2006 Ford Freestyle: seat belt won't latch or retract

Filed Aug 23, 2012 · Body, Lights · 104,000 miles · TX · crash · 2 injuries

My daughter had a wreck, she rear-ended a truck who ran into another vehicle. The airbag on my vehicle did not deploy although the seatbelt did lock up. There had been no warning light stating that there was anything wrong with the airbag. I have written to ford about this malfunction but they just say there is no recall on the airbags. I told them that unfortunately no one will know if there is a problem until they have an accident. I feel this is a very unsafe part and needs investigation.

Filed Nov 15, 2011 · Seat belts · 55,000 miles · UT

When my wife arrived at her destination, she could not release her seatbelt. This was the driver side seatbelt latch mechanism that had failed. She was able to finally work her way out from under the seatbelt by getting some extra slack in the belt. We finally were able to get the mechanism to release. I took it to the local ford dealer and without thinking, I put the seatbelt on. When I arrived at the dealer, I was unable to release the seatbelt! I honked the horn until the service manager came out to see what all the noise was. The service manager was finally able to get the belt released. They had never heard of this problem. We ordered a new latching mechanism ($ 195.00 /w/ labor) my extended warranty would not cover it because it is a safety item. This was the latch mechanism end that the belt clicks into. Vehicle has 55,000 miles. It was most certainly a safety defect!

Filed May 21, 2011 · Seat belts, Transmission · 13,480 miles · FL

In april 2007, driver's side seat belt became jammed. Had seatbelt buckle replaced. It was covered under warranty and there was not charge. On june 8, 2010 the check throttle body light and wrench warning light came on and we noticed a vibration in the engine. Took vehicle in. The throttle body and motor mount were both replaced. Cost of repair was $1023.24 the mileage at the time of repair was 55,234. A couple of weeks later, the vehicle began to surge unexpectedly at times in both drive and reverse. At other times, vehicle would hesitates / had little or no pick-up when starting from a stop. Check engine light came on, took vehicle in on june 22, 2010. An engine sensor was replaced and the PCM was reprogrammed. Repairs totaled $642.61 the mileage at time of repairs was 55,613. Was told at that time the fuel filter needed to be replaced and a transmission flush was necessary. Replaced fuel filter and had transmission flush done july 1, 2010. Cost was $200.65. Mileage was 55,695. I read an article in the newspapers and learned that others were having similar problems. I wanted to be on record with problems that we have had with this car. Ford manufactured cars with issues. They should have to address those issues and compensate for the repairs that people had to pay for. The repairs that have had to be done on this car are ridiculous. Between the seat belt issue and the transmission issues, I would say we have had some serious safety issues with this vehicle and we most certainly regret buying it.

Filed Mar 29, 2010 · Seat belts · 50,000 miles · WI

Tl*the contact owns a 2006 ford freestyle. The plastic casing over the top of the third row seat belt had broken. The vehicle was taken to the dealership and was informed that because the warranty had expired, the contact would have to cover the repair expenses. He called the manufacturer and was told that there were no recalls related to the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

Filed Aug 10, 2008 · Seat belts · 37,000 miles · ND

2006 ford freestyle the middle seat belt on the middle seat locks when the seat is laid down or it locks when not in use. It has been replaced 3 times and we continue to have the same problem. The seat belt is currently not usable.