2021 Ford Escape Seat belts Problems

“I rented this Ford Escape from Avis this month and ran into what could have been an incredibly dangerous safety issue due to a massive oversight in the car's design. I installed a small booster seat in the passenger side back seat for my 10 year-old son. He got in the seat and attached his seat belt, which he has done hundreds of times before in our own car. About 1 hour into a 2-hour freeway trip, a notification went off on the dashboard, telling me that a seat belt in the back had come undone. My son tried frantically to reattach the buckle but was unable. …”

“The contact called on behalf of his wife who owns a 2021 Ford Escape. The contact stated that when the temperature was cold the seat belt buckled and remained in place as needed; however, during hot temperatures the seat belt was difficult to unbuckle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer to be diagnosed and the contact was informed that the seat belt was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 62,000. The VIN was unavailable.”

“The second row middle seat seatbelt was extended one time and did not retract back. It is in operable and a seat we barely used, there’s no reason it should’ve stopped working. No rough play, heavy use, or use outside of occasional passenger. There’s already a past recall for a different seatbelt so there must be an issue with this one too. Car was only 4 years old, around 60 k miles or less. It has not been repaired because the ford dealer cannot get parts. It has been months of asking for updates and help on the issue.”

“PASSENGER SIDE SEATBELT PRETENSION AND RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY INTERNALLY FAULTED: This caused the seat belt light to be illuminated. This was repaired free of charge by the dealership.”