general problems of the 2019 Ford Expedition

The vehicle was parked when we heard a loud popping noise. I then saw white powder and smelled a horrible smell. Upon inspection the passenger seat side panel had popped open. It seemed like an airbag had deployed. I had a restraint indicator light on at that point. It was taken to a Ford dealership where they told me it couldn’t have been an airbag it was just a faulty seatbelt sensor. Which by the way there was a recall for that exact thing on the 2020 but, not the 2019 so 750$ later. . They’re going to fix it.

On July 24th 2023, at approximately 2:15pm my wife and I were completely stopped at a red traffic light on 66th st n that crosses ulmerton rd in pinellas county florida. We were talking and listening to the radio, when all of a sudden, a loud shotgun or explosive sound filled the vehicle. I got hit with something in the chest that felt like a punch or a kick, knocking me out of breath. But my wife only heard the extremely loud noise. I was clutching my chest in pain as I thought I was shot. When the light turned green, I immediately pulled into a dunkin donuts parking lot, and we exited the vehicle. There was no damage whatsoever on the inside and outside of the vehicle, but we smelled gun powder. My driver's seatbelt was stuck in the retracted position. I slowly drove to my home at 6500 30th avenue n, st petersburg, FL 33710. I immediately called the pinellas county sheriff's department to report the incident, because at the time I thought it was a gunshot. They have a record under my phone number. I had no idea what the loud gun sound was, so I started to research and found the driver's seat belt tensioner charge must have gone off. I called auto nation Ford and made an emergency appointment to bring the vehicle in. I explained everything to them, then dropped the vehicle off. Upon doing a full inspection, the auto nation Ford mechanic determined there was a factory short in the air bag circuit, which caused the seatbelt tensioner charge to explode. They found the location, under the center console & replaced all necessary wiring, sensors, modules, tensioner & seatbelt. I researched and found recalls for 2020 Expeditions and 2018 f150 pickups, but there was no recall for the 2019 Expedition. I can't imagine what would have happened if we were going fast on an interstate when it happened. Now I get in my 2 Ford vehicles and worry about it happening again. T turned out the kick in the chest was the seatbelt retracting 4 inches pulling me back in the seat.

Child in a car seat in second row captain's chair. Child was able to hit button that collapses seat forward - all while the car was moving (on a highway at 65 mph) and child was in car seat in seat. This is extremely dangerous. See pictures. People buy large vehicles like Expeditions mainly because of use with children. As soon as that button is hit, the seat collapses and the car seat belt places enormous pressure on a child. I would hate to imagine what would happen if the seat was released and a car accident occurred at the same time. I have already contacted Ford to make a complaint but wanted to raise the issue here as well. Please investigate. I contacted my dealership and they confirmed the same thing happened in a Expedition model still on the lot. This is not a single car issue. Every 2019 Expedition with captain's chairs is likely to have the same issue.