The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on March 18 that Ford is recalling almost 197,000 model year 2004 - 2007 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey vehicles with a defective third row stowable seat latch.
Vehicles potentially affected are certain 2004 through 2007 model year Ford Freestar and
Mercury Monterey vehicles equipped with a third row seat that were built at the Oakville
Assembly Plant from March 24, 2003, to November 7, 2006.
View slideshow: Ford recalling 197,000 Freestar and Mercury Monterey vehicles from 2004-2007
The defect is in the latching system for the third row stowable seat. Due to corrosion and structural weakening of the seat anchoring mechanism mounted to the rear wheel wells, the third row seat may not fully latch into the full seating position.
In the event of a crash from the rear, the unlatched seat may create risk of injury to persons in the vehicle.Approximately 196,667 vehicles that were either originally sold in or registered in high corrosion areas of the United Sates are potentially affected.The affected vehicles were originally sold in or registered in Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Owners can identify if their vehicle is involved in this action by either calling Ford's toll-free line (1-866-436-7332) or by contacting a local Ford or Lincoln dealer who can obtain specific information regarding the vehicles from the Ford On-line Automotive Service Information System (OASIS) database,
When the fold flat third row seat is in its seating position, the front portion is latched to a striker
that is mounted to the rear wheel well via a stud mounting plate and a reinforcement plate.
These plates are welded to the exterior of the rear wheel well and the assembly is sealed. In
some cases the sealing may have been inadequate, and over time on vehicles operated in
these areas, water and corrosive products can enter the space between the components,
potentially resulting in corrosion that can degrade the striker mounting system.
Continued corrosion in this area may result in the inability to fully latch the forward portion of the third row seat into its seating position.
It is important to note that third row seat belts and permanent seat anchorages to the vehicle, which are at the rear of the seat, are unaffected by this corrosion.
There are no reports of accidents or injuries associated with this condition.
Owners will be notified by mail and instructed to take their vehicle(s) to a Ford or Lincoln dealer
who will install new third row seat latch striker mounting brackets, which relocate the seat latch
strikers from the potentially corroded area.
In addition, dealers are to install overlay panels on the exterior of the wheel wells to prevent entry of water and corrosive elements.
There will be no charge to owners for this service.
The Ford recall number is 13S01.
Owners can call the Ford Customer Relationship Center at 1-866-436-7332 with any questions.
As we have discussed before, this recall affects vehicles that have certainly been sold and resold several times since original purchase and recall notices from Ford will likely not reach current owners of these Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey vehicles.
If you own one of these vehicles from model years 2004 through 2007, you should make the call to Ford at the above toll-free number right away to be sure your vehicle gets repaired if necessary.
You will need your VIN number from the vehicle and they will be able to tell you if your vehicle is in the group that is suspected to have the problem and give you information on where to go for inspection.
