Ford has just announced a recall of 1.4 million Fusion sedans (and basically-the-same-thing Lincoln MKZs) because of an issue with steering wheels that might fall off due to loose bolts.
Only two accidents have been attributed to the defect – which may the result of the bolts vibrating loose or possibly because they weren’t sufficiently tightened during assembly. Ford says
The recall covers the following vehicles:
- 2014-17 Fusions built in Flat Rock, Mich., from Aug. 6, 2013, to Feb. 29, 2016.
- 2014-18 Fusions and MKZs built in Hermosillo, Mexico, from July 25, 2013, to March 5, 2018.
The vast majority of the vehicles were sold in the U.S., while some are in Canada and Mexico, Ford said.
Ford is telling dealers to install a longer steering-wheel bolt “with more robust thread engagement and larger nylon patch placed properly for proper torque retention.”
Why not just use cheap nylon bolts, would’ve been much funner when they break completely away, especially whilst driving 75 MPH.
Imagine the steering wheel coming completely off in your hands.
If you’re lucky someone behind you with a car cam will record your abrupt stop into the median wall or into another speeding vehicle such as a 3/4 ton p/up. You’ll be famous…….if you survive .Should rival anything you see on Russian car crashes.
Whatever the case, it’s really shoddy QC. It virtually says NO vehicles were ever tested for torque and none were ever tested to “over-torque”. At one of these two testing it would have been caught. The way most companies operate that assemble parts is with an automatic gun that’s occasionally calibrated. If the bolts are too short, somebody doing assembly would have noticed at some point they were only catching a couple threads. This really isn’t rocket science.
‘testing’ torque is primitive. breakaway torque is inaccurate and tightening further is not a good idea. Especially with bolts with thread locking patch. Even QC is an outdated process.
The bolts should be on torque drivers that are set to appropriate value. The torque each bolt is tightened to can even be logged.
The most likely thing is a problem with the thread locker and the bolts coming loose. Probably an insufficient amount of patch.
Why pay for a $50K Tesla defect to kill you? You can just have a $25K-30K do it cheaper with basic shoddy construction and materials, lol!
The only problem is that these Fords don’t have lithium batteries attached to the under frame of the car so no fiery death for the occupants.
Didn’t you know this is an intentional feature? The engineers wanted all new Ford owners to experience to joy and elation of not having control of your vehicle as you go careening down the highway at 70 MPH. It’s all the rage nowadays, in fact, it’ to “die for!”