Vehicle recall 00V228001 · August 18, 2000
Ford Contour, Ford Escort and 8 more models
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles, light duty trucks, sport utility vehicles, and mini vans equipped with TRW seat belt buckle assemblies.
Source: NHTSA data as of September 22, 2026. Last refreshed Sep 23, 2026, 2:43 AM UTC.
- Summary
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles, light duty trucks, sport utility vehicles, and mini vans equipped with TRW seat belt buckle assemblies. The buckle base of these seat belt assemblies were not properly heat treated and therefore do not pass the load bearing requirement of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 209, "seat belt assemblies."
- Consequence
- In the event of a vehicle crash, the occupant may not be properly restrained.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect the date code on certain seat belt buckles of your vehicle and replace all seat belt buckles that fall within the suspect date code range. Owner notification began October 26, 2000. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact Ford at 1-800-392-3673.
- Notes
- Also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-dash-2-dot (1-888-327-4236).
Recall details
- NHTSA campaign
- 00V228001
- Reported to NHTSA
- August 18, 2000
- Filed by
- FORD MOTOR COMPANY
- Manufacturer campaign
- 00S21
- Owner notification
- October 26, 2000
- Vehicles potentially affected
- 144,435
- Initiated by
- the manufacturer
- Components
- Seat belts
Vehicles covered
As listed by NHTSA. A recall usually covers only some vehicles of each model and year, often a production date range.
- Ford Contour (2000): 2000
- Ford Escort (2000): 2000
- Ford Explorer (2000): 2000
- Ford F-150 (2000): 2000
- Ford Ranger (2000): 2000
- Ford Windstar (2000): 2000
- Lincoln Town Car (2000): 2000
- Mercury Mountaineer (2000): 2000
- Mercury Mystique (2000): 2000
- Mercury Villager (2000): 2000
Has your Ford been repaired?
Recalls here come from NHTSA’s records for the model and year. Not every vehicle of a model is included in every recall, and this site can’t see whether a repair has been done. Only a VIN lookup can tell you that.
NHTSA’s VIN search doesn’t show recalls that were already repaired, recalls more than 15 years old, or some small manufacturers’ recalls. Recall repairs are free.