Complaint 2122639

Complaint Summary

SEAT BELTS

Owner Narrative

I was driving the car at approximately 10 miles/hr (slowly accelerating after stopping at a traffic light), when I heard a loud bang / explosion. This was accompanied by a feeling like I had been struck in the chest. However, there was no collision to the car. I then realized that my seatbelt was tightly cinched and locked around my body, and it had caused the blow to my chest. I was able to pull off the road and stop the car, and I worked my way out of the seatbelt with difficulty by unclasping it. There was a smell of gunpowder in the air, but I confirmed that no collision or accident to my car had occurred. The skin on my chest and left neck were badly bruised by the seatbelt pretensioning. It is clear that the seatbelt pretensioning system inappropriately triggered while I was driving this vehicle. There is a known recall for this car's seat belt pretensioning system, and prior to this incident the restraint system error light was turning on and off since September 2024. I paid for a "repair" of this error, though it continued to occur. When I contacted the Lincoln dealership again, they stated that the part for this recall is not yet available. After this incident occurred, I had my vehicle towed to the Lincoln dealership and contacted Lincoln Customer Service. They again stated that they could not repair the seatbelt as the part is still not available. When this incident occurred, I was driving my 2 year-old daughter to preschool. I feel lucky that the seatbelt malfunction did not cause a car crash--the inappropriate triggering was shocking, caused bodily harm, and I was barely able to keep control of the car to pull aside safely.

Owner-submitted narrative on file with NHTSA. Complaint narratives are self-reported and have not been verified.