Phone:

(800) 392-3673

Web:

Ford Customer Service

Mail:

Ford Customer Relationship Center
P.O. Box 6248
Dearborn, MI 48126

2001 Ford Taurus NHTSA Defect Investigations

• Defect Investigation #EA03010 - This investigation identified a total of 427 reports alleging non-deployment of the frontal air bags.of the 427 reports, two incidents (fatal crashes) have been identified as severe frontal crashes in which the frontal air bags did not deploy.a defect trend has not been identified at this time.further use of Agency resources does not appear to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation is closed.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist.the Agency will take further action if warranted by the circumstances.see attached summary report.
• Defect Investigation #PE03002 - Ford motor company has identified 260 reports alleging frontal air bag non-deployment for any (severity) frontal or near-frontal crash on model year 2000-2001 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable vehicles.additional crash reports are contained in NHTSA's fatality analysis reporting system (fars) database.the single ODI report listed in the report summary is NHTSA's special crash investigation's case no. CA00-020 that involved a high-speed crash non-deployment involving a driver fatality and front passenger injury.this preliminary evaluation has been upgraded to an engineering analysis (EA03-010) and ODI will collect additional information on certain crash reports and conduct further study of this issue.
• Defect Investigation #RQ03008 - Ford conducted a recall in March, 2001 to correct a defect affecting the brake light switch in MY 2000 through early-2001 Taurus and Sable vehicles equipped with power adjustable pedals (recall 01V-078).RQ03-008 was opened to investigate complaints concerning the remedy and scope of 01V-078.ODI's analysis identified concerns with post-repair failures in recalled vehicles,failures in MY 2001-02 vehicles with adjustable pedals that were not included in recall 01V-078, and failures in MY 2000 vehicles with fixed pedals.(note: The manufacturer failure data in this resume includes all crashes and injuries, but the complaint information is limited to MY 2001-02 vehicles that were not included in the scope of recall 01V-078.)on March 1, 2004, Ford notified NHTSA of a safety defect in MY 2000 through early-2003 Taurus and Sable vehicles equipped with adjustable pedals and MY 2000 subject vehicles equipped with fixed pedals (recall 04V-106).the notification identified three factors contributing to brake light circuit failures:(1) continuing grease contamination issues that prompted 01V-078; (2) misalignment of the booster rod pin and the brake light switch; and (3) wire assembly fatigue.the first two conditions were limited to vehicles with adjustable pedals and the latter condition affected vehicles with fixed pedals.Ford will instruct owners to bring their vehicles to a dealer to have the brake light switch and associated wiring replaced with a re-designed brake light switch and wiring assembly.
• Defect Investigation #PE02035 - Allege that some pedal clusters may have been produced with the brake pedal substantially closer to the accelerator pedal than specified by Ford.
• Defect Investigation #RP03001 - Ms. rodman reported that after her vehicle was inspected for the recall, her mother experienced a sudden acceleration and crashed the Sable into a light pole.previously NHTSA had conducted an investigation for this issue (PE02-035) that resulted in the recall (02V-266) of 369,000 MY 2000-2002 Taurus and Sable vehicles equipped with adjustable brake and accelerator pedals to insure that the separation between the pedals was at least 50mm..a review of ODI's database for complaints regarding recall 02V-266 did not identify any recall remedy complaints other than the petitioner's.ms. Rodman¿S vehicle was inspected by ODI using Ford¿S special tool and her vehicle was found to exceed 50mm.also, the lateral movement of the pedals was found not to be excessive relative to other comparable Taurus and Sable vehicles.therefore, it is unlikely that NHTSA would issue an order requiring Ford to provide a different remedy for this defect.in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA¿S limited resources to best accomplish the Agency¿S safety mission, the petition is denied.for additional information concerning this analysis, please refer to the federal register notice dated March 23, 2004 (vol 69, no 56, pages 13619-13620).
• Defect Investigation #EA06002 - ODI's analysis identified a high complaint rate for the rear coil springs in the salt belt states (approximately 250 per 100,000 vehicles).approximately 59 percent of the complaints alleged that the coil spring failure caused damage to the adjacent rear tire, with about half of these (30 percent of total complaints) alleging that the damage resulted in air loss.because air loss from a rear tire can result in changes in vehicle handling characteristics, ODI examined field data, test data and interviewed consumers to assess the safety consequences of such failures in the subject vehicle population.analysis of all available field data did not identify any crashes or injuries resulting from the alleged defect in the subject vehicles.VRTC testing conducted to simulate a coil spring induced rear tire failure did not result in a loss of vehicle control.when interviewed by ODI, none of the consumers who experienced incidents of tire air loss due to the alleged defect indicated that the failures caused a loss of vehicle control.tire damage resulting from the alleged defect has involved rubbing/abrasive wear of the inner tire sidewall with the potential for air loss from pin-hole sized leaks in the wear "groove".there is no evidence that the alleged defect has caused any sudden, catastrophic tire failures in either straight or turning maneuvers.a safety-related defect has not been identified at this time and further use of Agency resources does not appear to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation is closed.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist.the Agency will monitor this issue and reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.see document file for additional information regarding this resume.
• Defect Investigation #PE05054 - The office of defect investigation (ODI) opened preliminary evaluation, PE05-054, based on 131 vehicle owner questionnaires related to alleged rear coil spring fractures.since opening the investigation there have been an additional sixty-three (63) complaints alleging rear coil spring fracture.an analysis of the vehicle owner questionnaires (voqs) submitted to ODI reveals that 42% of the complainants allege that the adjacent tire was punctured as result of a rear coil spring fracture. Additionally, an analysis of the complaint data received by ODI from Ford reveals the following: There were a total of 553 unique vehicle complaints of coil spring fracture. 30% of the complaints allege that the rear coil spring fracture resulted in the adjacent tire being punctured. An engineering analysis (EA06-002) is being opened to further examine the potential safety implications of the rear coil spring fractures as related to tire punctures.