Car Blog

Complaints about the 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan models have taken a serious turn as U.S. Safety Regulators upgraded its preliminary investigation. The initial issue about the models revolved around the models’ wheel stud fractures that might cause the tires to pop out.

The issue involves around 317,315 medium-sized sedans from Ford Motor Co. According to the reports from the website of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the investigation will not involve an engineering analysis.

According to the statement made by the U.S. Safety Regulators, the car company’s own investigation of the defect is still in process and therefore, the former widened its own probe to access the root of the problem and complaints.

Ford Motor Co.’s spokesman, Wes Sherwood, has said in a statement that the company gives it full cooperation to review the matter at hand. Moreover, he stressed that the company is not aware of any injury reports that might be related to the alleged wheel stud fractures.

According to the reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a total of 128 warranty claims and 29 wheel fracture-related complaints have been tallied. However, the NHTSA said that they know of about four incidents that involved separated wheels due to the said defect.

An engineering analysis is done to further study the cause of the problem. Should the NHTSA rule that the defects should be handled by the auto manufacturer; a recall might be in order. However, this is not always the case.