1953 Mercury Monterey Base 4.2l on 2040-cars

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Fitting Retirement: Grand Marquis last Mercury off the line

The signs have come down and retail production ended back in October of 2010. Now, the very last Mercury model has rolled off the assembly line. This last Mercury somewhat fittingly takes the form of a Grand Marquis reporting for fleet duty. It was built at the St. Thomas plant in Ontario, Canada, which is the same facility that continues to produce the Ford Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car for fleet and livery duty.
St. Thomas' days are numbered, however, as the factory is slated to close on August 31. When it goes, the Panther platform is likely to follow. So long, and thanks for all the fish memories.
[Source: Autoweek]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

NHTSA closes rollaway investigation into 1.56M Ford SUVs

It's taken four years of study, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has finally closed the books on its investigation into rollaway accusations surrounding 1.56-million Ford SUV models.
The probe, which centered on the 2002-2005 Ford Explorer, 2002-2005 Mercury Mountaineer and 2003-2005 Lincoln Aviator, ends without the federal agency calling for a recall. According to The Detroit News, the investigation was closed due to a "low number of complaints" - NHTSA documented 180 such complaints that resulted in 14 crashes and six minor injuries, but the number of incidents have been slowing. The suspected defect rate for the trucks' automatic transmissions was found to be 4.4 per 100,000 units, and the brake-shift interlock mechanism failure rate was judged to be even lower at 3.4 per 100k.

Ford recalls 382k vehicles across six campaigns

Ford needs to repair a total of 381,633 vehicles in North America across six newly announced campaigns, including five safety recalls and one compliance recall. By far the largest of these campaigns covers the 342,271 examples of the 1998-2003 Windstar to double check an earlier recall repair. Among these, 283,413 are in the US and 58,858 are in Canada. The combination of corrosion and stress can cause cracks in the rear axle and eventually lead to the part to snap completely. The company reports a small number of accidents might be connected to this, but there are no injuries. The minivans were recalled for this issue back in 2010, and it was investigated by NHTSA. According to Ford's latest announcement, the reinforcement brackets on some of these models might not have been installed correctly. This time, dealers will perform an inspection. Minivans with incorrectly installed brackets will get a new rear axle. The rest of the owners will be offered a deal to replace the part at a reduced cost. The next largest campaign covers 36,857 examples of the 2015 F-150 to fix a problem with the adaptive cruise control. Specifically, there are 33,481 affected trucks in the US, and 3,376 in Canada. According to Ford, "when passing a large, highly reflective truck" the radar in the system can misidentify a semi as being in the same lane as the pickup. The collision warning system would then activate, slowing the F-150. There's one report of an accident with this happening but no injuries. The fix is simply an update to the adaptive cruise control module software. Ford also has a recall for 1,477 examples of its 2016 F-53 and F-59 stripped chassis models, and they're all located in the US. A manufacturing issue might allow the trucks to shift into reverse without the driver first applying the brakes. There are no reports of any accidents from this, though. To repair the problem, the models get a new transmission shift control bracket and an adjustment to the shift cable. The Blue Oval's safety compliance recall covers 708 examples of the 2016 Fusion and Lincoln MKZ, including 658 of them in the US, 28 in Canada, and 22 in Mexico. On these models, a manufacturing problem with the fuel tank could allow it to crack in a crash, which isn't allowed under federal rules. There are no reports of accidents, injuries or fires. The fix will be a new fuel tank for all of them. The company is also repairing 251 units of the 2015 Taurus and Lincoln MKS, plus the 2016 Explorer.