12 to 16 explosive devices in our vehicles?

[purevw]

Why? Auto companies spend billions to make cars safer for us and there will always be the occasional fault. We as humans cannot sue every company into extinction. History has shown us that. In the early 1980's Cessna was getting sued left and right for accidents caused by the pilot but blaming the company. The said Fck it and stopped selling GA aircraft for almost 30 years+.

My point is everyone is quick to blame, sue, cry, complain, expect this and that but have ZERO respect for the safety features these auto manufacturers supply us with. I am not saying there are not grounds in certain incidents for lawsuits, but in this case no one was harmed and as long as things are addressed, fixed and corrected to not happen again then we move on.

When a safety feature is incorrectly designed or fails prematurely, it is not a safety feature, but a defect or a safety issue. Typical better mousetrap. When a defect causes damage, the designer and / or manufacturer is, and should be liable. Manufacturers have lawyers on retainer and insurance. A certain amount of legal losses are calculated into their budget. Hard to feel pity when someone loses a life because a manufacturer saved a dollar by cutting corners or lowering standards.

 

[LazSlate]

When a safety feature is incorrectly designed or fails prematurely, it is not a safety feature, but a defect or a safety issue. Typical better mousetrap. When a defect causes damage, the designer and / or manufacturer is, and should be liable. Manufacturers have lawyers on retainer and insurance. A certain amount of legal losses are calculated into their budget. Hard to feel pity when someone loses a life because a manufacturer saved a dollar by cutting corners or lowering standards.

No one is saying anything of the sort. When injury or death then they should be 100% liable. My point is no one was harmed and the dealer fixed it. Should that warrant a stop at your lawyers office?

 

[Mr Big]

For those wondering how the seatbelt pretensioner reacts, here are a few videos, (some good and some stupid), to show what they look like how they activate.
Airbags use the same charges.
Seatbelt pretensioner
Seatbelt Pretensioner in Super Slow Mo
SlowMo Seatbelt Pretensioner Explosion
Seatbelt pre-tensioner detonation
Random Seatbelt Pretensioner

 

[LThalfbaked]

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.

Mine just detonated yesterday while I was about to leave a parking lot. Bang!! Pulled the seatbelt right out of my fingers and left me in a cloud of smoke. Loud charge, only left side of dvr seat went off.

Dealership said it was the 2nd one they ever seen with this vehicle…and both were in the last 5 days involving 2019s. They advised me to contact ford customer service and report it.

 

[LThalfbaked]

Mine just detonated yesterday while I was about to leave a parking lot. Bang!! Pulled the seatbelt right out of my fingers and left me in a cloud of smoke. Loud charge, only left side of dvr seat went off.

Dealership said it was the 2nd one they ever seen with this vehicle…and both were in the last 5 days involving 2019s. They advised me to contact ford customer service and report it.

50k, never in an accident, garaged, and big Ford is paying and I got ZERO pushback from them. Later, someone with big Ford called back and asked a lot of questions about the details leading up to the activation. I offered to permit them to download the computer data (pretty sure they were going to do it anyhow).

If this had gone off at highway speed and startled the driver…it might have turned out badly.

 

[Mr Big]

50k, never in an accident, garaged, and big Ford is paying and I got ZERO pushback from them. Later, someone with big Ford called back and asked a lot of questions about the details leading up to the activation. I offered to permit them to download the computer data (pretty sure they were going to do it anyhow).

If this had gone off at highway speed and startled the driver…it might have turned out badly.

That was my point as well. Mine was fixed by Ford for free, and they replaced the air bag control module, the full air bag and tensioner harnesses, both seatbelts and tensioners and both seat's massage harneses and button assemblies.
We just got back from a trip and I was worried on and off it would happen again. There is a recall but not for 2019 Expeditions. I contacted NTSC and reported the incident but they never responded.

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

Mine just detonated yesterday while I was about to leave a parking lot. Bang!! Pulled the seatbelt right out of my fingers and left me in a cloud of smoke. Loud charge, only left side of dvr seat went off.

Dealership said it was the 2nd one they ever seen with this vehicle…and both were in the last 5 days involving 2019s. They advised me to contact ford customer service and report it.

You would think the Ford dealer would contact the correct department at Ford (on your behalf) to report a potential issue with the seatbelt pre-tensioner firing without an accident?

Many new vehicles have an airbag system warranty that exceeds the 3 or 4 year base warranty.

 

[gtr09]

Wow, I'd be sure to file a complaint at Car Complaints as well. https://www.carcomplaints.com/addreport.shtml Maybe link them to this thread.

 

[dlcorbett]

I'm scared this would happen when My wife is the one to drive the car.

 

[Left Coast Geek]

I crashed a 1989 Volvo 780 Bertone coupe that had airbags and seatbelt tensioners and they probably saved my life.