Recall Register

1978 Ford Mustang: recalls and complaints

NHTSA lists 4 recall campaigns for the 1978 Ford Mustang. The newest campaign is 83V025000. NHTSA received the report on 1 Mar 1983. The NHTSA record gives the component Engine and Engine Cooling / Cooling System / Fan. NHTSA has 3 complaints on file for this model year.

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

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

Remedy of the newest campaign, 83V025000, in the NHTSA record

Dealer will replace the defective engine cooling fan at no cost to owner.
NHTSA VIN lookup

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

4 campaigns, newest first. 166,917 units in total.

  • 83V025000Engine and Engine Cooling / Cooling System / Fan
  • 81V003000Engine and Engine Cooling / Cooling System / Fan
  • 78V047000Seat Belts / Front / Retractor
  • 77V196000Vehicle Speed Control / Cables

  1. 83V025000Received . 83,000 units.

    Engine and Engine Cooling / Cooling System / Fan

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    The flexible blade engine cooling fan blades may crack and break off. This may be caused by high blade stresses that can result from vibration during vehicle operation.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Dealer will replace the defective engine cooling fan at no cost to owner.

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

  2. 81V003000Received . 81,807 units.

    Engine and Engine Cooling / Cooling System / Fan

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    The seven-blade engine cooling fan is subject to fatigue cracking during normal operation. Portions of the blades may separate without prior warning.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Defective fans will be replaced with fans of an improved design without charge.

    Report filed by FORD MOTOR COMPANY.

  3. 78V047000Received . 1,956 units.

    Seat Belts / Front / Retractor

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    The automatic locking rear seat belt retractors on certain vehicles may fail to lock due to binding of the locking pawl against the retractor housing. This binding is caused by retractor housing deformation which occurred during assembly. As a result the passengers would be restrained only by the fully extended belt. This fails to comply with federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 208, "occupant crash protection".
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Dealer will inspect and, if necessary, replace one or both rear seat belt assemblies free of charge.

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

  4. 77V196000Received . 154 units.

    Vehicle Speed Control / Cables

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    The dust tube portion of the accelerator cable assembly on the involved vehicles may bind due to improper crimping of the cable assembly during manufacture. As a result, the return rate of the throttle may be slowed or the throttle may be prevented from closing properly. In this condition, a vehicle speed of 30 t0 40 MPH could be maintained without depressing the accelerator pedal.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Dealer will inspect and, if neccessary, will replace the accelerator cable assembly, without charge to owner.

    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

3 complaints, 10 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. This model year has fewer than 50 component mentions, so the table shows the number of mentions only.

1978 Ford Mustang: component mentions in complaints
ComponentMentions
Service Brakes, Hydraulic4
Fuel System, Gasoline2
Engine and Engine Cooling2
Electrical System1
Vehicle Speed Control1
Complaints that report a crash
0
Complaints that report a fire
0
Injuries in the complaints
0
Deaths in the complaints
0
Date of the newest complaint
12 Apr 2000

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 1978 Ford Mustang, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 1997, with 2 complaints.

Investigations

The NHTSA investigation file has no investigation that names this model year.

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.

  1. 19650
  2. 19660
  3. 19674
  4. 19681
  5. 19693
  6. 19702
  7. 19711
  8. 19721
  9. 19731
  10. 19741
  11. 19763
  12. 19773
  13. 19784
  14. 19795
  15. 19800
  16. 19811
  17. 19820
  18. 19830
  19. 19843
  20. 19852
  21. 19861
  22. 19871
  23. 19881
  24. 19891
  25. 19901
  26. 19912
  27. 19921
  28. 19932
  29. 19944
  30. 19955
  31. 19963
  32. 19972
  33. 19984
  34. 19993
  35. 20002
  36. 20011
  37. 20020
  38. 20031
  39. 20041
  40. 20055
  41. 20065
  42. 20075
  43. 20085
  44. 20095
  45. 20105
  46. 20114
  47. 20126
  48. 20135
  49. 20143
  50. 201511
  51. 20165
  52. 20176
  53. 20183
  54. 20196
  55. 20208
  56. 20216
  57. 20229
  58. 20236
  59. 202412
  60. 20256
  61. 20265

A year without a link has fewer than 2 campaigns and fewer than 25 complaints. It has no page.

Official channels

Cite this page

Recall Register. 1978 Ford Mustang: recalls and complaints. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/ford/mustang/1978/. 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
30 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 1978 Ford Mustang?
166,917 units in 4 campaigns. A campaign can name other models and model years, and its units include them.
How many recall campaigns does the Ford Mustang have for all model years?
NHTSA lists 105 recall campaigns for the Ford Mustang, model years 1965 to 2026. 4 of them name the 1978 model year.
Which component do the complaints about the 1978 Ford Mustang name most often?
Service Brakes, Hydraulic: 4 of 10 component mentions.
Is an NHTSA investigation of the 1978 Ford Mustang open?
The NHTSA investigation file has no investigation that names this model year.