An investigation is being held to determine whether a claim related to the cruise control options in all 320,000 units of Ford Escapes have been damaged as a result of a repair conducted as a response to an unrelated recall.
According to several news agencies, the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit consumer safety organization has released a defect petition claiming this issue could cause the affected vehicles to accelerate unintentionally and unexpectedly, which could surely lead to an accident.
A previous recall alert was issued for all units of the 2002 through 2004 Ford Escape vehicles that were equipped with 3-liter V-6 engines. The recall was announced quickly to avoid accidents related to the accelerator cable getting caught by the accelerator pedal, which could render the engine idle. The petition has stated that when the affected vehicles were sent to the dealers for a full repair, Ford positively sent a service bulletin to staff at the dealerships cautioning mechanics to be extremely attentive during the repairs of all Escape vehicles to avoid damaging the adjacent cable linked to the cruiser control system. If the cable were to be damaged, the bulletin warned, the cable would snag on the vehicle’s engine cover’s ridge, which could then lead to a series of issues, including an unintended acceleration.
Owners, however, were never warned of the dangers of potential cruise control cable damage. On top of the issues published by this petition, advocates have also mentioned that an auto crash associated with a Ford Escape resulted in the death of a 17-year-old. An expert was hired by the family to investigate the accident and according to the petition, the investigator found the damaged and snagged cruise control cable inside of the crashed vehicle’s engine.
Nonprofit advocates urge Ford to issue a second recall immediately to have this issue promptly solved before more accidents occur. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, any manufacturer of a defective vehicle is required to inform the federal agency within five working days, which did not happen in this case.
Over 130 complaints related to 2002 through 2004 Ford Escapes can be found in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website and all reports reveal that drivers experienced sudden and unintended accelerations.
Ford is now claiming the company is working with the federal agency to investigate this issue, but no statement has been published by the federal agency in regards to an investigation into the reported incidents.
Consumers who may have experienced similar issues with their Ford Escapes should contact the federal agency right away.
For more on this investigation, read the full article by clicking here.
