Ford expands recall of F-150 pickup to nearly 1.2M

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: AP

DETROIT (AP) -- Under pressure from government safety regulators, Ford Motor Co. is expanding a recall of the popular F-150 pickup truck to include nearly 1.2 million vehicles that may have defective air bags.

The wider recall, announced Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, covers all F-150s built for the 2004 and 2005 model years, as well as part of the 2006 model year. Also included are 16,000 2006 Lincoln LT pickups.

An electrical short can cause the air bags to deploy unexpectedly, in some cases injuring drivers.

In February, Ford agreed to fix 150,000 F-150s, but resisted the government's wishes to recall nearly 1.2 million trucks that may have the problem.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FORD_PICKUP_RECALL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Scuba]

1. I know some other defective airbags that need to be recalled. n/t

[Wait Wut]

3. You win!

Your Virtual Award will be arriving virtually any minute!

[madokie]

31. Bunches of 'em right here on the DU :-)

Hot air bags of the pro-nuclear kind :-)

[MineralMan]

2. And they fought the recall, eh? That's the spirit, Ford!

Quality is Job...well...it's somewhere on the list.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. Ahh... The Sound of Crickets...

The Detroit Noise Machine must be in the shower...

[Union Scribe]

5. You sure don't like American union members, do you?

"Detroit noise machine"? Sounds like a fucking wingnut phrase.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. I have no quarrel with the UAW,

I just find the stupid rah rah rah for mediocre cars a little tiresome and reject the notion that a handful of Big 3 products being superior to the weakest import products amounts to a Renaissance. If this story was about Toyota recall, no matter how trivial this thread would have in the neighborhood of a hundred incredulous replies of varying degrees of intellectual dishonesty. But for a substantial Ford recall we have nothing but crickets and tumbleweeds.

[blue_onyx]

7. Oh, please

Do you know how many Toyota recall threads went ignored by anti-US automaker people like you?

And as far as intellectual honesty goes, you (and other anti-US automaker posters) may want to look in the mirror since you continue to believe in Toyota's supposedly superior quality despite tons of information to the contrary.

[Juneboarder]

8. "people like you"

(Fingers in ears saying blah, blah, blah, blah, blah)

I was present in those discussions and got nothing but chastising comments. I guess it would be different if posters in favor of US automobiles would be willing to have a discussion rather than a witch trial.

[blue_onyx]

9. People who support the US automakers

prefer dealing with facts, not blind loyalty. Most US automakers supporters admit to past mistakes by the companies but many on DU want to live in the 70s. It's the anti-US automaker posters who refuse to have a discussion. In their mind Toyota=god-like entity who's vehicles run on water vapor and the US automaker=devil who's vehicles get 2 mpg. I can't count the number of times I've read someone saying Toyota's quality problems aren't real and just a conspiracy. Having discussion with those who refuse to deal with facts is pointless.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

11. I don't think anyone is stuck in the 70's

Detroit has made some horrendous cars quite recently,

[blue_onyx]

12. As have the foreign automakers

Some on DU have selective memories

[Tesha]

15. How many US-made autos do I have to buy in what period of time before...

...I am accorded the accolade of "dealing in facts"?

My 1995 Ford Taurus ate two transmission before and
locked-up its rear brakes because of an obvious design
defect before I junked it.

My 1996 Dodge Caravan has had almost everything
possible go wrong with it, some things multiple
times. And though I've liked driving and using
the Caravan, I've read that these defects still
occur at the same frequency in much-more recent
models.

Am I allowed to have an opinion on these cars?
Would my opinion be considered fact-based or would
it be just "blind disloyalty"?

Tesha

[blue_onyx]

20. It is blind loyal to treat Toyota like it's god-like

To pretend like Toyota and other foreign companies don't have quality issues too is blind loyalty. To ignore the many, many recalls by foreign companies in recent years, is blind loyalty.

