Recall Register

1978 Ford Pinto: recalls and complaints

NHTSA lists 2 recall campaigns for the 1978 Ford Pinto. 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 1 complaint 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

2 campaigns, newest first. 84,956 units in total.

  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. 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: .

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

1 complaint, 1 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 Pinto: component mentions in complaints
ComponentMentions
Electrical System1
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
30 Jul 2003

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 Pinto, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 2003, with 1 complaint.

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. 19715
  2. 19723
  3. 19734
  4. 19742
  5. 19751
  6. 19766
  7. 19774
  8. 19782
  9. 19792
  10. 19800

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 Pinto: recalls and complaints. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/ford/pinto/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
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 1978 Ford Pinto?
84,956 units in 2 campaigns. A campaign can name other models and model years, and its units include them.
How many recall campaigns does the Ford Pinto have for all model years?
NHTSA lists 21 recall campaigns for the Ford Pinto, model years 1971 to 1980. 2 of them name the 1978 model year.
Which component do the complaints about the 1978 Ford Pinto name most often?
Electrical System: 1 of 1 component mention.
Is an NHTSA investigation of the 1978 Ford Pinto open?
The NHTSA investigation file has no investigation that names this model year.