Ford has just issued a recall affecting about two million 2015-to-2018 Ford F-150 pickups in North America over potentially defective driver- and front-passenger seat-belt pretensioners.
An internal investigation has led Ford to conclude that some front-seat belt pretensioners can generate excessive sparks when they deploy. When sufficient sparks are present, gases exhausted inside the lower portion of the B-pillar by the pretensioners could ignite. If this gas ignites, components behind the B-pillar such as insulation and carpeting could subsequently catch fire.
340,000 F150s in Canada affected
Both Regular Cab and SuperCrew Cab versions of the F150 are affected. The recall applies to 1,995,776 vehicles in North America, including 1,619,112 in the United States, 339,884 in Canada and 36,780 in Mexico.
The Ford reference number for this recall is 18S27. You can visit Transport Canada's website for further details regarding the recall.
Dealers will remove insulation material from the B-pillar trim, remove remnants of wiring harness tape in the B-pillar area, and apply heat-resistant tape to the carpet and its insulation. Dealers also will modify the back interior panels of Regular Cab vehicles. All repairs will be provided at no cost to customers.