By Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY
Posted 5/4/2004 9:07 PM

New allegations about Ford Motor's handling of potentially faulty door latches on pickups and sport-utility vehicles raise questions about the adequacy of a 35-year-old federal safety standard.

Ford (F) used what plaintiff's lawyers say is a questionable alternate test in 2000 to claim the latches met the required safety standard after those on more than 4 million trucks failed to meet the test used by other automakers, recently released court documents show.

But whatever test is used, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standard itself is being described as woefully inadequate.

Plaintiff's lawyers say the door latches on 1997-2000 Ford F-150 pickups and Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs are prone to open in crashes, especially if the truck rolls over. They blame a door handle spring that some at Ford thought was inferior. Ford planned a recall but later canceled it.

Ford spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes says the latch met a test sanctioned by NHTSA, "so there was no need for a recall." Ford did begin using a new door latch on 2001 and later models.

Ford faces at least six lawsuits involving door latches and has settled two, one in recent weeks.

Plaintiff's attorneys complain that the standard on whether door latches are strong enough to withstand crashes doesn't require that they be tested after being installed on vehicles. The test puts force on the latch but doesn't take into consideration the twisting and contorting in a car crash.

"It's not a dynamic test. It's not any type of crash," says David Rumley, a Corpus Christi, Texas, attorney involved in several Ford door-latch cases.

The NHTSA standard requires that the latches be able to withstand 30 Gs of force, which is 30 times the force of gravity. Ford engineer James Salmon wrote in a 1997 engineering journal article that a crash could subject a latch to 180 Gs of force.

The new latches Ford began using on 2001 models can withstand up to 200 Gs of force.

The door-latch rule was finalized in September 1968 and was based on auto industry standards. The agency concluded in 1989 that the rule was 15% effective in reducing the risk of death from being thrown from a vehicle.

NHTSA has been conducting research on door opening and door-latch failures since 1985, but the standard is not among those being upgraded in the near future.

NHTSA says more than 2,500 people die annually after being thrown through door openings. About half are due to the door's structure failing; the rest involve the latch.

"Everybody understands that the feds don't regulate to the highest standards; it's the floor," says Fritz Jekel, a Charleston, S.C., attorney working on several of the cases pending against Ford. "The 30-G requirement is truly minimal and not keeping people safe."

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