Ford Motor Co. is in the midst of a five-year “recall of a recall,” reinspecting more than a quarter-million vehicles after the company discovered sloppy work and false billing by dealership technicians during the required replacement of dangerous Takata air bags.
Some customers whose repair records mistakenly reflect fixes never made are at risk from the devices, which can explode without warning and spray shrapnel on vehicle occupants. Others, drivers of certain Ranger pickups, may have incorrectly installed air bags that may not deploy in a crash, putting passengers at risk.
A Free Press investigation reviewed internal company documents, dealership memos, federal regulatory filings and court papers, showing that Ford fined some dealerships whose repair techs billed the automaker for replacing Takata air bags despite installing the devices incorrectly or not doing the work at all. A federal whistleblower complaint alleges Ford invited trouble by easing repair rules to allow low-skill techs to process the repairs quickly — a charge the automaker adamantly denies.
Drivers left dealerships thinking their air bags were safe. Still, without a reinspection, they and their front-seat passengers have remained at risk of gruesome injury and even death every time they are on the road — illustrated by the case of a Texas woman who lost her left eye in a low-speed accident in 2020. Sara Mae Morgan settled a lawsuit with Ford in 2022 and the dealership in 2023. She described to the Free Press a variety of life-altering injuries from the accident in a Mustang whose owners had taken the car in for air bag replacement.
Part of the problem is that no one — not the drivers, Ford, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — knows exactly which vehicles weren’t repaired correctly. Among the challenges is that Ford must track down current owners of vehicles as old as 2004 models and reinspect them.
“I can’t sleep at night when I think of this,” the whistleblower told the Free Press. “It makes me physically ill.”
Ford told the Free Press it is committed to finding and repairing the vehicles in question and characterized the problem as isolated.
Most of the vehicles — nearly 232,000 — are Ranger pickups, for which Ford issued a formal recall in 2023 because of incorrect air bag installation. In this instance, Takata air bags were replaced, but those installed improperly may not deploy in a crash, leaving passengers at risk.
Another 41,600 Ford vehicles of various models “where we believe there could be issues with repairs” must be reinspected, Ford spokesman T.R. Reid told the Free Press. In those instances, Ford’s records show that air bag replacement was completed, but by technicians found to have cut corners on some recall work.
The whistleblower contends the numbers are much higher, based on information from dealers.
The problem was serious enough that Ford fined certain dealerships thousands of dollars after making the discovery. Ford will not reveal how many dealers were fined or how much, but Reid said the penalties “were substantial enough to get their attention and make clear that the behavior wasn’t acceptable.”
Punishment for bad behavior
A Ford document reviewed by the Free Press warned dealers of fines of $10,000 per violation, and dealers told the Free Press that some dealership fines reached six figures. One dealer, whom the Free Press is not naming to avoid compromising his relationship with Ford, called it a “money grab” intended to offset a slice of Ford’s massive recall costs.
Ford’s reinspection program for the nearly 42,000 vehicles, which is not listed as a formal safety recall, runs through March 2027, according to documents filed with federal safety regulators. Reid told the Free Press in early February about 11% of that work is done. He said only about 1.5% of the reinspections turned up Takata replacement problems.
Ford sold millions of the models from which the 41,600 was drawn, including Fusions, Edges, Mustangs and more. Reid said the company has found no reason to inspect a larger sampling of those models, even though he said during interviews and via email the 1.5% error rate may be close to normal for any repair.
‘A ticking time bomb’
Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said more vehicles should be reinspected.
“I think Ford needs to go back and do a full audit to make sure no one has received a fake Takata repair, that they don’t miss anything,” Brooks said. “They need to find every vehicle that hasn’t received the correct fix. They’re the ones ultimately responsible. These are consumers who presented their vehicles for repair and they weren’t repaired.
“After years of exposure, the failure rate…
Read More: Flawed Takata air bag repairs put thousands of Ford drivers at risk