- Vehicles
- 9,500
- Built between
- Aug 1978 – Nov 1978
- Models
- 2
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- Not yet
- Repaired
- Not reported
- Unrepaired
- Not reported
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between August 1978 and November 1978. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 1979 Ford FairmontBuilt August 1978 to November 1978
- 1979 Mercury ZephyrBuilt August 1978 to November 1978
What the defect is
The involved vehicles were built with safety compliance certification labels that contained incorrect GVWR and gawr weight information. The gvwr"s could be overstated by up to 197 lbs., due to an error in the reporting of incremental option weights used to derive the gvwr"s and gawr"s.
What gets fixed
THE OWNER HAS THE OPTION OF AFFIXING THE SUPPLIED LABELS HIMSELF OR BRINGING THE VEHICLE IN TO THE DEALER TO HAVE THEM AFFIXED.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtAugust 1978 to November 1978
- Recall reported to NHTSA26 January 1979
No owner-notification date has been published yet. Manufacturers normally write to registered owners within 60 days of reporting a recall.
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 26 January 1979.
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.
Official source
- Recalling manufacturer
- FORD MOTOR COMPANY
- Safety standard
- FMVSS 000
- Recall initiated by
- MFR
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
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles.system: equipment; certification labels.consequences of defect: if the vehicle is loaded to the larger ratings, vehiclestopping distances could be increased and a greater rate of tire wear couldresult, with a potential for a vehicle accident.
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.