2.4

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
63,178 miles

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problem #3

May 212005

Escort 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • 89,535 miles
We are the owners of a 1996 Ford Escort wagon VIN: [xxx]. we have been the only owners of this vehicle. We are writing to complain about the failure of the lap shoulder safety belts in the rear seat on both sides. Both of the rear lap shoulder belt retractor mechanisms have failed within a short time of each other. This means the seat belts will no longer retract or pull tight when someone tries to use the rear seat belts. The reason we feel compelled to complain about this failure is that until around 9 months ago, we rarely (a handful of times at the most) used the rear lap shoulder seat belts. In August 2004 we switched our son's car seat over to a booster seat, moved the seat from the middle to the driver's side and started using the lap shoulder safety belt. In early November we were forced to move our son's booster seat to the passenger side because the driver's side belt failed to retract and was unusable. Today we were driving home in our car when we heard a loud metallic noise from the rear of the car, and we noticed that there was something wrong with our son's lap shoulder seat belt. When we stopped to see what the problem was we discovered that the same thing that happened to the driver's side lap shoulder seat belt had happened to the passenger side one as well. So, in the nine months since we switched over to the two point system on our son's booster seat, where the seat belt was regularly deployed and retracted, the retractor mechanism has broken on both sides. This seems like a suspiciously concurrent event. We believe the retractor mechanisms on the rear seat belts were either defective or were installed incorrectly when our car was built. Both mechanism broke while the seat belt was on our son, not while we were putting on the seat belt. The seat belt was already buckled and in place when they failed. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Plano, TX, USA

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problem #2

Jul 222004

Escort 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • 100,000 miles
The front automatic seat belts failed to retract fully, and the rear seat belts failed to retract at all. This made it impossible to restraint the occupants or a child safety seat.

- Nashua, NH, USA

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problem #1

Jul 011999

Escort

  • miles
Both rear seat belts are broken and won't move or lock into plac. Dealer has been aware of the problem.

- Lakeworth, FL, USA

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