Ford Motor announced that it is recalling 12,569 2013 model Taurus, Lincoln MKS, and Ford Explorer vehicles because the child locks on the back doors might fail. The automaker says that shutting and opening the doors enough times might cause the mechanism to go from locked to unlocked with no warning. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this could cause “personal injury” to a child who wasn’t properly restrained.
The child locks are comprised of a sliding mechanism that can be set so that the doors can only be opened from the outside. This is supposed to make it impossible for a young child to unlock the doors of the vehicle from the inside on his/her own.
Auto dealers will replace the faulty child locks for free. Car owners can find out if their Ford vehicle is part of the recall by calling (866)-436-7332. The auto recall begins on August 5. You also can call a Lincoln or Ford dealer to find out.
It was just in March that Ford recalled a number of other 2013 model year autos because of child lock issues. Per a document that the automaker filed with NHTSA, the child locks on the left rear door of 5,675 cars weren’t made properly and might not work when activated. This could cause an adult to think the child lock is engaged when it is not. The autos affected in that recall include certain Ford C-Max and Focus cars and Escape SUVs.
Injuries to Kids in Cars
Our auto product defects lawyers cannot stress how important it is for
the child lock in your vehicles’ doors to work properly. Failure
to do so can lead to catastrophic consequences should a toddler or young
boy or girl unlock the door while the vehicle is going at a fast speed,
on the freeway, or in traffic when there are other autos around.
Automakers must make sure that any locks on their autos are manufactured properly and working correctly. This includes regular car locks on all doors and the trunk, as well as any power window safety devices.
At The Gilbert Law Group®, we handle injuries to kids in cars cases. It is important to know that car accident injuries and deaths can happen even without a traffic accident.
Faulty car windows: A car window that catches onto a child as it is closing can cause serious injuries—especially if the window is automatically powered. Finger amputations and even suffocation death from a child’s neck getting caught in a window can result, and it is the responsibility of the automaker to make sure that their windows are working properly and have the necessary safety and preventive features in place.
Seatback failure: A faulty seatback may cause the back of the seat to fall onto a passenger.
Airbag malfunction: An airbag that deploys when it isn’t supposed to can cause harm to both children and adults. Newer autos are now being made with advanced frontal air bags that are supposed to sense the size of the passenger. If the weight of the person is that of a child, the system is supposed to either keep the air bag from deploying or have it inflate with less force. Should this more modern air bag malfunction, serious injures can occur regardless of whether/or not there is a traffic crash.
Brake Shift Interlock Failure: Rollaway accident can happen when the brake shift interlock malfunctions. A driver may have placed the vehicle in park, yet it still manages to roll away, potentially causing injury to children in the car or standing outside and in the auto’s path.
