A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation was opened last week regarding the liftgate glass on 2010-2011 Ford Escapes and Mercury Mariners. The NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigations (ODI) cites 18 complaints that allege that “the liftgate glass shattered spontaneously, while opening the liftgate or while closing the liftgate.” This could affect approximately 200,000 vehicles.
Within the preliminary evaluation the ODI says that one of the complainants alleged that she and her 10-year-old son were injured by glass fragments. It was also observed that many of the instances of glass breakage occurred in cooler temperatures.
Ford issued a technical service bulletin stating that “some 2010-2011 Escape and Mariner vehicles built on or before 10/15/2010 may experience the liftgate window glass breakage, typically when colder ambient temperature are present.”
