Consumer Complaint Detail

MERCURY / SABLE / 1999

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 004258062 Incident Date: Jan, 09 2004
Consumer's City: URBANA Consumer's State: IL
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Ford Motor Company
Model Name: SABLE Model Year: 1999
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Seat belts:front:retractor
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Feb, 02 2004 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Jul, 19 2001
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 6 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: Seat belt retractors are failing in order of most frequent use (e.g. driver, front passenger, rear passengers). the driver's belt retractor fails to pull the seat belt back into the columnar storage area 100% of the time (front passenger belt 50% and rear passengers ~10%). this presents a safety hazard as the belts will not provide the life saving tension required during an accident. the belt hangs limp over the wearer. seat belts are required to be worn by law. yet, auto manufacturers are not required to warranty these parts for the life of the car. the great majority of manufacturers only warrant seat belts for 3 years or 36000 miles. as consumers, are we to believe that this means manufacturers only expect the seat belts to function during this time period. this is absurd and should be changed via legislation requiring auto makers to warranty legally required safety devices for the life of the car. it would force manufacturers to make these parts to last instead of engineering them to last until just after the warranty period is over.*ak