Ford fully uses air conditioning repairers with a solution to repair a new truck worth half a million.
According to NHTSA records posted insufficient insulation on a Ford Super Duty pickup truck 2017–2019 can cause a fire caused by fastening the seatbelt in a collision.
The error reflects the recall of 1.6 million F-150 pickups in September 2018.
The repair involves a special tape roll.
Ford is recalling 490,574 Super Duty trucks in the United States because their carpets and insulation could catch fire on impact, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records. It was the same fault as the 1.6 million F-150 trucks that Ford recalled in September 2018.
As with those 2015–2018 trucks, seatbelt fastenings mounted in Pillar B of Super Duty 2017–2019 pickups can generate “excessive sparks” when they activate in a collision. The conatus, deployed in sync with the vehicle’s airbags, uses a small amount of explosive power to eliminate all sagging of the strap structure on impact. They are mounted behind pillar B next to the recovery (pull the strap in) or in the locking pin next to the seat (pull the strap down). On the Ford truck, the foaming agent’s electric spark can ignite depleted gas and ignite the insulation behind Pillar B and the rug below. According to the document, the incident affected all F-250, F-350, F-450, and F-550 trucks produced between October 8, 2015, and October 29, 2019.
But the problem doesn’t seem to be due to itself. According to company records, the repairs included lining the carpet edges with two-dollar insidirated leaf tape commonly used in the family HVAC system. An entire roll-like strip shown in Ford’s dealership training video costs $17 at Home Depot. The agent must also deprive the insulation at the bottom of column B where the minter placed it, to prevent it from spilling. Repairs begin at the end of January.
As to why Ford did not include Super Duty with the F-150 recall, the company said these newer trucks “do not pose a similar risk” because carpets use a “better [sic] natural flame-resistant natural fiber mixture” and have improved the border near Pillar B. It describes the F-150’s insulation mats as “poor quality.” At the time of the 2018 recall, Ford said it was made known of 17 reports of smoke or fire from F-150 model deployments and there were no reports of Super Duty models. But in October this year, Ford said it had received reports of an F-250 fire caused by a similar problem. Soon after, Ford began applying duct tape on its production line.
A similar number of Super Duty 2017–2019 pickups were recalled in December 2018 and again in April because the engine block heater could be short-cut and cause a fire.