Ford Hunts Brake Fault

[TVR-190]

Ford hunts brake fault in popular models | National News | News.com.au

FORD has launched a major safety investigation into brake problems with its two local best-sellers - Falcon and Territory.

Thousands of vehicles could potentially be affected by the problem, which can lead to the failure of half the braking system.

Owners have reported failures of brake hoses, scares and near-misses, with a growing number contacting Carsguide.

The problem affects BA and some early BF Falcons and also some Territory models.

Ford has been investigating the problem for more than a month.

"It will be another three weeks before we complete testing," Ford Australia president Martin Burela said yesterday.

"We are convinced it is not a seriously dangerous problem."

LOL @ the end quote. brakes not potentially working not a serious problem

[davway]

Ford has been investigating the problem for more than a month.

Nice to see they are actually on to it - even though they have known about this issue for mor than 3 years now.
As a BA owner myself, the handling of this issue is disappointing to say the least.
no factory recall, just a check at service time and thats it (if you use fraud servcie).
Owners werent even officially informed of the potential brake failures either.

[Jecs]

thats nothing, everytime i jump in the stato i have a near miss. holden have had the same problem from VL to VS called sh*t brakes.

[Grennan]

That or 20 year old brakes

[Astranomical]

Thousands of vehicles could potentially be affected by the problem, which can lead to the failure of half the braking system.

and in the same article....

"We are convinced it is not a seriously dangerous problem."

Thats intelligent. *shakes head*

[clubsport_replica]

i two was an ba owner and yes there was no recall just checked at service was something to do with the rear brake lines.."apparently if it failed only the fronts would work" i though nah ud loose all braking so just got them to repalce anyway...

[davway]

actually, it may seem a contradiction but the system is supposedly set up so if the rear brakes do fail, the front brakes will still work.
so really, it isnt as serious as it first sounds since the brake lines that are failing are on the back brakes.

the more serious problem (that they arent mentioning publically) is that the system itself that prevents all the brakes from failing has also failed when half the brakes fail - meaning there are no brakes at all in some cases.

[clubsport_replica]

lol and how is this onyl just been mentioned in the daily telegraph i was aware of the problem since 05

[clubsport_replica]

davway arrrr ok so thats what they were talking about.......

[davway]

lol and how is this onyl just been mentioned in the daily telegraph i was aware of the problem since 05

Slow news day
Ford are the new Mitsubishi when it comes to the media circus - bring them down till they shut down.

[clubsport_replica]

i still dont think its relevant to today though as by now every ford (models affected)would have through the workshop n been replaced.......

[davway]

in theory yes but there is a good % of cars that will never see Fraud again after purchase so there would still be a significant number out there that will still be effected.

Ive had my BA serviced once at Fraud since ive had it - i dont know if the problem has been looked at or fixed so id assume there are a lot out there in the same boat.

[VrWagz1]

Like others have said this problem i have known about it for atleast 12 months, theres been a few writting into a cars colum talking about there failed brake lines on territorys

[Full Spectrum]

The old BA went back to Ford 2 times about brakes. The bleed and flushed the system that many times and problems always came back.

[andyman]

another problem with the brakes in them is the rear brake lines arnt long enough, and when you put them on 2-posters it can rip the brakes lines out, my mate has been replacing them ever since he started his apprenticeship at ford

[seannatt]

Its funny this is only being mentioned now. I have been changing BA and BF Brake lines for nearly 2 years now. BA BF owners this is free and your local Ford Dealership should replace these for free.

You can tell if you have the correct ones by seeing if there is a metal spring around the outside of the line. We havent had eny of these fail this is why it was a campaign if it was serious the customers would have been notified and it would of been a recall instead of a campaign.

[Calaber]

The problem is exactly what Andyman referred to - the rear brake hoses on Falcons and Territorys were manufactured too short for a period during the BA and early BF and can pull apart where the ferrule crimps over the hose if the suspension reaches full downward travel. Ford has been aware of the problem and has a factory replacement program in place, but has refused until now to instigate a recall program - the parts are only replaced if the car is brought in for a service or specific repair.

Bloody crap attitude from a company. If this isn't a major safety fault with a car, then I don't know what is.

