Ford is advising owners of certain Rangers to stop driving them and contact an authorized dealer to change the defective Takata airbags as soon as possible.
The action is part of a larger Takata airbag-related recall, which includes several automakers from across the globe, and involves around approximately 3,000 units of the 2006MY pickups.
According to the carmaker, the vehicles were put together at Twin Cities Assembly Plant from August 10 to December 15, 2005, and they include 2,712 examples in the United States and federalized territories, and 190 in Canada.
The recall represents Ford’s response to two fatalities caused by the driver airbag inflators supplied by Takata. The first one was reported in January 2016, and the second one happened last July. The automaker inspected the latter Ranger on December 27, confirming that “the inflator ruptured resulting in a driver fatality”, notifying the NHTSA shortly after.
Ford now says that parts are available to fix the specific vehicles, and dealers are ready to pick them up by themselves, free of charge, providing owners with a loaner car, if necessary.
PHOTO GALLERY
