Following the Toyota debacle of sticking gas pedals, now Ford is being investigated for reports of gas pedals being trapped by floor mats on up to 250,000 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan 2010 models cars.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) opened a preliminary safety Investigation after receiving three complaints related to Ford vehicles and unsecured all-weather floor mats. No report of crash or injuries has been linked to the potential Ford problem. A Ford spokesman, said Deep, claims the problem is simply due to the act of drivers choosing to stack Ford brand "all-weather" protective floor mats on top of the floor mats that come standard with the cars or vehicles. Ford's "all-weather" floor mats contain warnings which advise customers not to pile them [the "all-weather" mats] and to secure the mats properly to the floor, says Deep.
In a consumer advisory, NHTSA said the problem was most likely to occur while a driver presses on the gas pedal during the act of merging or passing in traffic. The safety agency has also warned Ford Fusion and Ford Milan car owners not to stack mats. The Ford issue is similar to Toyota's problems with floor mats-a problem which led to the recall of more than 5 million Toyota brand vehicles and cars worldwide. In those Toyota cases, vehicle drivers said their vehicles sped up when the gas pedals became lodged under all-weather mats that were stacked on top of the floor mats.
To solve the gas pedal and acceleration problem, Toyota shortened its vehicle gas pedals and additionally removed some of the carpet padding below the gas/brake pedals. NHTSA Safety officials say the Ford pedal problem investigation covers about 250,000 Ford Fusions and Ford Milan models. The preliminary safety investigation is meant to try to verify whether the recent Ford complaints have merit and gauge the seriousness of any potential safety problems.
The Ford Fusion, a mid-size sedan car, is one of Ford's most popular vehicle models, selling more than 70,000 in just the first four months of 2010. This year, Ford has sold about 11,500 Mercury Milans, a car virtually the same as the Ford Fusion model.