1. I entered the vehicle which had been parked for approximately 90 minutes. I turned the ignition key to start the vehicle and at the moment I turned the key the driver side, seat/window side air bag deployed. The vehicle was not in motion, not in drive gear and was not struck by another vehicle. Also, there had been no warning lights staying on indicating a possible problem with the air bag system. 2. the side air bag struck my left shoulder and upper back. It was painful, but did not injure me. After a few minutes, I started the vehicle and nothing else happened so I drove a short distance to my home without further incident. 3. I took the vehicle to a local Lincoln Mercury dealer and they determined that four wires in the main warning harness under the driver's seat were damaged, had shorted out and caused the air bag to deploy. The vehicle is a 1999 Lincoln Town car with 74,000 miles on it. They said all warranties were expired and there were no extended warranties on the vehicle and it is my responsibility to pay for the repairs. Additionally, the warning harness( part # xw1Z14A005aa) is no longer made and not in stock and may not be available. The estimate for repair is $3,500 parts and labor. If they repaired the wiring harness, I would have to sign a release of liability stating if the repaired air bag system failed to deploy or deployed when it should not because the wiring harness was not replaced the dealer would not be responsible. I contacted the Ford customer relationships center and they said they had no history of this problem or recalls of this nature for this vehicle and that repair would by at my expense.

- Columbia, SC, USA