Recall Register

1979 Ford Thunderbird: recalls and complaints

NHTSA lists 3 recall campaigns for the 1979 Ford Thunderbird. The newest campaign is 79V117000. NHTSA received the report on 15 May 1979. The NHTSA record gives the component Service Brakes, Hydraulic / Pedals and Linkages. 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, 79V117000, in the NHTSA record

Dealer will replace the suspect brake retaining pin.
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

3 campaigns, newest first. 106,000 units in total.

  1. 79V117000Received . 82,000 units.

    Service Brakes, Hydraulic / Pedals and Linkages

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    The involved vehicles were produced with brake push-rod to brake pedal retaining pins which were not heat-treated as specified. This could allow the brake pedal to become disengaged from the push-rod.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Dealer will replace the suspect brake retaining pin.

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

  2. 79V013000Received . 4,000 units.

    Seats / Mid/Rear Assembly

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    The involved vehicles may have been built with incorrect weld nuts that attach the rear portion of the front outboard seat track to the floor pan. The incorrect nuts have an oversize diameter and thread, and upon front seat track anchor bolt installation, the threads may have been stripped.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    The dealer will inspect and, if necessary, repair any stripped weld nuts and install larger size bolts to anchor the seat track to the floor at no cost to owner.

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

  3. 78V269000Received . 20,000 units.

    Steering / Gear Box / Shaft Sector

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    The steering gears on the involved vehicles may have been built with improperly manufactured sector shafts from which the threaded portions of the shafts may fracture and separate. Should the sector shaft fracture, the pitman arm may disengage from the splined portion of the sector shaft.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    The dealer will inspect and, if necessary, replace the steering gear assembly or install a new sector shaft in the steering gear assembly.

    Report filed by FORD MOTOR COMPANY.

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.

1979 Ford Thunderbird: component mentions in complaints
ComponentMentions
Fuel System, Gasoline1
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
27 Oct 1999

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 1979 Ford Thunderbird, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 1999, 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. 19600
  2. 19650
  3. 19674
  4. 19701
  5. 19711
  6. 19723
  7. 19734
  8. 19741
  9. 19754
  10. 19761
  11. 19774
  12. 19783
  13. 19793
  14. 19801
  15. 19833
  16. 19841
  17. 19851
  18. 19861
  19. 19871
  20. 19882
  21. 19894
  22. 19903
  23. 19913
  24. 19923
  25. 19933
  26. 19940
  27. 19950
  28. 19962
  29. 19970
  30. 19980
  31. 19990
  32. 20021
  33. 20030
  34. 20041
  35. 20051

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. 1979 Ford Thunderbird: recalls and complaints. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/ford/thunderbird/1979/. 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 1979 Ford Thunderbird?
106,000 units in 3 campaigns. A campaign can name other models and model years, and its units include them.
How many recall campaigns does the Ford Thunderbird have for all model years?
NHTSA lists 50 recall campaigns for the Ford Thunderbird, model years 1960 to 2005. 3 of them name the 1979 model year.
Which component do the complaints about the 1979 Ford Thunderbird name most often?
Fuel System, Gasoline: 1 of 1 component mention.
Is an NHTSA investigation of the 1979 Ford Thunderbird open?
The NHTSA investigation file has no investigation that names this model year.