Consumer Complaint Detail

FORD / TAURUS / 1993

Recalls
1 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 005022003 Incident Date: Apr, 25 2005
Consumer's City: RICHMOND Consumer's State: CA
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Ford Motor Company
Model Name: TAURUS Model Year: 1993
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Air bags:frontal:sensor/control module
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 1
Vehicle's VIN#: 1FACP52U0PG Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: May, 30 2005 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Nov, 10 2004
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: No
Number of Cylinders: 4 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: Hit dip (road defect) 04/26/05; driver's-side airbag (from steering wheel) deployed. thought car about to catch on fire (that airbag powder was smoke); quickly exited car, then realized situation. sustained airbag burns - lower face/chin, all across chest/breasts; right hand bruised, swollen between 2nd & 3rd knuckles. *no* damage to car, other than airbag deploying. my opinion regarding airbags shifted 180 degrees; just want my car's airbags disabled, but told that's illegal (at least in ca). shouldn't have to drive afraid of airbag deployment & injury or even death, without any say in the matter. as i understand it, airbags designed to protect 220-lb. _man_ in front-end collision, re-engineered after 1st generation to deploy with more force because _non-seat-belt-wearers_ injured. i _always_ wear seat belt in car (ca law); since relatively short (5'5"), directly in line of driver's-side airbag deployment); lightweight (125 lbs.) -- nowhere near 220 lbs. extremely lucky no other cars around when incident occurred; else unnecessary airbag deployment could have caused an accident: deployment (explosion) and resultant powder shocked me & obscured vision. per motor sports digest (msd@stic.net), for professional/skilled race car drivers: - "... showroom stock classes ... use the same kind of cars we all drive every day, only they _remove_ the air bag for safety!" at racing speeds, with safety paramount -- yet racers realize airbags are dangerous. - "... it['s] strange why people can't realize that what can kill a small child will at least injure an adult!" [ i agree] - "... mechanics and installers are all warned of the dangers of the air bag.... touching the wrong wire while their head is under the dash can cause permanent hearing loss at the very least if the air bag deploys." (local ford dealer requires $324.00 to hook up, run airbag simulator before re-installing airbag (which i didn't want anyway!) to insure mechanic's safety.)