Airbag inflator rupture on the 2008 Ford Fusion
4 crashes 1 fire 1 injury 6 of the 398 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When airbag inflator rupture gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Ford Fusion report airbag inflator rupture at a median of 105,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 67,500 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 54 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 52,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 155,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 102,559 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
6% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51,641 miles | 67,500 miles | 104,500 miles | 129,500 miles | 154,200 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 4 a crash, 1 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $0–$0 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 442; the 2008 has 398. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Takata recall. -- there is a recall on the passenger air bag and I understand that it will take time to receive the parts. The ford dealer says the NHTSA has deemed the car safe to drive--but that can't be true if the car is in an accident. My 16 year old grandson is the driver. Ford motor company says your agency says it is illegal for them to disable the airbag until parts arrive. Please change that ruling!! The dealer is sioux city ford in iowa. My name is [xxx] and my grandson is [xxx] . My phone number is [xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr
Tl* takata recall. The contact owns a 2008 ford fusion. The contact stated that the recall notice for NHTSA campaign number: 16v384000 (air bags) was received in june. After contacting the dealer and the manufacturer on multiple occasions, the contact was informed that the parts needed for the recall remedy were still not available and no estimated time for receiving the parts could be provided. The contact had not experienced a failure. Vin tool confirms parts not available.
"takata recall" - I purchased a 2008 ford fusion in 2010 with only 19,000 miles. During the month of july 2013, it was a very hot summer day, 90 degrees and my car windows were shut tight. My car sat in the parking lot during working hours at least 9 hours. At this time, I had 33,000 miles on this car and my first ford vehicle purchased. I entered inside, I noticed on the instrument panel on the front passenger side the air bag had popped up along the perimeter. I was able to see the foam material underneath the airbag. Immediately, I was concerned and notified the hq ford motor company. I request to be transferred to the recall department. I asked if they had any complaints or recalls on the ford fusion front passenger airbag. Her response was "no". I informed her of the occurrence in detail and felt action must be taken immediately. I requested to please note this in file for any future calls. I had offered to send a picture of it but I was told it was not necessary. I politely asked what my options were and what steps are needed. She replied, it was not ford's responsibility and recommend I drive my vehicle to the nearest…
Also reported on the 2008 Ford Fusion
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
Loss of braking
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
ABS module or sensor failure
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 398 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does airbag inflator rupture happen on the 2008 Ford Fusion?
Across 54 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 105,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 67,500 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is airbag inflator rupture on the 2008 Ford Fusion?
398 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 6.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed