12 to 16 explosive devices in our vehicles?

[LThalfbaked]

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

View attachment 78741

Well, my incident was a drive away minus a seatbelt.

Me sitting down in the truck shouldn’t cause it believe a collision has occurred…no matter what the wife says.

 

[Mr Big]

I was just notified by a Federal Investigator from the US department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Requesting I send them copies of correspondence, repair tickets and invoices, police report, photos of the vehicle interior and exterior (seat belt & steering wheel), and would like to inspect the vehicle. He said there have been numerous complaints regarding the driver's side seat belt tensioner going off unexpectedly on 2019 Expeditions, and they are doing a thorough investigation.

 

[Escarcegaslick]

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.

 

[Escarcegaslick]

This just happened to me! I was going 75 to 80 on the interstate with my baby in his carseat. (2 weeks ago) Same situation, loud bang, seat belt tightened, I though I was shot. I was so scared. I pulled in the median and checked on the baby.

Background: One month prior I had my transmission rebuilt by a Ford Dealership. I thought maybe the tramsmission reacted and sent a signal to the car that it was in an accident. I felt the vehicle jolt during the incident.

Took it to the dealership and they said it was a faulty part on the retractor mechanism. I called Ford.com's 1800 number. They called the dealsership and supported their decision. The dealership said 2 Lincon Navigators also over 60,000 had the same problem recently. They said the transmission was fine and nothing was showing up during all checks.

I feel so nervous in my vehicle. I feel that something triggered the seat belt to go off. I dont know if a faulty part is the only answer. I was thinking if there was a passanger maybe their seat belt would have also gone off it was something else signaling the seatbelt to activate. But, I think you said your wife's side was okay.

I dont want my kids ear drums to bust after another explosion. Ugh I am so miserable being so nervous all the time! Theres nothing making me feel reassured or safe and I feel like Ford Dealerships have their hands tied with their systematic checks. I hate to think I need to sell my ride. Ofcourse It will put me in debt!

 

[5280tunage]

I was just notified by a Federal Investigator from the US department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Requesting I send them copies of correspondence, repair tickets and invoices, police report, photos of the vehicle interior and exterior (seat belt & steering wheel), and would like to inspect the vehicle. He said there have been numerous complaints regarding the driver's side seat belt tensioner going off unexpectedly on 2019 Expeditions, and they are doing a thorough investigation.

Welp, recall number I don't know, 23? This scares me, my kids are almost always in the back and I've already had a couple of the seat belt receptacle housings fall apart. I hope they find something and all of us can get some relief.

or wait, ford will find a way to call this a customer service notification or some ridiculous thing, absolving them of most liability and saying they will fix it once for free. So when folks get to 100k miles, you're on you're on your own. This stinks.

 

[Escarcegaslick]

I have never heard of a seatbelt pretensioner activating without a collision, which would activate the air bag(s).

I have read about safety recalls that involve improper design or installation of the seat belt pretensioners.

I am not minimizing your occurrence. I would probably have had a heart attack!

You may want to report this serious safety defect the US Department of Transportation at: https://www.nhtsa.gov/

There is a link on the top right which enables you to file an online report of the matter.

When this happened my airbag light came on but the airbag didnt activate.

 

[mikeinplano]

i just had basically the same thing happen. I bought a used (54,000 miles) 2019 Expedition from the dealership last week and just took a trip out of town. On the second day of our trip I got up and started the car to take the family for an activity. While sitting in the driveway waiting for the family to load up there was a loud explosion in the car that startled everyone. I smelled a burning smell but couldn't see anything wrong. I looked under the hood and everything seemed fine.

After the shock wore off we decided to proceed with our trip, but when I tried to put my seatbelt on it was locked in place and under tremendous tension. I tried to adjust the height of the seatbelt, thinking if I could lower the belt it would release some of the tension, but I couldn't get the button that allows the height adjustment to depress.

I’m now 5 hours from home with no seatbelt for the driver. The other belts are working fine.

 

[Deadman]

This is sounding far too common........

 

[Escarcegaslick]

I filed a report with the US Dept of Transportation and Highway safety. They already have a track record of this proble..

 

[Mr Big]

I filed a report with the US Dept of Transportation and Highway safety. They already have a track record of this proble..

The more people that file, the more it will become a recall. I've now heard from a dozen people experiencing the same explosion issue. To this day I still drive, waiting for the next tensioner to malfunction. Although I feel confident that since The dealership replaced everything that could have caused it, it will not happen again.