Inadvertent airbag deployment

An NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation into Ford vehicles. Closed 19 January 2010.

Investigation
PE09046
Type
Preliminary Evaluation
Opened
24 September 2009
Closed
19 January 2010

What NHTSA investigated

Ford reports that the inadvertent airbag deployments are most likely caused by the airbag horn mounting plate's sharp metal edge that eventually can chafe/cut the airbag clockspring jumper wire leading to a short-to-ground condition.one hundred eighty two (182) of the 230 reports were for airbag deployments resulting in 56 injuries with remaining 48 reports for an airbag light illumination condition.injuries include abrasion, contusion and cuts to the arm/hand/face and/or upper body regions.one owner reported a broken tooth and two owners reported being knocked unconscious as a result of the airbag deployment.in addition, MY2004 and MY2006 F-150 vehicles also contain the same design that resulted in an additional 89 reports with 37 airbag deployments and nine injuries. Ford made an interim design change to the horn mounting plate in january 2006 and then major changes to the horn mounting plate, airbag module and clockspring jumper wire designs in june 2006 for the MY2007 vehicles.this preliminary evaluation is upgraded to an engineering analysis (EA10-001) to include MY2004-2006 F-150 vehicles and to further evaluate the condition.

The recall that followed

  1. Ford — Air Bags: Inflator Module11V10700023 February 20111,325,000 vehicles

Vehicles covered

MakeModelModel years
FordF-1502005

Source

From NHTSA’s investigation file, rebuilt daily. To report a problem with your own vehicle, go to nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem. All open investigations.