Ford Recalls All 1981 Sub-Compacts, Quietly

Despite Ford Motor Company's new policy that all safety-related auto recalls would be made public through announcements in the U.S. news media (see MM, Aug. '81), the company neglected to publicize the recall of 390,000 of its new front-wheel-drive subcompact cars. All of Ford's 1981-model subcompact cars produced through June 12 have a carburetor defect which leads to stalling.

"Stalling is regarded as a safety hazard," stated Ed Riley of the defects and investigation division of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. However, Ford denies that the carburetor problem poses a danger. The cars "sputter for weeks before actually stalling and this should be enough warning to provoke further inquiry," said Warren LeBaron, Ford's assistant manager for public relations. Because Ford does not regard the defect as "safety-related," it was not obliged to make the recall public, LeBaron said.

Only after several hundred complaints to the company did Ford decide to recall the cars, notifying dealers and individual car owners by mail. Based on Ford's average labor cost and the 24 minutes it takes to fix each carburetor, the recall could cost Ford as much as $3.7 million.

Among the recalled vehicles are the new Escort, Lynx, LN7 and EXP models, which were introduced with much fanfare last year and are essential to Ford's continued viability.

As a result of "adverse publicity and insinuations from around the country," Ford had decided from now on to make all recalls-"safety-related or not" -public, according to LeBaron.

- Kristin Bergen