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Ford Motor Co. has announced a recall of more than 154,000 Ford Fiesta subcompact cars which fail to deploy the vehicles' side air bags during a collision when there is no front passenger, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
According to NHTSA, the 2011-2013 model year Ford Fiesta vehicles have an air bag system designed to deploy the side air bags only when it detects the presence of a front passenger. However, that would leave right rear passengers unprotected from the subcompact car's side curtain air bags should the Fiesta be involved in an side impact collision and could increase the risk of injury to these occupants.
The Ford Fiesta SE sedan ranked as one of the best cars in fuel economy for 2012.
There have been no reports or injuries tied to this flaw in the Ford Fiesta's air bag system. But Ford will begin to notify affected owners to bring their recalled Fiestas into local dealerships where mechanics will reprogram the air bag safety system for free.
For more information, consumers can call Ford toll-free (866-436-7332) and reference its internal policy campaign number: 12C26.
Source:
Recall: 2011-2013 Ford Fiesta - Air bags Campaign #: 12V488000 [NHTSA]
