2014 has been a year of significant automotive recalls. In addition to the General Motors recall scandal over faulty ignition switches, several other automakers have recalled about 14 million vehicles due to faulty and dangerous air bags manufactured by a Japanese company called Takata.
Not one to be left out, America’s other home-grown auto company is issuing its own air bag-related recalls. Ford recently recalled approximately 745,000 vehicles for an (unrelated) problem that could prevent air bags from deploying during a car accident. With this latest announcement, Ford has recalled about 3.9 million vehicles in the United States in 2014; an amount more than three times higher than its recall total for last year.
If you are a Ford owner and have not been informed directly, here are the details of the recall. Models impacted by the recall include The C-Max, Fusion, Escape and Lincoln MKZ. All sedans and sport utility vehicles have 2013-2014 model years.
As readers may remember, the scandal over the GM recall involved allegations that certain GM officials have known about the dangerous and deadly ignition switch defects for at least a decade. The problem has been linked to dozens of injuries and deaths.
Thankfully, this latest Ford recall has not yet been linked to any accidents or injuries, according to news sources. That will hopefully still be the case once the recall repairs have been completed.
With millions of vehicles recalled this year alone, Americans are beginning to wonder if any cars are reliable and safe. They may also be wondering if any of these companies are trustworthy. Perhaps it is time to give federal regulators better funding and more authority over the auto industry.
Source: The New York Times, “Ford Recalls 745,000 Vehicles for Fault That Could Disable Air Bags,” Christopher Jensen, Sept. 26, 2014