Ford Air Bags: Inflator Module

Ford is recalling about 33,310 vehicles over a problem with the air bags. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could explode with sharp metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants, potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

Campaign
18V023000
Manufacturer
Ford Motor Company
Reported
11 January 2018
Vehicles
33,310
Built between
Sep 2005 – Dec 2005
Models
1
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
NHTSA investigation
Owners notified
16 January 2018
Repaired
74%
Unrepaired
5,619

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 September 2005 and December 2005. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2006 Ford RangerBuilt September 2005 to December 2005

Repair progress

5,619 of 33,310 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q2 2019.

74% repaired — 24,552 of 33,310 reported

Owners not reachable
2,228
Scrapped or exported
911

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 recalling certain 2006 Ford Ranger trucks. Ford is requesting owners NOT TO DRIVE these vehicles until they have been repaired. On January 11, 2018, Ford Motor Company (Ford) notified NHTSA that they are recalling 2,700 model year 2006 Ranger vehicles built with driver-side air bag inflators . As of February 9, 2018, Ford is expanding the recall to a total of 33,310 model year 2006 Ranger vehicles. Upon deployment of the driver side frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to explode.

What could happen

In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could explode with sharp metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants, potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

What gets fixed

Ford will notify owners instructing them to not drive their vehicles, and dealers will replace the front driver side air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall for the original population began on January 16, 2018.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtSeptember 2005 to December 2005
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA11 January 2018
  3. Owners notified16 January 2018
  4. Latest repair reportQ2 2019 — 74% 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 January 2018.

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 18S02.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
18S02
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.

Same component

Same brand