "Safety First"! (not that this helps...but the motto was 'dropped' like right after the introduction of airbags as 'standard safety equipment'.)

[ChrisV289]

I doubt we are going to be getting any parts for our cars (2009 Mustang V6 coupe). It says certain vehicles.  Ford probably put this letter out just to cover their a**.  And to say not to let anyone sit in the passenger seat?  Have they sat in the back half of a Mustang?  Unless you are double amputee, you have no room.  Especially if you sit behind someone who is big or someone like me that has the back reclined way back.  Ford has pretty much taken a 4 passenger car that really only seats two comfortably and made it a one seat car.  What does this do for trade in value or resell value?  It is basically a death trap for a passenger or playing Russian roulette with the air bag hoping it doesn't kill you with metal shards...So disappointed in Ford right now. 

[Deuce]

It would likely be safer to simply deactivate / deenergize the passenger airbag so the passenger seat can be used.  Not that it's a DIY job by any means, and it's probably not simple at all since the seat weight sensor and seat belts are all tied into the restraint system.  "Don't try this at home!"

[67gta289]

I wouldn't say it is more likely to be safer.  Just look at some statistics from an NHTSA report below.  Even if the number of deaths have doubled or tripled since then due to the Takata airbag defects, it still pales in comparison to lives saved.  I'd rather be in a car with a potential defective airbag than one with none.

ESTIMATED GROSS NUMBER OF LIVES SAVED BY AIR BAGS AS OF 7/01/07: 24334 total: 19872 drivers (7768 belted, 12104 not belted) and 4462 front-right passengers (1917 belted, 2545 not belted)

Status of air bag related fatality and serious injury cases during the period 1/01/07 - 7/01/07:

CHILDREN CONFIRMED AS RECEIVING A FATAL INJURY RELATED TO AN AIR BAG
Children fatally injured by the PAB 172

DRIVERS CONFIRMED AS RECEIVING A FATAL INJURY RELATED TO AN AIR BAG Fatal Drivers 91

CHILDREN CONFIRMED AS RECEIVING A LIFE THREATENING INJURY RELATED TO AN AIR BAG Children with life threatening injuries by the PAB 38

DRIVERS CONFIRMED AS RECEIVING A LIFE THREATENING INJURY RELATED TO AN AIR BAG Driver Life Threatening Injuries 7

ADULT PASSENGERS CONFIRMED AS RECEIVING A FATAL INJURY RELATED TO AN AIR BAG Fatal Passengers 13

ADULT PASSENGERS CONFIRMED AS RECEIVING A LIFE THREATENING INJURY RELATED TO AN AIR BAG Seriously Injured Passengers 8

[Deuce]

Interesting data and points well taken!  And now a Mustang owner is placed in a position to explain risks to a prospective passenger.

This data is from 2007.  Would be instructive to see what the data show ~ 10 years later, and how the Takata-related casualties affect the results. 

[67gta289]

Agreed.  I did not look hard for any newer data, it was in the top 5 hits in my Google search.