Ford Edge door ajar lights no cause for recall

After investigating complaints that door ajar warning lights wouldn’t turn off in thousands of Ford Motor Co.’s Edge SUVs, U.S. safety regulators opted not to issue a recall.

The investigation opened last September looked into complaints that the door ajar was always illuminated, making it hard to occupants to tell if the doors were properly latched. According to a investigation summary, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identified 1,983 complaints for 2011-13 model year Edge vehicles.

Fourteen of those complaints indicated that a door opened while driving. Only two of those 14 incidents were a result of the driver being unaware the door wasn’t latched.

According to the report, only one complaint reported an injury: a driver who sustained a shoulder injury while slamming the door repeatedly in an attempt to get the door ajar light to turn off.

The regulators found that the problem was caused by “contamination of the electrical contacts on the switch located within each door latch that tells the vehicle if the door is open or closed.”

The doors do still latch properly. Contamination on the contact points for the light switch just causes the door ajar lights to activate.

The agency found there is not a safety risk, and there were no crashes or crash-related injuries reported.

ithibodeau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Ian_Thibodeau