Ford recalls two million trucks over seat belt fire risk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Thursday it would recall 2 million F-150 pickup trucks in North America because of a seat belt problem that could generate excessive sparks and cause fires.
The second-largest U.S. automaker said it received 17 reports of smoke or fire in the United States and six in Canada but was not aware of any injuries.
During a crash, a device called a pretensioner uses an explosive charge to lock the seat belt in place. The company said the device may generate excessive sparks.
Ford will fix the problem for free and said in a securities filing the recall would cost about $140 million. The company said the cost would be reflected in third-quarter earnings but Ford left unchanged its guidance for full-year 2018 adjusted earnings.
The recall covers 2015-2018 Ford F-150 Regular Cab and SuperCrew Cab vehicles in North America for driver and front passenger seat-belt pretensioners.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ford-motor-recall/ford-recalls-two-million-trucks-to-address-seat-belt-fire-concerns-idUSKCN1LM1OA
= new reply since forum marked as read
Explosives in the seat belts by design???
Thanks for this. 
Just unbelievable!
What's next? Maybe they will add BZ to the air bags to keep people relaxed during a collision. 
The remaining Ford car for U.S. sale is the Mustang. The number of recalls we keep seeing - across the board - is really scary! 
IMHO, this doesn't sound like the best plan. 
I haven't studied airbag design.
Ford is recalling about 2 million of its best-selling F-150 pickup trucks in North America due to an issue with the seat belt pretensioners in the front seat.
An investigation found that upon deployment, some seat belt pretensioners "can generate sparks." Ford says it is aware of 17 reports of smoke or fire in the United States, and another six known incidents in Canada.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker reports in a Thursday morning, Sept. 6 news release that the recall affects some 2015-2018 Ford F-150 regular cab and SuperCrew cab models.
"When sufficient sparks are present, gases exhausted inside the lower portion of the B-pillar by the pretensioners may ignite," the automaker says in the release.
"If this gas ignites, components behind the B-pillar such as insulation and carpet may subsequently catch fire."
Pretensioners are what prepares seat belts to restrain passengers in the event of a crash. The Associated Press reports the fires in affected F-150s started in a support pillar that houses the seat belts.
The recall affects 2015-2018 Ford F-150 trucks built at the Dearborn Assembly Plant between March 12, 2014 and Aug. 23, and at the Kansas City Assembly Plant between Aug. 20, 2014 and Aug. 23 of this year.
Ford specifically says there are 1,619,112 affected F-150s in the U.S., 339,884 in Canada and another 36,780 in Mexico.
More: https://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2018/09/f-150_massive_recall.html
(Matt Weigand | mweigand@mlive.com)
