ford recalls 1 million pickups

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Ford Motor Co. is recalling 1.1 million pickup trucks because the gas tanks can fall off and cause fires.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday on its website that the metal straps holding the tanks can rust, allowing them to fall, rupture and catch fire.

The defect has been blamed for eight fires, three of which spread to the rest of the truck. One person was injured, suffering first- and second-degree burns, Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood said.

he recall affects certain 1997 through 2004 Ford F-150 models, as well as some 1997 through 1999 model year F-250 pickups. Also affected are Lincoln Blackwood pickups from the 2002 and 2003 model years. They were sold in cold-weather states where salt is used to clear roads. The salt corroded straps holding the tanks and they broke, NHTSA said.

The trucks were originally sold or are now registered in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

Sherwood said the company will notify owners in September to bring their trucks to dealers who will replace the straps with new ones that are coated to resist corrosion. Parts to fix the problem, he said, won't be widely available until then.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/ ... s/main20086478.shtml


wow that's a lot of pickups

I still want a Ford Ranger. I like pickups. And yes, that's a lot of pickups.

This is why i drive a Honda.....

Ram 1500 anyone?

crap.... now even honda got caught. we cannot say anything about them anymore.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110805/CARNEWS/110809933

Honda is recalling 1.5 million cars and crossovers to reprogram the transmission control software to prevent damage if the automatic transmission is used to rock the vehicle out from being stuck in mud or snow.

The recall covers the Accord and the CR-V and Element crossovers from the 2005 through 2010 model years. The vehicles being recalled have four-cylinder engines.

Honda says quickly shifting the transmission among drive, neutral and reverse--which a driver would do in an attempt to free the vehicle from being stuck--can damage a shaft bearing in the transmission. A damaged bearing can cause the engine to stall or make it hard to put the transmission into park.

The software update will ease the transition among the gears, Honda said, and reduce the chance of damaging the shaft bearing.

Honda Accord, Element and CR-V customers will begin receiving recall notices on Aug. 31.



although, this is more of a stuck in mud situation, which hopefully not many of us has had that problem.

It seems to me, neither of those issues are serious enough for it to be a responsibility of the manufacturer to do a recall.

The ford fuel strap could happen to any make of vehicle that is 10 years old and is parked outside on the street to rust in snowy weather every day. Most manufacturers use the same method of attaching the fuel tank to your car with just 2 cheap metal straps. It's also unlikely that both straps would fail at the same time, it should be very noticeable if you are missing one. If you drive a vehicle for that long without giving it a close look once, things like that are bound to happen. It is the responsibility of the driver to be aware of any unusual changes to the vehicle they are driving.

The honda transmission issue is also something that could happen to any vehicle. If you shift from a forward gear to a reverse gear or vice-versa before the wheels have stopped spinning, yes you are going to damage your transmission. It sounds like all they are going to do is change the computer to stop the transmission from shifting too quick.

I find it weird when people say small issues like these are reasons not to buy from the manufacturer. It's more responsible to do a recall than to just leave the issues up to the consumer. Why do they still do the recalls when all that results is negative press and opinions?