Subject: 
2005 Ford Thunderbird


Sun, 25 Mar 2007 15:27:05 -0400
Date:    





On September 6, 2006 while traveling on an 8-lane highway at a speed of 
approximately 70 mph, the driver's side airbag deployed with 
considerable force on my 2005 Ford Thunderbird.  There was no impact or 
accident involved with the incident.  Fortunately, I was able to control 
the vehicle and pull off the highway safely, even though I thought the 
seat was on fire..  The car was still under warranty. The car was taken 
to Darling Ford in Bangor, Me where it was inspected and found to have 
no signs of recent impact on the exterior or the underbody.  The dealer 
told me the car would likely have to be inspected by Ford personnel to 
determine the cause and to authorize any repairs. A couple of days later 
the dealer told me that Ford had decided not to cover any costs 
associated with this incident even though there were no signs of any 
impact.  This decision was made without any further inspection of the 
vehicle. I then wrote to Susan Cischke, VP Environmental and Safety 
Engineering, Mark Fields, Executive VP and President The Americas, David 
Szczupak, Group VP Manufacturing, The Americas, Richard Parry-Jones, 
Group VP Global Product Development & Chief Technical Officer Cisco 
Codina Group VP, North American Marketing Sales & Service at the Ford 
Motor Company, and told them due to safety concerns (all airbags were 
disabled due to this incident) my vehicle has now been placed in 
storage, and asked if they could help me by replacing the airbag. A Ford 
representative called me and said they had decided not to replace the 
airbag system and that the case was closed and not to contact them again 
about this incident.  Their argument was that since the airbag deployed 
I must have had an accident. However, this incident was clearly a fault 
of the airbag system.  Do you know of any other recourse I might 
pursue?.....

Barbara S