Ford Is Fixing Recalled Super Duty Trucks With Duct Tape

Last month, Ford issued a recall for 490,574 2017-19 Ford Super Duty SuperCrew vehicles with carpet flooring due to the risk of a post-crash interior fire. Which is also the same defect as the 1.6 million F-150 trucks that Ford recalled in September of 2018.

The issue affects all F-250, F-350, F-450, and F-550 trucks built between October 8, 2015, and October 29, 2019. In affected vehicles, a front seat belt pretensioner that deploys during a crash can generate excessive sparks. In some cases, this could ignite the carpet or carpet insulation in the area of the B-pillar. A fire in the B-pillar area may spread within the vehicle and increase the risk of injury.

And it turns out, the fix is as easy as…duct tape? According to reports by Ford, the repair is as simple as lining the carpet edges with two dollars worth of insulating foil tape often used in home HVAC systems. You can find the exact tape shown in Ford’s dealer training video for $16 at Home Depot. Dealers must also strip the insulation at the bottom of the B-pillar where the pretensioner sits.

Repairs for the recalled vehicles will start in late January.