[Tesha]

28. That's neither here nor there, and not the question I asked you.

I am not now, nor have I ever been a Toyota owner.

I have owned quite a few American cars, though, and
now (perhaps mostly through Mr. Tesha's tastes) drive
a very nice Audi. It's head and shoulders above my
old Taurus.

So I'll ask again: Do I get to have an opinion?
Or will you just keep railing against Toyota?

Tesha

[blue_onyx]

33. Interesting

In the past you've said that you aren't a Toyota defender yet you seem to come to their defense in most auto related threads.

You can have your opinion but you don't get to have your own set of facts. The idea that only US automakers have quality problem while foreign auto are prefect is false. Saying there's no evidence of sudden acceleration in Toyotas is false.

[Tesha]

36. I tend to defend truth. A lot of "Toyota" postings seem a might shy on that.

A lot of Toyota postings often show ignorance of
the technical facts of "real time, embedded computing"
as well and that's a topic I know a little something
about.

And even though you're trying to put those words in
my mouth, I've *NEVER* said there's no evidence of
Toyotas suddenly accelerating.

Tesha

[Kurmudgeon]

40. The confusion helped obsfucate the real cause, poor engineered pedals.

All the talk about floor mats, computer problems, etc, etc, glossed over the fact that Toyota didn't know what was really going on.
Or if they did, they sure kept their mouths shut for quite some time. This mess makes the old Corvair and Pinto defects look like a child's game in comparison, as bad as those were. And Toyota doesn't have the excuse of 60s and 70s technology this time either.

[Tesha]

41. I disagree.

All of the causes I cited (elsewhere in this thread)
were known-about pretty quickly.

People here just wanted to pretend there was confusion
because they didn't like the conclusions that everyone,
Toyota and government authorities alike, were reaching.

Tesha

[Kurmudgeon]

43. You may disagree, but people died, investigation was made, and the problem corrected.

No confusion, Toyota screwed up, and that doesn't even cover things like the rotting frames in their vehicles and over rated quality reputation.

[Kurmudgeon]

26. I think that 15 years ago is a bit of a reach.

However, I am currently driving a 2000 Grand Caravan, at 233,000 miles at this point and it still runs fine.
No blind loyalty, just continuing good service from an American product.
I've seen mid-90s Caravans and Taurus (Tauri?) on the road recently as yesterday, can't say the same for Toyota or most any imports.
If there's been one good thing from the Toyota Uncontrolled Acceleration debacle, is the blinders are starting to come off of some of the import worshipers. Some people anyway, others just get offended and ignore the potential consequences, both economically to the US as well as actual physical danger.

[Tesha]

29. I'm not sure I could *TELL* if a Toyota is fifteen years old or not.

I don't follow them closely-enough to be able
to recognize the subtleties of the model years.

I do agree with you that there are a lot of
Tauruses (Tauri? Taurii? Either way, I like
that!) of my Taurus's generation still on the
road along with a lot of Caravans of the same
generation as Mr. Tesha's and our neighbor is
still keeping his old '94 or '95 Caravan (of
the previous generation) barely alive.

But I also see lots of older Audis, VWs, and
Volvos on the road as well. Many of us New
Englanders are apparently cheap, at least
when it comes to cars. ;).

Tesha

[Kurmudgeon]

39. Unlikely you'll see one, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Tesha]

42. You don't mind if I don't take your word for that, right? (NT)

[Kurmudgeon]

44. Just open your eyes, reality is all you need. n/t

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

10. I don't even like Toyota's

I used to, but I just don't see the value anymore and many of their product lines are horribly stagnant. However the bullshit that spewed from the Detroit Noise Machine over the last year was slander at its worst.

[blue_onyx]

13. Wow

Reporting news is now considered slander.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

14. No, but inventing news is

See: San Diego Runaway Prius Hoax

[Tesha]

16. It turned out that great deal of the "news" reported here...

...had no basis in fact. For example, the oft-repeated
claim that Toyota's problems were "obviously based on
software defects in the engine management computer".

