← NHTSA complaints

1996 MERCURY TRACER — SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER

crash5 injured · 157915 · 1999-07-08

Vehicle

Make
MERCURY
Model
TRACER
Year
1996
Manufacturer
Ford Motor Company
Component
SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
5
Fire
No
Crash
Yes
Police report
Yes
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

ON 6-25-99 WE WERE INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT. WE WERE AT A COMPLETE STOP WHEN ANOTHER DRIVER REAR-ENDED US GOING ABOUT 35-40MILES PER HOUR. AT IMPACT BOTH FRONT SEATS LATCH BROKE AND THE SEATS SLID BACK AND RESTED IN THE LAPS OF MY 3 CHILDREN SEATED IN THE BACK. THE DRIVERS SEAT ALSO SEEMED TO BECOME UNBOLTED AND TWISTED BEFORE IT SLID BACK HITTING MY 10 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER BETWEEN THE EYES. AT SUCH A HIGH RATE OF SPEED I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED THE AIR BAGS TO DEPLOY AND THEY DID NOT. OUR CAR SLID ONE CITY BLOCK AT IMPACT. THE TRANSMISSION LOCKED AND THE REAR DOORS JAMMED. I HAD TO LEAN AND PULL ON THE FRONT SEATS TO PULL MY CHILDREN FROM THE BACK SEATS. THIS WAS ESPECIALLY DIFFICULT FOR MY 3AND 1 YEAR OLDS BECAUSE THEY WERE LOCKED IN CHILD SAFETY SEATS. *AK

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
708379
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown