hiwayman17
08-29-2002, 03:24 AM
U.S. regulators upgrade Ford Focus air bag probe
August 29, 2002
BY JUSTIN HYDE
REUTERS
DETROIT -- U.S. vehicle safety regulators have intensified another investigation into reported defects involving Ford Motor Co.'s Focus compact car, citing 130 complaints of burn injuries from Focus air bags.
The injury complaints add to a litany of problems that have beset the Focus since Ford put it on sale in 2000, marketing the car to young buyers to introduce them to the Ford brand.
In the past two years, Ford has been forced to issue nine safety recalls for the Focus; six investigations into possible defects are still pending. And a purported class-action lawsuit was filed in July in California over the Focus' brakes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) earlier this month upgraded the investigation into 576,700 of the 2000 and 2001 model year Focus cars to an engineering analysis, a step that often precedes a recall.
NHTSA said Ford had received 100 complaints about the Focus' air bags, adding to the 40 already made to NHTSA. Along with the 130 reported injuries, there were 18 reports that the deployed air bags caused other parts of the vehicle to catch fire.
Typically, the gas in a deploying air bag comes from a chemical reaction that inflates the bag in less than a tenth of a second. The chemicals that launch a bag are heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and there have been several other reports of burns or irritations from air bags in other models.
NHTSA has five other investigations pending into the Focus, over complaints of underhood fires, stalling engines, broken suspension pieces, bad wheel bearings and air bags that deploy unexpectedly.
The California lawsuit claims the front brakes on the 2000 and 2001 Focus wear out so quickly they require "continuous replacement." A reply from Ford is due this week.
Ford contends it has fixed many quality problems with the Focus, improving its score on a benchmark quality study 23 percent between 2000 and 2002. The automaker has said warranty claims from the first months of service also are declining.
"When you look at the data, we have made major improvements since it was launched," said Ford spokesman Marcey Evans.
But quality concerns may be one reason sales of the Focus are off 10 percent through July of this year to 139,289 vehicles. The Focus is now outsold in the United States by General Motors Corp.'s aging Chevrolet Cavalier.
Ford has vowed to keep its marketing muscle behind the car. In a new television commercial, Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. compares the Focus to the Model T that gave his great-grandfather Henry Ford worldwide renown.
"It's a tremendously successful marriage of technology and the passion," Ford says about the Focus in the ads airing nationwide. "You get in it, you turn up the sound system, you hit the accelerator and just go."
August 29, 2002
BY JUSTIN HYDE
REUTERS
DETROIT -- U.S. vehicle safety regulators have intensified another investigation into reported defects involving Ford Motor Co.'s Focus compact car, citing 130 complaints of burn injuries from Focus air bags.
The injury complaints add to a litany of problems that have beset the Focus since Ford put it on sale in 2000, marketing the car to young buyers to introduce them to the Ford brand.
In the past two years, Ford has been forced to issue nine safety recalls for the Focus; six investigations into possible defects are still pending. And a purported class-action lawsuit was filed in July in California over the Focus' brakes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) earlier this month upgraded the investigation into 576,700 of the 2000 and 2001 model year Focus cars to an engineering analysis, a step that often precedes a recall.
NHTSA said Ford had received 100 complaints about the Focus' air bags, adding to the 40 already made to NHTSA. Along with the 130 reported injuries, there were 18 reports that the deployed air bags caused other parts of the vehicle to catch fire.
Typically, the gas in a deploying air bag comes from a chemical reaction that inflates the bag in less than a tenth of a second. The chemicals that launch a bag are heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and there have been several other reports of burns or irritations from air bags in other models.
NHTSA has five other investigations pending into the Focus, over complaints of underhood fires, stalling engines, broken suspension pieces, bad wheel bearings and air bags that deploy unexpectedly.
The California lawsuit claims the front brakes on the 2000 and 2001 Focus wear out so quickly they require "continuous replacement." A reply from Ford is due this week.
Ford contends it has fixed many quality problems with the Focus, improving its score on a benchmark quality study 23 percent between 2000 and 2002. The automaker has said warranty claims from the first months of service also are declining.
"When you look at the data, we have made major improvements since it was launched," said Ford spokesman Marcey Evans.
But quality concerns may be one reason sales of the Focus are off 10 percent through July of this year to 139,289 vehicles. The Focus is now outsold in the United States by General Motors Corp.'s aging Chevrolet Cavalier.
Ford has vowed to keep its marketing muscle behind the car. In a new television commercial, Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. compares the Focus to the Model T that gave his great-grandfather Henry Ford worldwide renown.
"It's a tremendously successful marriage of technology and the passion," Ford says about the Focus in the ads airing nationwide. "You get in it, you turn up the sound system, you hit the accelerator and just go."