Recall Register

1989 Ford Escort: recalls and complaints

NHTSA lists 1 recall campaign for the 1989 Ford Escort. The campaign is 96V071000. NHTSA received the report on 25 Apr 1996. The NHTSA record gives the component Electrical System / Ignition. NHTSA has 152 complaints on file for this model year. 2 NHTSA investigations name this model year.

The NHTSA recall file shows no do-not-drive advisory and no park-outside advisory on this campaign.

This page cannot show if a recall applies to one vehicle. The NHTSA VIN lookup shows the unrepaired recalls of one vehicle.

Remedy of campaign 96V071000, in the NHTSA record

Dealers will replace the ignition switch.

Complaint information entered into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation vehicle owner's complaint database is used with other data sources to identify safety issues that warrant investigation and to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.

NHTSA publishes these words. Source: NHTSA Datasets and APIs, section Complaints, read on . Complaint file through . Recall file through .

Since the last update

No tracked figure of this page changed in a data update. What the log tracks

All updates to the register

Recall campaigns

1 campaign. 7,900,000 units in total.

  1. 96V071000Received . 7,900,000 units.

    Electrical System / Ignition

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    The ignition switch could experience an internal short circuit.
    Consequence, in the NHTSA record
    This condition could cause overheating, smoke, and possibly fire in the steering column area of the vehicle.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Dealers will replace the ignition switch.

    Report filed by FORD MOTOR COMPANY. Owner notification date in the NHTSA record: .

The campaign number opens the NHTSA record. Each quotation is the text of the NHTSA recall file.

Recall campaign: One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.

Units: The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.

Complaints by component

152 complaints, 199 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.

  • 1989 Ford Escort
  • All 1989 vehicles
1989 Ford Escort: complaints by component, per 1,000 component mentions
Component1989 EscortAll 1989 vehiclesEscort, all yearsMentions
Electrical System386.9140.2174.177
Engine and Engine Cooling150.8128.9110.330
Seat Belts100.5122.3130.620
Fuel System, Gasoline60.365.677.912
Exterior Lighting50.315.522.310
Vehicle Speed Control45.255.842.99
Power Train45.274.164.29
Steering35.242.234.47
Seats30.22316.16
Service Brakes, Hydraulic20.1116.753.94

The table shows the 10 components with the most mentions, of 18.

Complaints that report a crash
9
Complaints that report a fire
60
Injuries in the complaints
9
Deaths in the complaints
2
Date of the newest complaint
9 Mar 2010

These figures are the entries of the persons who sent the complaints.

Complaint: A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.

Complaints about the 1989 Ford Escort, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 1996, with 62 complaints.

Investigations

NHTSA investigations that name the 1989 Ford Escort
NumberTypeSubjectComponentOpenedClosedCampaign
DP91003Defect petitionENGINE STALLINGEngine and Engine Cooling29 Nov 199031 Jan 1991
EA90008Engineering analysisFAILED PASSIVE RESTRAINTSeat Belts27 Dec 198931 Dec 1991

Investigation: A study of a possible safety defect by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. An investigation with no closing date in the NHTSA file is open.

Other model years

The number under each year is the number of recall campaigns.

Official channels

Cite this page

Recall Register. 1989 Ford Escort: recalls and complaints. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/ford/escort/1989/. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, recall, complaint and investigation files. Data through .

Sources

Source
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Licence
US government work, public domain
Recall file through
29 Sep 2026
Complaint file through
29 Mar 2018
First complaint in the file
1 Jan 1995
Manufacturer in the recall file
FORD MOTOR COMPANY

The NHTSA record is the authority. A complaint count is the number of different complaint numbers for the make, the model and the model year. How the register is made. Report an error.

Questions

How many units are in the recall campaigns for the 1989 Ford Escort?
7,900,000 units in 1 campaign. A campaign can name other models and model years, and its units include them.
How many recall campaigns does the Ford Escort have for all model years?
NHTSA lists 35 recall campaigns for the Ford Escort, model years 1981 to 2003. 1 of them names the 1989 model year.
Which component do the complaints about the 1989 Ford Escort name most often?
Electrical System: 77 of 199 component mentions, or 386.9 per 1,000. For all 1989 vehicles the figure is 140.2 per 1,000.
Is an NHTSA investigation of the 1989 Ford Escort open?
No. Each of the 2 investigations that name this model year has a closing date in the NHTSA file.