Ford Explorer, Ford Explorer Sport Trac, Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Mercury Mountaineer, model year 2010. Filed by Ford Motor Company and reported to NHTSA on 20 April 2010. 33,256 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Ford is recalling certain model year 2010 fusion, explorer, explorer sport trac, and mercury milan and mountaineer vehicles manufactured between december 15, 2009 through february 3, 2010 equipped with front seat manual recliners. these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety …
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
Ford's own number for this recall: 10C11. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 10V161 is the number NHTSA gave the same campaign, and the number this page is filed under. They are one recall, written two ways.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 10V161 cover?
- Ford Explorer, Ford Explorer Sport Trac, Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Mercury Mountaineer, model year 2010.
- What is wrong with them?
- FORD IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2010 FUSION, EXPLORER, EXPLORER SPORT TRAC, AND MERCURY MILAN AND MOUNTAINEER VEHICLES MANUFACTURED BETWEEN DECEMBER 15, 2009 THROUGH FEBRUARY 3, 2010 EQUIPPED WITH FRONT SEAT MANUAL RECLINERS.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- IN THE EVENT OF A CRASH, THE SEATBACK AND HEAD RESTRAINT MAY MOVE REARWARD, INCREASING THE RISK OF INJURY.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE MANUAL RECLINERS FOR BOTH POWER AND MANUAL SEATS FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN ON OR BEFORE APRIL 30, 2010. OWNERS MAY CONTACT FORD AT 1-866-436-7332.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Ford calls this recall 10C11, which is the number on the owner letter and the dealer paperwork.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “IN THE EVENT OF A CRASH, THE SEATBACK AND HEAD RESTRAINT MAY MOVE REARWARD, INCREASING THE RISK OF INJURY.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 10V161 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | FORD MOTOR COMPANY |
| System at fault | Seats:Front Assembly:Recliner |
| Reported to NHTSA | 20 April 2010 |
| Model years | 2010-2010 |
| Vehicles named | FORD EXPLORER, FORD EXPLORER SPORT TRAC, FORD FUSION, MERCURY MILAN, MERCURY MOUNTAINEER |
What the notice says today
The consequence
IN THE EVENT OF A CRASH, THE SEATBACK AND HEAD RESTRAINT MAY MOVE REARWARD, INCREASING THE RISK OF INJURY.
The remedy
DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE MANUAL RECLINERS FOR BOTH POWER AND MANUAL SEATS FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN ON OR BEFORE APRIL 30, 2010. OWNERS MAY CONTACT FORD AT 1-866-436-7332.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 459 notices in the record whose component field names seats. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 44 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- Ford Explorer recalls: 81 US campaigns
- Ford Fusion recalls: 46 US campaigns
- Mercury Milan recalls: 12 US campaigns
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 10V161, wording as read on 17 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/10v161/
The cross-border matches used on this site are deposited as a citable dataset: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22087136. The recall wording itself is published by the national authority named above and is theirs, not ours.
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other Ford notices we hold
- 26V579: 2026-2027 Transit
- 26V578: 2023-2027 F-150
- 26V577: 2026 F-150
- 26V576: 2026 F-150
- 26V550: 2026 Maverick, F-150, and Bronco Sport
- 26V548: 2026 Explorer, Bronco, Bronco Sport, Mustang, and Ranger
- 26V547: 2024-2026 Mustang
- 26V532: 2026 Explorer
All 776 Ford campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 10V161 on 17 September 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
fdb346b0 - Consequence
ac641dc2 - Remedy
350d8943
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 10V161 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the Ford Explorer, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
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Owners of these cars
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