Another day, another recall over airbag inflators that may rupture during a crash. This time, the recall covers 935 units of Ford's 2017 Mustang and F-150 models, and while the affected airbags are from Takata, the potentially faulty inflators were sourced from Tennessee-based ACR.
The irregularities with ACR's inflators were discovered during testing conducted at Takata's engineering facility, which then notified the automaker about the problem.
Ford said that "in the affected vehicles, the ARC inflator may rupture during a front passenger airbag deployment, resulting in a crash, which may result in metal fragments striking vehicle occupants and causing serious injury and death".
Despite the imminent concern, Ford says it's not aware of any accidents or injuries associated with this condition, which affects the F-150s built at Kansas City from July 20 to August 1, 2017, and the Mustangs, assembled at Flat Rock, during the same period.
A notification schedule has yet to be provided, but owners of these vehicles should expect word from Ford soon, after which the brand's dealers will replace the passenger airbag modules, free of charge.
A second, separate recall announced by the company includes 263 units of the 2017 Explorer, Taurus, and Police Interceptor Utility and Sedan, which have "incorrect steering gear heat shield fasteners" that may have insufficient corrosion protection.
In extreme cases, the steering gear electrical connects could melt, resulting in a sudden loss of assist, without any warn to the driver, accompanied by the 'Service Power Steering Now' fault message in the instrument cluster.
Two safety compliance recalls have also been announced by Ford. The first one covers some 141,000 units of the 2015-2017 F-150 Crew Cab, 2017 F-250, and F-350 Super Duty Crew Cab vehicles, which might need to have their left rear inflatable seatbelt assembly replaced.
"In the affected vehicles, inadequate rivet head thickness may allow separation of the left rear inflatable seat belt buckle from its mounting bracket during a crash – increasing the risk of injury", says the automaker, adding that no accidents or injuries have been associated with this issue yet.
The second one includes 835 units of the 2017 Focus, made at Michigan from June 7 to June 12, this year. These need to have their second-row left-side seatback frame inspected and replaced, due to "inadequate weld penetration between the outboard pivot bracket and the pivot nut joint".
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