To date, there is *NO* evidence that that was true.

Tesha

[blue_onyx]

18. Except many reported sudden accelerations

and Toyota itself admitting it had quality issues. I don't know what Toyota has done to make you so blindly loyal to a corporation that doesn't care about you.

[Tesha]

30. I'm not *AT ALL* loyal to Toyota.

As I mentioned, I am not not nor have ever been
a Toyota owner. But the "unintended acceleration"
thing was clearly the result of several causes,
only some of which belonged to Toyota:

o Mats jamming the pedal (Some fault Toyota's, some the owners')

o The sticky CTS accelerator pedals (All Toyota's fault)

o Driver error: pressing the wrong pedal (All the owners' fault)

o Driver ignorance: Not knowing what to do (Mostly the owners' fault)

o The bad design of the transmission shift gate (All Toyota's fault)

o The bad design of the "Off" switch (All Toyota's fault)

o The software not having the feature whereby heavy
braking over-rides any accelerator command (All Toyota's fault)

Frankly, I blame a combination of driver error and driver
ignorance for the majority of the accidents.

"Unintended Acceleration" was *CLEARLY* misused by partisans
here and in the media.

Tesha

[blue_onyx]

34. No loyalty to Toyota?

For someone who's not loyal to Toyota, you spend quite bit of time defending them.

[Tesha]

37. See my reply to you above. (NT)

[Kurmudgeon]

27. Toyota recalled 2 million vehicles for defective pedals.

Here's the link from Toyota themselves, they must have found some evidence there was a problem.
It's only POSTED ON THEIR OWN DAMN WEB SITE.
http://pressroom.toyota.com/safety-recall/
I hope that's enough evidence for you. Just because people were confused of the cause at the beginning of this debacle does not mean IT DID NOT HAPPEN.

[Tesha]

32. And so far, Ford has recalled 1.2 million trucks for exploding air bags.

The numbers either way aren't impressive and I
support manufacturers recalling and repairing
their vehicles. I wish Ford had recalled my
Taurus for its defective rear brakes!

Tesha

[Kurmudgeon]

38. At least Ford doesn't have a fatality list. n/t

[Honeycombe8]

23. Some of us know what you mean. The rah-rah group will not accept anything

other than total, 100% support, even when the UAW is wrong or has overstepped its bounds. So be prepared for a shellacking.

[primavera]

17. Does Ford still employ any American workers?

I thought they'd moved all of their jobs offshore to Mexico. Ironically, the domestic production facilities I hear about in the papers all seem to be run by Japanese car companies.

[blue_onyx]

19. Really?

Well, maybe you should become informed before forming an opinion.

[primavera]

21. Precisely why I was asking a question...

... as opposed to stating an opinion.

[blue_onyx]

22. You said you thought....

they had moved most production to Mexico. Asking if Ford employs any Americans is weird question. You can't really think Ford doesn't produce any vehicles in the US, can you?

FYI, Ford produces the Focus and F-150 in Michigan and the Taurus and Explorer are made in Chicago to name a few off the top of my head.

[Honeycombe8]

24. How dare you ask a question! You are a robot...you are not to ask

questions. The UAW is 'murican, end of story. You heard they have factories in Mexico? Don't ask about that...it's un'murican.

All the cos. are global, now, in a sense. Parts made abroad, assembled here, or assembled in another country, but owned by American-headquartered company. Or parts made abroad, assembled and sold here, but owned by a foreign-headquartered company.

The main difference, I guess, is that the American-headquartered companies use union workers. I don't think the others do, even when the vehicles are assembled here (Toyota and Honda). I think.

[blue_onyx]

25. It was a werid question

I'm sometimes shocked by how uninformed some on DU are.

[JVS]

35. Is that a tribute band for the Miami Sound Machine?