Airbag inflator rupture on the 2009 Ford Ranger
When airbag inflator rupture gets reported
Owners of the 2009 Ford Ranger report airbag inflator rupture at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 14 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 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 127,900 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.
29% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19,500 miles | 33,338 miles | 73,600 miles | 88,750 miles | 147,400 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
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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 1,300 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 235,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 222; the 2009 has 114. 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 , I recieved a recall notice july 2016 , dealer said no parts available , I called ford customer service, case # 10830344-f3j2k9 dated 10/17/16 told again no parts available. If this is a safety issue why is ford allowed to not do my safety bag repair ?to this date 6/7/2017 no repair has been made .
Takata recall. In july of 2016, I received a notice informing me of a dangerous, faulty airbag inflator in my vehicle. The notice said I would be informed as soon as ford is able to conduct a corrective repair/replacement of problematic part. It is now october 2017, and I still haven't received such a communication; I have confirmed this unavailability of remedial repairs online. The 15+ month wait time to have this potentially lethal defect corrected I consider unacceptable.
I received a letter from ford in july 2016 informing me that my vehicle was included in the takata recall. I have heard nothing since then. Every time my wife has to ride in my truck, she and I both worry that I might be involved in an accident and she could be injured by the passenger airbag. Would it be safer if I could just have the airbag disconnected?
Also reported on the 2009 Ford Ranger
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Other steering problem
Other body or interior problem
Head gasket failure
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 114 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 2009 Ford Ranger?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 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 2009 Ford Ranger?
114 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.8 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