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1999 FORD EXPLORER SPORT — Complaint #732916

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NHTSA Complaint about SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER filed August 25, 2009

NHTSA complaint #732916 (ODI reference 10281718) concerns a 1999 FORD EXPLORER SPORT and was filed on August 25, 2009. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 24, 2009. The vehicle had 70,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Florida 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: 0, 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. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.

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
State
Florida
Mileage
70,000 mi

Complaint Description

THIS BOLT WAS REPLACED ON MY VEHICLE IN JAN 2004 AS PART OF THE RECALL. THE NEW BOLT THAT WAS INSTALLED FRACTURED CREATING A VERY SERIOUS CRASH RISK. FORD SAYS THEY WILL ONLY REPLACE ONCE. AUTO RECALL DATE: AUG 05, 2003 VEHICLE COMPONENT: SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER ESTIMATED VEHICLES AFFECTED: 1552880 MODEL AFFECTED 1999 FORD EXPLORER 1999 FORD EXPLORER DEFECT SUMMARY: ON CERTAIN SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH HIGH BACK SEATS, THE UPPER BOLT ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE HIGH BACK SEAT, THAT ATTACHES THE SEAT RECLINER MECHANISM TO THE SEAT BACK FRAME, COULD FRACTURE. IF THE BOLT FRACTURES AND DOES NOT JAM IN THE SEAT BACK FRAME, THE SEAT BACK MAY RECLINE UNTIL IT MAKES CONTACT WITH AN OBJECT BEHIND THE SEAT, SUCH AS THE SECOND ROW SEAT CUSHION. DEFECT CONSEQUENCE: THE DRIVER COULD POTENTIALLY LOSE CONTACT WITH THE STEERING WHEEL OR FOOT PEDALS DURING SUCH AN EVENT, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH. REMEDY: DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE DRIVER SEAT UPPER BOLT W

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 732916
ODI Number 10281718
Date Filed August 25, 2009
Failure Date August 24, 2009
VIN 1FMYU22X5XU

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.