Takata airbag recall


bonehead

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 18, 2012
2,814
Houston, TX
Can't open the link on my phone, Kayvan. If it's 'officially' on the list, does that mean ALL GT's are now recalled?
 

Kingman

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 11, 2006
4,072
Surf City, USA
Can't open the link on my phone, Kayvan. If it's 'officially' on the list, does that mean ALL GT's are now recalled?

Ford: 58,669 total number of potentially affected vehicles
2004 – Ranger
2005 – 2006 GT
2005 – 2007 Mustang
 

Vince H

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 23, 2012
2,417
Southern California
I still read that as only those high humidity areas listed. Am I missing something? (Not implying it is not an important matter, just wondering if that would get me strange looks at my Ford dealer in So Cal.)

Vince H
 

Kayvan

GT Owner
Jul 13, 2006
4,782
Ford was not on many lists until today.

No, only GTs in high humidity areas:

"The message comes with urgency, especially for owners of vehicles affected by regional recalls in the following areas: Florida, Puerto Rico, limited areas near the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Louisiana, as well as Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and Hawaii"

Only 449 GTs sold in these states (FL, PR, HI, VIs) according to Ford memo.
 
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Kayvan

GT Owner
Jul 13, 2006
4,782
Humidity in SoCal has been very high this year....I see 50-75% often in Hills.

I lived 25 yards from water last year...so my powder propellant must be a solid cake block!
 
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JOEA2

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 16, 2007
352
STATEN ISLAND,NY/SEA GIRT,NJ
I don't know if anyone posted a list. Autoweek had one. http://www.autoweek.com/article/car-news/all-takata-airbag-recall-vehicles-one-handy-list

Joe
 

jcthorne

GT Owner
Aug 30, 2011
792
Houston
GTs sold in Texas when looked up by VIN are still showing no recalls on fordowner.com (not mine, it was sold in MI but lives in TX)
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
I still read that as only those high humidity areas listed. Am I missing something? (Not implying it is not an important matter, just wondering if that would get me strange looks at my Ford dealer in So Cal.)

Vince H

Two things. First, you will get a letter from Ford. Second, the recall will be noted in Oasis. If your are not the first owner unless you know your vehicle was not in one of the humid areas for an extended time, your vehicle may be affected. I suspect this is why they will just blanket recall all vehicles on the list. By the way, I'd think they would add pretty much the entire midwest (summers in Iowa and South Dakota are horribly humid, I know, I lived there) and Texas (ever been in Dallas or Houston in July?) And then we have all those cars registered in Montana that live who knows where :)
 

ron1416

GT Owner
Jun 30, 2013
99
Southern California
Official Ford Position @22Oct'14

Upgraded again: Immediate Action

Ford officially added to list, GT


http://www.nhtsa.gov/About NHTSA/Pr...ective-airbags-urged-to-take-immediate-action

Just went to "Official Ford Owner Site" , entered my VIN number and got the following results ( see attached).
View attachment Official Ford Position -22Oct'14.pdf

I called the Customer Relationship Center as stated on this notice . They informed me that Ford is currently investigating the situation by specific vehicle type , and notification of affected vehicles will be made next week ( 27Oct'14). Said that notification will be mailed out to affected (registered) owners via they respective state motor vehicle authorities. Gave them my contact info and e-mail address for any further information that may become available.
:confused
 

Kayvan

GT Owner
Jul 13, 2006
4,782
So you guys wearing helmets this weekend in GT?

My GT is like the hooker with a heart of gold; even though she's not good for me I cant quit her....
 

Xcentric

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 9, 2012
5,213
Myakka City, Florida
If Takata inflator mechanisms can rupture spontaneously, why would electrically disconnecting the airbag prevent that?
 

doccars

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 10, 2005
62
Has anyone heard if the passenger airbag in addition to the driver airbag is involved in the recall?
I would not like to think of the prospects of the dash being disassembled an reassembled. ( Hate having left over parts/nuts and bolts etc.).
 

bonehead

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 18, 2012
2,814
Houston, TX
If Takata inflator mechanisms can rupture spontaneously, why would electrically disconnecting the airbag prevent that?

I don't think they spontaneously rupture and fragment, Gary. Only occurs when they are deployed in a front end collision.
 

Xcentric

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 9, 2012
5,213
Myakka City, Florida
I don't think they spontaneously rupture and fragment, Gary. Only occurs when they are deployed in a front end collision.

Well, that's a relief. If I get in a front end collision, I'll be sure to duck my head (which, as you know, is already fairly well ducked).
 

RALPHIE

GT Owner
Mar 1, 2007
7,278
At Rally VIII, I was very surprised (and happy) that mine didn't inflate.....
 

