Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey investigated by the NHTSA

Bad news for the North American based automaker Ford after its Freestar and Mercury Monterey models are under an investigation by the NHTSA because of the third-row seat anchors.

“The stowable third-row seat is secured to the vehicle by two latches of anchors on each side of the seat cushion and also by two hinges/supports on the rear face of the seat cushion. The side anchors are mounted to the rear wheelwells. The complaints allege that the rear wheelwells were severely corroded with some complaints indicating that an anchor mount completely detached from the vehicle”, as the NHTSA said in its summary report.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 63.000 units of the Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans made in 2004 are under an investigation. The feds say that the seat anchors failed to secure the third row-seat to the models and seven complaints were received because of this problem. The NHTSA didn’t say anything about possible injuries because of the seat anchors issue but it seems that more owners might experience the same problem. There’s no official word on a possible recall yet, but considering the fact that this might be a life threating situation, owners of the above mentioned models will most likely have to take a trip back to the dealers.

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• NHTSA investigates the 2009 Honda Odyssey
• Jeep Liberty investigated by the NHTSA
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