Mr Big
Full Access Members
We had a very alarming incident in our 2019 Expedition Platinum.
A couple weeks ago, we were stopped at a traffic light, talking and listening to music, when something exploded inside my vehicle. I thought I was shot, and my wife thought someone hit us. It felt like someone kicked me in the chest very hard. I could not breathe and was panicking. But my wife felt nothing but heard the extremely loud shotgun sound. When the light turned green, I proceeded to pull off the road into a parking lot. You could smell gun powder inside the vehicle and the driver's seat belt was stuck in the retracted position.
I took the vehicle to my local Ford dealership and explained what happened. They told me that the seat belt tensioner mechanism, on the bottom of the driver's seatbelt, activated due to a factory defect shorted wire. It caused the charge to ignite and pulled the seatbelt extremely tight by 4 inches, hence the kicked feeling in the chest. They repaired the issue and performed a full 172-point checkup on the vehicle and gave it a clean bill of health. The tensioner location is about 1 foot from your left seat bottom on the side panel.
I checked for recalls and there are none for 2019 models. However, there is one for 2020 models, pertaining to seatbelt malfunctions.
While I was waiting to pick up the Platinum, I went into the showroom to look at the new models. I was telling the salesman what happened. That's when he told me that pretty much all late model vehicles have at least 12 to 16 of these explosive devices, that can go off at any time. I contacted Ford and they promised me they would look into the matter. You can go on YouTube and see many videos of how powerful the seatbelt tensioner device charge is, among other safety bag tests. The factory argument is the charge will deploy faster than an air tank or other type of mechanism, causing the device to deploy faster to prevent injury.
I hope no one ever experiences this. I'm still nervous, anticipating another explosion every time we go for a ride.
A couple weeks ago, we were stopped at a traffic light, talking and listening to music, when something exploded inside my vehicle. I thought I was shot, and my wife thought someone hit us. It felt like someone kicked me in the chest very hard. I could not breathe and was panicking. But my wife felt nothing but heard the extremely loud shotgun sound. When the light turned green, I proceeded to pull off the road into a parking lot. You could smell gun powder inside the vehicle and the driver's seat belt was stuck in the retracted position.
I took the vehicle to my local Ford dealership and explained what happened. They told me that the seat belt tensioner mechanism, on the bottom of the driver's seatbelt, activated due to a factory defect shorted wire. It caused the charge to ignite and pulled the seatbelt extremely tight by 4 inches, hence the kicked feeling in the chest. They repaired the issue and performed a full 172-point checkup on the vehicle and gave it a clean bill of health. The tensioner location is about 1 foot from your left seat bottom on the side panel.
I checked for recalls and there are none for 2019 models. However, there is one for 2020 models, pertaining to seatbelt malfunctions.
While I was waiting to pick up the Platinum, I went into the showroom to look at the new models. I was telling the salesman what happened. That's when he told me that pretty much all late model vehicles have at least 12 to 16 of these explosive devices, that can go off at any time. I contacted Ford and they promised me they would look into the matter. You can go on YouTube and see many videos of how powerful the seatbelt tensioner device charge is, among other safety bag tests. The factory argument is the charge will deploy faster than an air tank or other type of mechanism, causing the device to deploy faster to prevent injury.
I hope no one ever experiences this. I'm still nervous, anticipating another explosion every time we go for a ride.
