- Vehicles
- 328,213
- Built between
- Mar 2003 – May 2006
- Models
- 1
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- NHTSA investigation
- Owners notified
- 16 January 2018
- Repaired
- 51%
- Unrepaired
- 131,852
Safety advisories
Do not drive this vehicle
NHTSA and the manufacturer advise that affected vehicles should not be driven until the recall repair has been completed. Contact your dealer to arrange the repair, and ask about transport in the meantime.
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between March 2003 and May 2006. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2004-2006 Ford RangerBuilt March 2003 to May 2006
Repair progress
131,852 of 328,213 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q2 2019.
51% repaired — 167,882 of 328,213 reported
- Owners not reachable
- 28,356
- Scrapped or exported
- 123
Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.
What the defect is
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is superseding a previous recall for certain 2004-2006 Ford Ranger trucks to implement a final repair. Upon deployment of the driver side frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture.
What could happen
In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
What gets fixed
Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the repair has been performed. Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began January 16, 2018.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtMarch 2003 to May 2006
- Recall reported to NHTSA11 December 2017
- Owners notified16 January 2018
- Latest repair reportQ2 2019 — 51% repaired
Your rights
A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.
That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 11 December 2017.
To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.
Manufacturer contact
Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 17S42. Note: This recall supersedes recall 16V-036 which was an interim repair. Vehicles that received a replacement air bag inflator under the previous campaign need to return to a dealer to have an alternate inflator installed.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- 17S42
- Recalling manufacturer
- Ford Motor Company
- Recall initiated by
- ODI
Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Additional notes
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
Check your own vehicle
This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.
A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.