NHTSA investigating Ford F150 fuel tank straps - recall coming? September 13th, 2010 2:58 pm ET Patrick Rall Detroit Autos Examiner
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation to decide whether 1997-2001 Ford F150s should be recalled over concerns with corrosion on the fuel tank straps. Evidently, there have been
32 reported cases where the metal straps holding the fuel tank up have rusted to an extreme point. In 28 of these cases, one or both of the straps broke but not a single injury, fire or other serious issue was caused by the aging fuel tank straps failing. If the NHTSA decides that a recall is necessary, it could impact roughly 1.4 million trucks.When these metal straps corrode badly enough, the straps will break and allow the fuel tank to sag. If both straps fail (which they often do when one fails), the fuel tank can drop from under the vehicle; posing an obvious safety risk if you are dragging a container full of gas under your truck . I understand that the NHTSA has to check up on things like this, thanks to Toyota's refusal to acknowledge problems that cost some of their consumers their lives. However, we are talking about trucks that are generally driven year-round and metal gas tank straps are going to rust over time. When working as a mechanic, I lost track of how frequently we replaced tank straps on all sorts of vehicles (both imports and domestics) and within the last year, I replaced the straps on one of my Dodge Rams.
When you drive a car or truck through the winter and are bombarding the undercarriage with road salt, metal components are going to rust. If the NHTSA requires Ford to recall these F150s due to rust on the fuel tank straps, it opens a massive can of worms as all sorts of items are going to rust as the vehicles grow older. This isn't an issue isolated just to Ford, so will the NHTSA require other companies to replace the tank straps on vehicles that are as old as the trucks being investigated?