This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Horn stuck, does not turn off. To replace, dealer must replace airbag also. Says airbag may malfunction because horn malfunctioned. About 7 similar problems are listed on this web site. This is a safety feature and a malfunction in the horn shouldn't cause problems in the airbag. Plus, it's not a wear and tear item that's wrong with the car. Had a problem with the horn while the car was under warranty and the dealer did not catch this problem with the horn/airbag. Isn't this a safety issue that could put passengers at risk. Who would guess that a problem with the horn may lead to a deployment problem with the airbag?
The heater core leaked onto the air bag diagnostic module, causing it to short out and catch on fire. This item was replaced along with the heater core for a cost of $955. I had to remove the battery cable to keep the car from catching on fire and burning up, the service manager at stegall Ford in pontotoc stated I should not have this problem again because the new part was sealed in plastic. I believe this is a serious design flaw after looking at your ODI id logs of 865884,867236,845896 and 845837 along with numerous air bag deployments for this model car for no reason. I believe this part was changed by Ford and should have been recalled on all models. I work as a design engineer and if an electrical item is subject to moisture injestion, it should be sealed or potted to eliminate shorts and failure. The placement of this module under the heater core was wrong, I notified Ford and they only apoligized for the heater core leak, they did not acknowlege anything about the air bag module, I again notified them that they should be responsible for payment on this item, since the design had been changed, they have not replied to this in over a week, stating it would only take 3 days for a reply. To me this is a serious issue, I have worked in the past under fda guidelines in the medical industry with reporting and I do not like the way this is being handled by Ford, they are acting like they are trying to hide something, a persons life or personal injury is not something to sweep under the rug, although no one in my family sustained any injury, they could have, I will now try to sell this car as soon as I am able. Thank you jeffrey L plunk
Vehicle is experiencing erratic operation of horn. Horn will go off without consumer engaging it. Dealership is replacing airbag as well as horn to fix this. Please provide any additional information.
The horn was inoperative and making a clicking noise when it is applied, the dealer found that the horn switch was stuck on part of the air bag, dealer replaced horn and drivers side air bag. Nlm
- Reno, NV, USA
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In Oct of 1998 horn started to activate and won't stop unless driver unplugged it, consumer was out of an airbag and horn for a month, consumer sa0id thatcurrently problem was back, and dealer wastrying to charge consumer $700 to fix this problem.
Air bag sensor light continually blinked. Dealer notified, and informed consumer that the malfunction may be due to a bad clock spring, and repairs would be at consumer's cost.
The horn will start to blow by itself without anyone in the car or without the car being started. Fuse has to be taken out in order to stop the horn. Dealer had to replace the horn and the airbag.
05/25/1999; while driving at 35 mph, the head gasket on engine "blew out" car was undriveable. On 07/15/1999; the horn started honking continuously on it's own, when car was parked & locked. Had to remove fuse to shut off. Dealer said it was a bad air-bag module, not covered by warranty, cost $ $675. 07/25/99, crankshaft pulley broke off, car not driveable. I note 4 other reports on this web-site for the crankshaft pulley, and 1 each for the head-gasket & horn/airbag problems + many other airbag problems.
My wife hit a deer on interstate 90 near albert lea, mn. Relatively minor damage to the car but sufficient to deploy both air bags. The deployment resulted in a fracture to the dash and windshield that required replacement of those plus all air bag components. The majority of damage to the vehicle was because of air bag deployment. According to information supplied by the dealer, one air bag sensor is unique in this particular vehicle and not readily available. We have waited a number of weeks to get the sensor, otherwise the vehicle has been repaired. The dealer will not release the vehicle as long as a safety component is inoperative. Ford says that this is a problem for the dealer to resolve. The dealer says that they have had this part on priority shipment for over three weeks and it still is not available. I believe that the damage may have been sufficient to deploy the air bags though it was unnecessary in this particular crash. However it is unexcuseable that this part causes the majority of damage to the vehicle, plus we are unable to use the vehicle, we lose not only use, we lose warranty, and we do not have a very secure feeling about a part that is so important, yet so rare that it only exists in a few production models. We are grateful for safety devices, we are grateful no one was injured, we would be more grateful to get our car back. Why would Ford put a safety component on such limited supply" please identify if this is a safety concern for more vehicle owners. Thank you, curt kephart should not the entire system be replaced with something more standard"
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Langley B.C, 00, USA