Ford recall on wheels/lugs

bob urz wrote in news:jbtk0c$k0v$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

And there have been cases of wheels actually FALLING OFF.

How come Ray LaHood hasn't advised Ford owners to park their cars becuase they're unsafe?

"Ford said it is aware of one incident involving a front wheel and five incidents involving rear wheels. Ford has paid at least 128 warranty claims for wheel stud repairs and NHTSA has received 29 complaints. Ford spokeswoman Susan Krusel said there are no injuries linked to the problem." I took a look at the NHTSA complaint database and there are 29 complaints listed related to Fusion wheels and or studs. However there are at least five that are duplicate entries and two more that are wheel related, but to another concerns (one lady clained the holes in the wheels allowed ice to get in to the brakes - oh well, another claimed the brakes on one wheel temprarily locked up). However, some of the unique 22 complaints were pretty scary. Only two people actually claimed a wheel came off (one as he was pulling into the dealer), although a couple of others made it sound like they were on the verge of a wheel coming off. It seems that people who have the problem have it repeatedly and dramatically (multiple broken studs, and multiple trips to the dealer to have them replaced).

Some of the articles mention that Ford is recalling replacement steel wheels from dealers and that they are inspecting rear braking surfaces. It seems to me that this confirms that the studs are not bad, rather they are failing becasue of a problem related to the wheel hub interface. The replacement lug nuts are intended to improve wheel retention and prevent the vibrations that are causing the studs to fail.

Here is what Ford says the dealers will do:

REASON FOR THIS SAFETY RECALL

In some of the affected vehicles, manufacturing variability can lead to reduced wheel clamp load and may result in multiple wheel stud fractures and/or wheel separation. Wheel separation may cause a loss of steering control.

SERVICE ACTION

Before demonstrating or delivering any of the vehicles involved in this recall, dealers are to:

• remove and discard all wheel lug nuts.

• inspect ALL four wheels for broken studs and replace as required.

• check each REAR bracke disc wheel mounting surface for flatness and replace as required.

• install 20 redesigned lug nuts.

Also, identify any vehicels services by you dealership between April 15,

2010 and Novemeber 13, 2010 with steel wheel part number AE5Z-1015-A.

....

They have a picture of the new versus old lug nuts in the repair instructions. The old ones have a bright finish. The new ones have a matte finish. Otherwise they look the same.

Ed

"THE SAFETY RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN ON OR ABOUT JANUARY 24, 2012"

call me old fashioned, but i'd have thought that "MULTIPLE STUD FRACTURES" and resultant wheel separation would be a cause for immediate grounding of all affected vehicles.

but maybe i'm under some kind of naive delusion supposing that the word "safety" in "national highway and transportation safety authority" is aimed at the proles and their ability to do trivial things like "live" and "pay taxes" rather than to safeguard the financial health of the manufacturer.

Did you notice the line that said - "Before demonstrating or delivering any of the vehicles involved in this recall, dealers are to:" Dealers won't be selling new vehicles with bad wheels. Of course there are 200,000 cars already sold that might have bad wheels. However, it appears the actual incident rate is very low. Even if only 1% of the incidents get reported to NHTSA, the failure rate is still very low. NHTSA did get Ford's warranty information, and I assume the repair rate was very low. Although the problem is likely very rare it is potentially very serious. It is hard to balance something like this. Given the lack of any serious accidents attributed to the failures, I think NHTSA would have a hard time demanding some sort of action to force drivers to stop using their private vehicles. If I had one of the vehicles in the recall, I'd be checking the lug nuts right now and make sure they are tight. If I had any doubts about the fit of the rear wheels, I'd be taking the car down to the dealer. I had a friend who had his Ford essentially conficated by the dealer when he took it in for a safety recall. They did not have the part in stock, and they wouldn't let him drive it home. They stuck him with an Escort while they waited for the part (a big come down from an Expedition).

Ed

"C. E. White" wrote in news:jcb5eq$9l6$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

The point of my original barb was that, in the face of a SINGLE high- profile incident (in which there turned out to be nothing wrong with the car), Ray LaHood /immediately/ jumped in front of a microphone in order to counsel Americans to park their Toyotas because they were unsafe.

And now we have a genuine safety issue with wheels having actually fallen off Ford cars on numerous occasions...and LaHood is silent.

It's called "hypocrisy", Ed. It's called "kissing union ass". Toyota has no unions. Ford does.

eh? what part of "union" plays into giving billions of taxpayer dollars to a company that uses the money to outsource jobs to china?

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what part of "BUILT FROM APRIL 1, 2009, THROUGH APRIL 30, 2009, AND FROM DECEMBER 1, 2009, THROUGH NOVEMBER 13, 2010" did you miss ed? are those vehicles still on dealer lots or are they on the road jeopardizing people's lives while frod gets to take their sweet-ass time ordering new parts?

oh, so you spotted it then...

air plane accident rates are very low - grounds to abolish the ridiculous red tape of the f.a.a, right?

ok, go pull out 1% of the local school's kids and run them over. then go tell their parents their loss is statistically insignificant.

no shit.

no, it's very easy. take the dangerous vehicles off the road until they're fixed. just like you do with a broken timing belt or a flat tire.

really??? so it's ok for a plane with a fatigued wing to keep on flying because it might not actually fall off?

it's not a tightness issue ed. read the report.

good for you ed. good for you.

now, how about all the other people with this vehicle? are you going to take them to the dealer too? are you going to stay off the road while the people who /haven't/ taken their vehicles off the road are still driving about so they can't collide with and kill you?

poor guy. he'd have had much more fun plowing through a busy charity tree lot this time of year.

As far as I can find, there were two cases of wheels following off and no serious injuries. Total complaints in the NHTSA database related to the problem were less than 30. For the Toyota unintended acceleration case there were multiple deaths attributed to the problem (rightly or wrongly), and hundreds of related complaints over a period of years. Maybe the compalints were bogus, or maybe not, but once the number of complaints and number of death alleged to be connected to the problem came to light, what choice did NHTSA have but to go public. If they had properly investigated the problem when the complaints first started rolling in, then there would have been no media frenzy. And while Toyota doesn't have a US Union, they apparently have very good lobbyist - although apparently they are not too bright. The PowerPoint bragging about how they had talked NHTSA into burying multiple investigations was a real eye opener. If Ford or GM had been caught red-handed with a document like that, the press would have never let it go (BTW, I am not saying Ford and GM and Chrysler and Nissan, and ... don't do they same thing, they don't usually bragg about it on paper/computer files).

Ed

"C. E. White" wrote in news:jcctmo$cs$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

And NO cases of stuck gas pedals in Toyotas leading to anything at all, much less an injury of /any/ kind. The one and only stuck-pedal case was caused by incorrect and unsecured floor mats. And yet LaHood mouthed off anyway, wrecking Toyota's short-term business as a result.

wtf are you talking about??? gm and frod do that /all the time/ and the press never says a word.

bottom line ed, this is just like allowing a plane to fly with a known fatigue crack in a wing. the difference is that with a plane failure, the financial consequences are significant. with a car crash, the relatives of the deceased might need to be tossed a few hundies, but it's less than the cost of an immediate and full recall, so frod are willing to sacrifice a few american lives for the sake of their shareholders' divvies. it's the frod way and they're repeat offenders.

now, let's discuss three strikes law and the logic of incarcerating petty felons for pizza theft vs. corporate serial homicides...

Are you saying the unknown possible unintended acceleration on a vehicle base of millions of cars and known lug nuts breaking off on 30 cars aren't the same thing? Where the hell did you get that idea?

--Vic