[andyman]

Bloody crap attitude from a company. If this isn't a major safety fault with a car, then I don't know what is.

yeah but they dont want to look bad by having recalls, apparently only holden can have those cause ve's are crap - so ive been told

[TVR-190]

and itd probably work out cheaper to pay them off if people are injured than repair the problem

[alien]

LOL, yet Ford in America had a massive problem many many years ago (before i was born). Can't remember exactly, i'd have to go back to the books, but if a certain type of their car (can't remember the name either) was involved in a rear end crash there was a high chance of fire/explosion which kills the driver of the vehicle that was hit.

Ford weighed up two options:
1. Call a total recall and add some metal to the cars (about $100 each i think)
2. Pay out compensation to everyone killed in a crash due to the fault

Based on the percentage of crashes Ford found it was cheaper to go with the payout option, so what did they do? They ran with that, no fixing all the other cars because that option was more expensive to them. Not the lifes of people!

At least they've lkooked into this one i guess..... before people die.

[andyman]

LOL, yet Ford in America had a massive problem many many years ago (before i was born). Can't remember exactly, i'd have to go back to the books, but if a certain type of their car (can't remember the name either) was involved in a rear end crash there was a high chance of fire/explosion which kills the driver of the vehicle that was hit.

Ford weighed up two options:
1. Call a total recall and add some metal to the cars (about $100 each i think)
2. Pay out compensation to everyone killed in a crash due to the fault

Based on the percentage of crashes Ford found it was cheaper to go with the payout option, so what did they do? They ran with that, no fixing all the other cars because that option was more expensive to them. Not the lifes of people!

At least they've lkooked into this one i guess..... before people die.

lets not forget the whole ford explorer fiasco, and focus that spontaneously combusts

[alien]

lets not forget the whole ford explorer fiasco, and focus that spontaneously combusts

You got the better of me. So i dont have to look it up in future....:

It was the Ford Pinto.

Quote from "Moral Issues In Buisness" by William Shaw. Pages 84-87 for those interested.

In 1970 Ford crash-tested the Pinto itself, and the result was the same: ruptured gas tanks and dangerous leaks. The only Pintos to pass the test had been modified in some way--for example, with a rubber bladder in the gas tank or a piece of steel between the tank and the rear bumper.

Even in low speed collisions they'd go up!

In 1972 they ran the figures:

Cost to fix was $11 per car and $11 per truck.
However, there was 11 million cars and 1.5 million light trucks.
Meaning cost is: 12.5 million x 11 = $137.5 million

For a fatality they predicted the cost to them would be $200,725. Cost for an injury would be $67,000 and cost per vehicle would be $700. [They had a good insurance company i guess]
They predicted over the life of the vehicles that there would be 180 burns deaths, 180 burn injuries and 2,100 burned cars.
So running that figure (180 x 200,000) + (180 x 67,000) + (2100 x 700) they came to a value of $49.5 million.

So goin on the two costs (137.5 mil or 49.5 mil) they chose the cheaper option.... and send a few people to their deaths! To save about $90 million. I'm not sure how many people in the end died from them

And must i say these vehicles had the "made in Japan" sticker on them?

Ford almost got done for Criminal Homicide after a Pinto with an 2 18 year olds and 1 16 year old (family) all burnt to death in a fire. But the jury found them not guilty two years after they wre charged with Criminal Homicide right after the collision.

Edit: Found a YouTube video of just how easy they went up in a collision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcNeorjXMrE

[Astranomical]

You got the better of me. So i dont have to look it up in future....:

It was the Ford Pinto.

The Ford Crown Victoria (commonly used as a cop car over in the States) also had problems with an improperly shielded fuel tank a few years ago as well.

[alien]

Yea, i saw them on YouTube too, they looked bad as well:

YouTube - exploding ford crown victoria

Apparently the fuel tank was being pushed into the diff which had bolts there which would just puncture the tank!

Thank god i wasn't around in that time and bought one. A couple of people with those apparently got bumper stickers and put them on... "Hit me and we blow together"!

[Astranomical]

Yep, IIRC Ford ended up having to fit a fire supression system that would activate in the event of a rear end collision...seriously nice work Ford.