Ford recalling 145,000 vehicles in the U.S.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford will be recalling close to 140,000 Five Hundreds and Mercury Montegos, along with over six thousand Hybrid Escapes.
The cause of the recall on the Five Hundred and its Mercury stable mate is a faulty door latch that may allow water to enter the mechanism and, if the water freezes, could cause the door to open while the sedan is in motion. The recall will affect 2005-2006 model year vehicles.
On 2006 Escape Hybrids, Ford has found that the drivetrain shaft could fracture and, in turn, may cause the vehicle to move even if the 'ute is in the 'Park' position.
Ford dealers are instructed to inspect and replace the part if it's necessary.
[Source: Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Avinash Machado 8:05AM (10/11/2006)
Well I guess the Domestic Bashing will start shortly.
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Justin 8:41AM (10/11/2006)
I hope not...the door latch issue isn't exactly a massive problem.
As for the Escapes...at least they caught it and are fixing it. Recalls shouldn't get the negativity they do, while theyre inconvenient and problematic, I'd much rather they issue the recall than ignore the problem.
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Gregory Faulkner 6:08PM (10/11/2006)
Well, not that I want to see hybrid technologies fail, but I'm kind of glad to see some negative press directly attributable to the hybrid drive train system, just as Daimler-Chrysler attempts to push clean diesel in the U.S.
My insane reasoning is that diesel technologies need to get a boost. The promise of clean diesel for saving over one-million barrels of oil per day is tremendous, but there are too many entities trying to hold this technology out of the U.S.
I don't believe in the argument that we must choose one technology and that one will be our silver bullet, i.e. diesel or hybrid; however, the hybrid folks are propagating this stance and are helping the EPA hold back clean diesels from America.
Diesels have many advantages that could get America saving more petroleum, quicker than any other technology imaginable.
1. Fuel economy advantage - Diesels average 30% better fuel economy to comparable, spark-ignition, naturally-aspired engine technologies; and this advantage holds up in real-world driving.
2. Alternative-fuel advantage - All diesels, old and new, without the necessity of speicial manufacture; conversion kits; or modification will accept any blend of alternative fuels (biodiesel, coal-to-diesel, natural gas-to-diesel, synthetic diesel). Also, these alternatives can be piped, shipped, blended, and stored right along with petroleum-based fuel supplies for a more seamless transistion to alternative fuels. In addition, alternatives for diesels generally contain much more energy per unit which results in a far lessor effect on fuel economy. Biodiesel, for instance, reduces fuel economy no more than 10% in its neat form. By contrast, E85 currently reduces fuel economy an average of 25% in 2006 flexible-fueled vehicles (www.fueleconomy.gov--2006).
3. Manufacturing advantage - Diesel engines are already being built by the millions for all classes of vehicles by all major automakers for European consumers. Unlike hybrids, diesel engine manufacturing is already going along full steam. This means we could quickly have diesels in every vehicle class and in mass quantities for a far greater fuel saving effect.
4. Application Advantage - Diesel applications can be used in every vehicle class; city or hwy driving; from the smallest of vehicles to the largest of trucks; from the lightest of loads to huge payload or towing applications to maintain a fuel economy advantage. And, in fact, the diesel advantage improves as load increases, to the point where a diesel towing a heavy load may obtain a 60% fuel economy advantage over a comparable, gas-power application.
5. Reliability advantage - While no one can predict the durability / reliability of new hybrid technologies versus modern diesel technologies with new emission equipment applied, we can look at the track record and great reputation of the diesel engine and expect drivers to be quite satisfied with the durability of diesel engine technologies.
6. Performance Advantage - Modern diesel engines have now come on par with spark-ignition, naturally-aspired technologies with respect to horsepower, refinement, quiet operation, while maintaining a torque, fuel economy advantage, and greenhouse gas score advantage.
7. Emission Advantage - Yes there are emission advantages of diesel engines, particularly if they are able to meet new, Tier 2, bin 5 standards. This situation would mean that diesels would be as clean as gas-powered vehicles with respect to their two weakest categories (NOx and PM), while maintaining their advantage in other categories (CO, HCs, CO2). The comparatively, easier transistion to alternative fuels could further improve this advantage.
8. Cost/Price Advantage - Diesels currently have a cost advantage for manufacturers due to economies of scale, and the fact that diesel, internal combustion technologies have been around a while. This advantage is narrowing, however, as the EPA restrictions on NOx is causing engineering nightmares for manufacturers.
9. Fun Factor Advantage - This advantage cannot be explained through the written word, other than to tell folks to go drive a new, Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTec; and then go drive a new Toyota Prius or any other hybrid of your choice. I would venture to say that at least 80% would come away more impressed with a modern diesel vehicle. The new Mercedes sports a 3.0 V6 BlueTec engine that is at least 60% cleaner burning than the outgoing 2006 model; gets an estimated, 37 mpg on the hwy; and has 388 lbs of torque. That is more torque than a Hemi V8, and great torque is hard to understand unless you drive it.
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DC_1 9:11AM (10/11/2006)
I agree with Justin
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Ken 9:09AM (10/11/2006)
Justin, I believe Toyota is being investigated in Japan for just that......ignoring defects and therefore, not recalling vehicles.
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'94 Impala SS 9:10AM (10/11/2006)
Not really, since it is not a GM recall the bashing will be very brief. You all know that if it was a GM recall there would have been 200 post in 5 mins.
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Dan 9:16AM (10/11/2006)
Domestic bashing? What about the foreign bashing that far outweighs the domestics when their vehicle might be recalled? Just do a search here for recall articles and you'll see outrageous counts of comments every time a foreign manufacturer is listed in a recall. I'll remind everyone that back in August, two "maybes" were reported here on the Toyota Tundra and the Toyota Sienna. Since then, neither of those vehicles have been recalled. Maybe they are still under investigation. I don't know. Maybe Toyota is paying our govt a lot of money to keep from making them recall. I'm sure that's what a lot of you think.
