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1999 FORD EXPLORER SPORT — Complaint #522033

Open-data reference.

NHTSA Complaint about SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER filed February 16, 2005

NHTSA complaint #522033 (ODI reference 10110623) concerns a 1999 FORD EXPLORER SPORT and was filed on February 16, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 5, 2005. The report was geocoded to Colorado based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as seats:front assembly:recliner, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD EXPLORER SPORT cohort independently describe similar seats:front assembly:recliner failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1999 FORD EXPLORER SPORT shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
1999 FORD EXPLORER SPORT
Component
SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER
Injuries
1
State
Colorado

Complaint Description

THIS REPORT CONCERNS A 1999 FORD EXPLORER SPORT 2DR 4X4. VEHICLE HAS 144,000 PLUS MILES. SPECIFICALLY THIS PERTAINS TO THE FRONT DRIVER?S SEAT (NON-POWER MODEL). OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS I HAVE REPLACED THE FRONT DRIVERS SEAT (BOTTOM FRAME) THREE TIMES. EACH TIME THE SEAT FRAME HAS BROKEN IN THE SAME MANNER. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE FRAME METAL RIPS/TEARS AT THE LOCATION OF THE MOUNTING BOLT FOR THE RECLINE LEVER. THIS TEARING CAUSES THE SEAT BACK TO RECLINE WITHOUT WARNING ON THE LEFT SIDE CAUSING THE DRIVER TO FALL BACKWARDS AWAY FROM THE STEERING WHEEL. FORD HAS STATED THAT THEY DO NOT HAVE ANY INFO ON THIS. THIS IS SOMEWHAT STRANGE AS THEY APPARENTLY DIRECTED DEALERSHIPS APPROXIMATELY 2 YRS AGO TO REPLACE THIS FRAME ON ALL AFFECTED VEHICLES. THE PROBLEM IS VERY APPARENT AND A VERY EASY FIX. THE TEARING OCCURS JUST TO THE FRONT OF THE (FRONT) BOLT HOLE ABOUT 1/8 INCH FROM THE HOLE. THERE IS A LARGE SPOT WELDED PLATE INSIDE THE FRAME WHERE THE BOLTS FOR THE RECLINE LEVER INSERT INTO THE

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 522033
ODI Number 10110623
Date Filed February 16, 2005
Failure Date February 5, 2005

Similar SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER Complaints for 1999 FORD EXPLORER SPORT

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.