2-15-01

Hi Todd,

My name is Greg and I reside near Detroit, Michigan.

I performed a search on the web in regards to 1997 Ford Escort Airbags and 
ran across a posting you had in regards to yours. My wife and I both own 
them. The only difference between her car and mine is the color and the last 
2 digits in the VIN numbers. The following is what happened to my wife in 
her car.

She was driving to a job interview when she approached some railroad tracks. 
Before reaching the part of the road that is actually the responsibility of 
the railroad, she stopped because it looked like the road had a massive hole 
in it. She opened the passenger door, looked out to see and found that it 
was only about a 4" drop between the concrete and the railroad blacktop 
portion of the road. She closed the door, put on her seat belt, put the car 
in drive with her foot on the break and eased the car down that 4" drop. 
Upon doing so, both airbags in the car deployed. My wife suffered a sever 
case of whiplash, a possible herniated disk in her back, a broken set of 
dentures, and smashed windshield (caused from the passenger side airbag door 
that pops open)and a lot of pain.

Due to financial reasons at this time we can only afford the Michigan 
minimum car insurance which of course only covers the other guy. In this 
case there wasn't anyone else involved.

I contacted a Mr. Kevin Carrington at the Ford World Headquarters in 
Dearborn, Michigan and explained to him what had happened. He looked into 
the problem and stated that Ford wasn't going to help and that it was our 
responsibility to get the car repaired. He also stated that the CONDITIONS 
must have been just right for the airbags to do that. In my opinion, I 
believe there is a defect. I told him that I was really disapointed in Ford 
and that I had driven Ford products since I was able to drive. Both my 
father and father-in-law are both retired from Ford. I also told him that I 
will get the car repaired eventually, sell both of them and buy Japanese. He 
of course did not like hearing that from what was a proud Ford product 
owner.

I did goto the site you recommended and left a message about he Lemon Law 
for my state. Hopefully they will be able to assist. In the mean time, I 
have hired an attorney to go after the railroad and possibly the City of 
Detroit about the road problem.

I can sympathise with what you are saying in your posting on your website. 
You stated that you were driving on the expressway when your deployed. The 
same could have happened to my wife. I shake everytime I think about what 
happened to her. If the deployment of an airbag can cause the kind of damage 
that it did to her at less than 5 MPH, I shutter to think what could or 
would have happened if she was on the expressway at those types of speeds.

I will let you go for now. If you would like to contact me in regards to 
this, please do so, I will gladly respond.

Take care,

Greg