And it's been a while since I've done this, so I figured I'd give updated recall numbers for this year by manufacturer. From NHTSA data...
MFG Affected
Chrysler 2,173,979
Ford 1,731,970
GM 1,349,869
Honda 1,190,774
Nissan 1,068,204
Toyota 784,805
KIA 50,070
HYUNDAI 44,693
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Piter 9:23AM (10/11/2006)
Im surprised they sold that many 500s and Montegos... who's buyin'em up?
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Gary Z 9:31AM (10/11/2006)
There goes Dan again trying to use logic and objective information again.
Don't you know that's not welcome here? The comments are supposed to be based ONLY on personal experience backed up by a lot of piss and vinegar.
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Hamud 9:44AM (10/11/2006)
#1 It took more than I expected...
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Avinash Machado 9:56AM (10/11/2006)
#6 Wow Honda seems to be having more recalls than Toyota. I never knew that.
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Leo 10:16AM (10/11/2006)
yeap,
and if they were to ignore the issue as GM is doing with their intake planum manifold leaking gasket they would deserve the bashing,
seing how there is about 6000 or so hybrids with the issue, Ford is doing the right thing acting quickly on it rather than act like GM which is still saying they have no issue with the leaking gaskets. I know they leak - i replced the gasket on my finaces car at 50k miles - for about 1 week or so i was putting in about 1 gallon of radiator fluid every day - and it is starting to leak again, twice already I have added more fluid in as the light came on.
the door latch issue has most of the recalls and they are fixing those too - good for them. Toyota in japan is also ignorig some isssues and they also deserve to be bashed just like GM does.
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Matt 10:26AM (10/11/2006)
Dan, where are you getting those numbers?
I went to the NHTSA site, and I couldn't find any info by manufacturer. Then I went and added up all the 2006 recalls by model, and didn't come up with nearly the same numbers as you. Mine we're much smaller all around.
Please let me know where I can find that info.
Thanks.
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Ryan 10:48AM (10/11/2006)
"6. Domestic bashing? What about the foreign bashing that far outweighs the domestics when their vehicle might be recalled? Just do a search here for recall articles and you'll see outrageous counts of comments every time a foreign manufacturer is listed in a recall."
FOR THE RECORD, LET IT BE KNOWN:
IMPORT bashing started first on this thread!
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Dan 10:50AM (10/11/2006)
Matt,
I went to http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov. From there, I clicked on "Recalls" --> "Recall List and Download" -->"Recalls" and then I downloaded the zip file.
The file contains vehicle, equipment, and tire safety recalls since 1966.
From there, I imported the list into a database and filtered out the vehicle recalls and then summed the number affected by recall campaign number. Then I grouped by manufacturer to get the numbers that I listed.
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AR 10:51AM (10/11/2006)
"As for the Escapes...at least they caught it and are fixing it. Recalls shouldn't get the negativity they do, while theyre inconvenient and problematic, I'd much rather they issue the recall than ignore the problem."
When Toyota has a recall all you idiots do is bash bash bash, but when one of the domestics has a recall it's not a big deal. With morons who share such a blind allegiance to Ford and GM, it's no wonder they're in so much trouble. They think they can get away with building crappy vehicles because of the simpletons who'll only buy stuff that's "Made in America". Pathetic.
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KT 12:12PM (10/11/2006)
An obvious newcomer to AB:
"When Toyota has a recall all you idiots do is bash bash bash, but when one of the domestics has a recall it's not a big deal. With morons who share such a blind allegiance to Ford and GM, it's no wonder they're in so much trouble."
Look up any blog relating to any Import and you'll find this comment (especially the no big deal part) repeated continuously by the pre-import people. It will be followed by "at least they are fixing it". So, it's by no means only associated to the pro-domestic people. Both sides have members with "blind allegiance". It would be a little "blind" for you to think either side is without those types.
Whether you like Domestics or Imports it doesn't matter. Any recall is looked at as a problem by the majority of consumers. What's ironic is the majority of consumers with a recalled vehicle don't ever take it in to be repaired.
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Shawn 11:32AM (10/11/2006)
For 2006 Only...from http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/
CAMRY 4503
AVALON 133
COROLLA 4029, 292000
HIGHLANDER HEV 367594
MATRIX 292000
PRIUS 133
SCION TC 71392
SCION XB 292000, 87745, 4029
TACOMA 12020, 133
TUNDRA 27176
Total: 1454887
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Bob 11:59AM (10/11/2006)
Uh, Shawn, you can't count 292,000 three times for the Corolla/Matrix/xB.
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Dan 12:06PM (10/11/2006)
#16. The numbers you gave include equipment recalls, which I did not include because they don't tend to be as important as vehicle recalls in that many of them don't include actually taking the vehicle to the manufacturer. For instance, the Corolla recall of 292,000 that you list has this description...
"WITHOUT THE AMBER REFLECTORS, THE VEHICLE WILL BE POORLY ILLUMINATED, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN A VEHICLE CRASH."
and these instructions...
"ANZO WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND REPLACE THE HEADLAMPS FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL BEGAN MAY 9, 2006. OWNERS MAY CONTACT ANZO USA AT 909-468-3688."
The problem with including these types of recalls in the totals is because sometimes the same equipment recall campaign affects multiple makes and models.
This Anzo headlight campaign affected almost all vehicle makers (foreign and domestic) in one way or another. So the 292,000 number is ALL vehicles affected including the Corolla. And I don't see a way to split up number of vehicles affected by makemodel. This is the primary reason I only include vehicle recalls in my counts.
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