A pickup truck recall could affect drivers in Muskoka.
The popular Ford F-150 has received a recall notice regarding its seatbelt pre-tensioners. These are activated when the airbag is deploying, cinching the belt around a driver or passengers shoulder and waist.
“Ford’s investigation found that some front seat belt pretensioners can generate excessive sparks when they deploy,” a statement reads. “When sufficient sparks are present, gases exhausted inside the lower portion of the B-pillar by the pretensioners may ignite.”
The risk lies in the chance that a fire will start from exhausted gases inside the pillar, possibly igniting carpet and insulation material.
Chris Tonge, a service manager at Cavalcade Ford in Bracebridge says safety and recalls are taken very seriously by both Ford and its dealers.
“As soon as (Ford) realizes there is an issue with a vehicle they must release it immediately to the public,” says Tonge.
So far Ford has issued a recall of over 340,000 affected vehicles in Canada and 1.9 million overall. In Canada, there have been six cases of smoke or fire, while there was 17 in the USA.
Tonge says owners of Ford F 150s should go on the Ford website and run their Vehicle Identification Number to see if they are affected by the recall. It is for vehicles made between 2015 and 2018 at the company’s Dearborn and Kansas City assembly plants.