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NHTSA Upgrades Probe of Ford Police Cruisers
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has upgraded to an engineering analysis its investigation into steering shaft failures in 2005-2008 model Ford Crown Victoria police cars.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has upgraded to an engineering analysis its investigation into steering shaft failures in 2005-2008 model Ford Crown Victoria police cars.
The probe is studying reports that the upper and lower intermediate shafts linking the steering column to the rack-and-pinion steering assembly may loosen or separate, thus causing loss of steering control.
Ford began investigating the problem a year ago. It told the NHTSA in November it was trying to determine if the components might have failed after the stress of previous crashes or unusually harsh driving episodes.
The agency calculates that the failure rate of the steering shafts in the target population is seven times that of later-model Crown Vic police cars. Giving a probe the status of engineering analysis often signals NHTSA's intent to order a recall.
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