- Vehicles
- 565,000
- Built between
- Mar 1989 – Aug 1990
- Models
- 3
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- NHTSA investigation
- Owners notified
- 30 October 1992
- Repaired
- Not reported
- Unrepaired
- Not reported
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between March 1989 and August 1990. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 1991 Ford ExplorerBuilt March 1989 to August 1990
- 1989-1990 Ford TaurusBuilt March 1989 to August 1990
- 1989-1990 Mercury SableBuilt March 1989 to August 1990
What the defect is
The rigid mounted safety belt buckles are defective in three ways. First, a fastened safety belt buckle will not unlatch when the release button is depressed. This results from interference between the buckle ejector finger and the buckle tongue window. The second defect is the safety belt buckle may not latch. The third possible defect is that the tongue may be retained by the buckle, but it may not be latched sufficiently to provide occupant protection.
What could happen
An insufficiently latched or unlatched safety beltincreases the risk of injury to seat occupants in the event of a sudden stop oraccident. If the safety belt buckle will not unlatch, it will not allow theoccupant to get out of the vehicle in an emergency situation.
What gets fixed
FORD WILL REPLACE THE RIGID MOUNTED SAFETY BELT BUCKLES WITH END RELEASE SAFETY BELT BUCKLES DESIGNED TO PREVENT LATCH PROBLEMS.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtMarch 1989 to August 1990
- Recall reported to NHTSA17 August 1992
- Owners notified30 October 1992
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 17 August 1992.
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
- 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
System: safety belt buckle.vehicle description: passenger cars and utility vehicles.note: only the end release buckles on "rigid" mountings are susceptible to thismalfunction, the web-mounted front center end release buckles and theweb-mounted rear facing third seat end release buckles in taurus or sablevehicles will not be replaced. Also, the web-mounted front center buckles inexplorer vehicles will not be replaced.
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.