Expedition and Navigator called back to service over a flaw hidden in the front belts

Pretensioner in driver and front passenger seat belts may inadvertently lock. NHTSA-overseen recall covers 2018–2022 model years. Dealer repair is free.

Ford has announced a major recall in the United States covering nearly 420,000 large SUVs. The campaign affects the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator from the 2018–2022 model years.

The issue concerns the seat belts on the driver and front passenger sides. According to NHTSA, the pretensioner may inadvertently lock the belt. As a result, the webbing will not retract or extend properly, and in a crash the belt will restrain the occupant worse than it should.

For vehicles like these, the defect is especially sensitive. The Expedition and Navigator are heavy family SUVs often used for long trips and carrying several passengers. If the basic restraint system does not work correctly, the risk of injury in a collision rises even when the airbags are working as intended.

The repair will be free of charge. Ford dealers will inspect the seat belt retractors and replace them if necessary. Owners will not have to pay for either the diagnostic check or the parts.

The recall makes a simple point: in modern cars, safety problems are not always about electronics or sophisticated assistants. Sometimes everything comes down to the mechanics of a belt — a component the driver only remembers in the moment it is required to work without fail.