A side airbag has one job, and it has about the time it takes to blink to do it: get a cushion between your ribs and the door before the door gets to you. Federal regulators now want to know why some Ford Explorer owners came out of that split second with burns that needed a skin graft.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE26008 on November 6, under the subject line “Burn Injuries From Side Airbag Deployment.” It covers 2021 through 2026 model-year Explorers, including the Police Interceptor versions that fill police fleets across the country.
What NHTSA actually has
The agency’s file starts with eight Vehicle Owner Questionnaires and four Early Warning Reporting death-and-injury submissions. Early Warning Reports are filed by the manufacturer. That means at least some of these incidents reached Ford through claims or lawsuits before this probe was opened.
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In those reports, drivers and front passengers were hurt after seat-mounted side airbags went off in crashes. The burns were mostly second or third degree and needed medical treatment. NHTSA specifically mentions law enforcement officers hurt in Police Interceptors.
The owner complaints in NHTSA’s public database are graphic. A complaint about a 2022 Explorer police vehicle says a delivery truck hit the right front of the SUV while the officer was clearing an intersection. It ends: “THE OFFICER SUFFERED 3RD DEGREE BURNS AND HAD TO HAVE SURGERY AND SKIN GRAFT.” Another 2022 complaint says the driver’s side impact bag burst open and left unreacted propellant on the owner’s skin.
A 2023 Explorer complaint offers an owner’s own theory, claiming the “Side seat airbag has exhaust port facing inwards, instead of outward, towards the door of the vehicle.” That is one owner’s diagnosis, not a finding. NHTSA hasn’t said anything about vent direction, bag construction or inflator chemistry.
Why a side airbag can burn you
Most airbags don’t fill with compressed air. A pyrotechnic or hybrid inflator sets off a propellant charge that produces a burst of hot gas very quickly. Front airbags have room to work with: the cushion inflates across a foot or more of open cabin, and the vents usually point away from the occupant.
A seat-mounted thorax bag has none of that room. It comes out of the seatback bolster just inches from your ribs, fills almost instantly, and then has to vent so it doesn’t throw you back like a trampoline. Where that hot gas goes in the next few milliseconds is a design choice. Fold patterns, vent placement, stitching, and the seam the bag tears through in the seat trim all affect whether the gas blows toward the door panel or into your side.
Clothing matters too. Synthetic fabrics melt and stick to skin. Police officers carry another problem: body armor and duty gear pressed tight against the torso can trap heat right where the bag fires.
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One detail worth watching: the sixth-generation Explorer arrived for the 2020 model year, yet the probe starts at 2021. NHTSA hasn’t said why. Change of supplier, revised module, or simply where the complaints happen to start? Expect the answer to show up in Ford’s response to the agency’s information request.
Not Ford’s first seat-airbag headache
In 2021, Ford recalled 592 vehicles, 2021 Explorers and Lincoln Aviators, because side airbag attachment weld studs could break loose during deployment and keep the bag from working properly. That was a fastener problem on a small batch of vehicles, not a burn problem. Still, it shows that this seat module has needed attention before.
What happens next
A Preliminary Evaluation is a fact-finding stage. It isn’t a recall, and there’s no repair to book today. ODI will collect data from Ford, and the case can be closed, upgraded to an Engineering Analysis, or settled at any point if Ford chooses to recall voluntarily. If a fix does come, it could mean anything from a revised airbag module to new seatback trim. Either way, it would be a big job across this many SUVs.
What owners should know now
- Your airbag still works. Every report involves a real crash in which the bag deployed. Nobody is saying the bag fails to protect against the impact. The question is what the hot gas does afterward.
- Keep your seat covers stock. NHTSA’s seat cover guidance makes clear that a cover that disables a side airbag can get a repair shop in federal trouble. An aftermarket cover can also change how the bag tears out of the seat, which is the last thing you want with this issue.
- If you’ve been burned, save the evidence. Keep the clothing, photograph the deployed bag, and don’t let the insurer crush the vehicle until you’ve decided whether to file a claim. The airbag module and event data recorder may be what a court or investigator needs later.
- Expect a big repair bill after any deployment. Replacing a seat-mounted bag usually means a new module, new seatback trim, and often a new restraint control module. Combined with the crash damage itself, that pushes many three-to-five-year-old Explorers toward a total-loss decision.
- File a report. NHTSA’s database exists because people use it. This investigation started with just eight owner complaints.
Police fleet managers should pay the closest attention. Officers spend whole shifts in these seats wearing gear that can make burns worse, and a workers’ compensation claim for third-degree burns is not a small matter for any city budget.