ENZO BTR

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 11, 2005
1,048
Southern California
Hi Guys, I've been following this story pretty closely for awhile now. I even wrote an article on it last month before it went mainstream with the media: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kbrauer...bag-recall-could-dwarf-gm-and-toyota-recalls/

I even did an interview on Bloomberg news on this topic:
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/the-auto-safety-recall-bigger-than-gm-s-PPI1OQY0TMSZhU9JQsAMHQ.html

The amount of questions this situation raises is what I find most troubling. It's not that every airbag ever made by Takata is going to throw shrapnel if it goes off, it's that I have no confidence Takata knows WHICH airbags have potential problems and which ones are 100%, absolutely-positively safe, both right now and long into the future. At this point they are focusing on cars in high humidity states, but that doesn't mean the cars in other locations will NEVER have a problem. Logic suggests high humidity can speed up decomposition (which is causing the seals inside these airbags to fail and the inflators to explode when the airbag fires), but dry climates don't halt decomposition, they just make it take longer. I suspect, eventually, ALL Ford GT's from EVERY geographic location will need to have the airbags replaced.

Of course I'm no automotive engineer or safety expert. I can't tell anyone what to do with any real authority. With that disclaimer clearly stated (comes from growing up with a lawyer for a father...), I have decided to disable both the air bags in my GT. The passenger side is pretty easy (just turn a key), and it sounds like the driver's side is relatively easy, too. One could make the argument I have a greater chance of being in an accident and having my airbag fire with no issues (and thus giving me better accident protection) than I have of suffering from shrapnel injuries if the airbags fire. If you go with that thinking it's foolish to disable my airbag.

HOWEVER, I feel the chance of me being in an accident and having the airbags mean the difference between life and death are lower than either scenario above. I always wear my seatbelt, and in my (totally non-authoritative opinion based on having no expert training in this subject), if I wear a seatbelt the airbag's value is negligible at best. And having any chance of shrapnel flying at me transitions the airbag into a greater safety liability than safety asset, in my totally-non-authoritative opinion. (Did I mention you have to sign a waiver before reading this comment?)

One more thing -- a reporter from the Wall Street Journal named Christina Rogers is assembling a story on this topic, and when I told her I was going to disable the airbags in my GT until they are replaced she found it quite interesting. If any of you are thinking of doing the same thing (based fully on your own free will, and absolutely NOT based on my saying you should, because I'm not saying that at all) this reporter might be interested in talking to you. I told her she can come on the forum and provide her contact information for anyone who is interested in talking to her.

Thanks, and happy (and SAFE!) motoring.
 
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ENZO BTR

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 11, 2005
1,048
Southern California
UPDATE: I'm posting Christina Rogers contact info here, if anyone wants to contact her regarding their thoughts on the airbag issue. She works at the Wall Street Journal.
Phone # 248-952-7730 and her email christina.rogers@wsj.com

And to be clear, I don't see this as a Ford issue at all. This is pure Takata screw up.
 
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Checking the FoMoCo website for recalls for my 05, none are listed, nor on the safercar.gov site. Has anyone checked and found that there actually is a recall?
 

ROCK

GT Owner
Jul 10, 2006
412
Miami
My first GT got the recall. This is what it says:
2005 Ford GT
VIN: 1FAFP90S05Y400635
FIELD SERVICE ACTION NUMBER: 14B04

FSA TITLE: AIR BAG INFLATOR REPLACEMENT. FORD IS NOT AWARE OF ANY REPORTS OF THIS ISSUE IN FORD VEHICLES. WE ARE COMMITTED TO CUSTOMER SAFETY AND COOPERATING WITH NHTSA TO GATHER CERTAIN INFLATORS. FORD WILL MAIL OWNERS WHEN REPLACEMENT PARTS ARE AVAILABLE.
 

ENZO BTR

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 11, 2005
1,048
Southern California
That's it Rock. "FSA" stands for Field Service Action, which is sort like a TSB (Technical Service Bulliten). Note that in both cases the words "recall" and "safety" and "defect" are never used. This is all part of the legal Kabuki dance between NHTSA and the automakers to avoid liability as these situations ramp up. If they dubbed it a safety defect right now, on every car with these airbags, it would require a much more aggressive (read: expensive) response.

What's crazy is that all the correspondence I looked up online between NHTSA and Honda uses these same innocuous terms (calling it a regional "Field Service Action" while avoiding the words "defect" and "recall")...and there have been multiple confirmed fatalities in Honda cars from these airbags. Hopefully it all gets figured out quickly.

I'll be curious Rock to see how they deal with your car. Are they going to replace both airbags or just the driver's side? I think they have to replace both, which as someone already mentioned means tearing into the dashboard. yay...