Attachment IV - Questions and Answers

Q. Why are you recalling these vehicles?

A. We have found an unacceptably high rate of potential failure in the stop lamp switch and/or associated wiring on these vehicles. Customers will be notified to take their cars into a Ford or Lincoln Mercury dealer to have the stop lamp switch replaced with a more robust design and a wiring harness repair.

Q. What happens in the affected vehicles?

A. In some cases, the stop lamp switch can fail, causing the car's brake lights to either stay on, or not come on at all, regardless of the position of the brake pedal. If the stop lamp switch fails, and the brake lights do not come on, then the vehicle cannot be shifted out of park.

Q. What about vehicles built before the 2000 model year? What about 2004 cars?

A. Taurus and Sable vehicles built before model year 2000 had a different switch design. The switch was changed for the 2000 model year. This switch was used through February 2003. Design improvements were implemented in March 2003 and are currently in production in the 2004 vehicles.

Q. Why are fixed pedal and adjustable pedal vehicles affected in 2000 MY vehicles and only adjustable pedal vehicles affected in 2001 - 2003 MY vehicles?

A. Design improvements for fixed pedal vehicles were implemented for 2001 MY vehicles. Design improvements for adjustable pedal vehicles were not implemented until March 2003.

Q. What happened in the first recall (01S08) of these cars? Why wasn't the problem fixed right the first time?

A. The original service action included only vehicles equipped with the optional adjustable pedal assemblies. Investigation in 2001 concluded that grease from the adjustable pedal assembly was migrating to the switch and causing it to malfunction. The service fix involved removing the exposed grease. However, we have now found that grease in the mechanism can continue to cause the concern. In addition, the possible wiring harness concern being addressed in this action was not completely understood at the time of the initial recall.