HOUSTON -- The KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters exposed the fire danger in millions of Ford Motor Co. pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles that eventually led to the fifth largest automotive recall in history. Now, Ford is again facing scrutiny over what some experts say is another potentially deadly defect in many of the same model vehicles.

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Video: Houston Family Files Suit Against Ford For Daughter's Death

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Troubleshooter Robert Arnold reported Wednesday that the automaker is facing a slew of lawsuits, including one from a Houston family that lost a 17-year-old daughter.

Two years ago, Kelly Davenport was about to graduate from high school. Her cheerful willingness to always help others led to thoughts of becoming a teacher.

"She had accomplished so much and she had touched so many lives," mother Pam Davenport said.

"Kelly touched everybody in her life," father Steve Davenport said.

On a November night, Davenport was late getting home. Her mother went to look for her. She found her daughter crushed under a Ford F-150 pickup truck.

"It was just me. I couldn't push the truck off her. I was helpless," Pam Davenport said.

Kelly Davenport had lost control of her pickup truck and was thrown out. The truck rolled on top of her.

At first her parents mourned the loss as an accident.

"When you lose a child it's hard enough just to get up in the morning and function," Pam Davenport said.

But the urging of friends and research on the Internet led the Davenports to believe there may be more to their daughter's death than just an accident.

KPRC Local 2 showed video of the truck that Davenport was driving when she died. The cab was largely intact. During the accident, her truck rolled, the driver's side door popped open and Davenport was thrown out.

"It's real simple. She would have been in the truck and not under the truck," Steve Davenport said.

The Davenports are now suing Ford. The question -- whether millions of Ford trucks and SUVs were built with faulty door latches that allow doors to pop open during rollover and side impact crashes.

The question is now the basis of several lawsuits and engineering tests across the United States and Canada. But for the Davenports, it's more a question of whether Ford made a decision that cost them their daughter's life.

"It's a fool that thinks they can put a dollar-figure to it, because until you lose your own, don't even think you're going to talk about mine," Steve Davenport said.

Safety experts agree that the best chance a person has to survive a crash is when they're kept inside a vehicle and not thrown out. It's precisely why the federal government sets requirements on door latches -- to make sure doors don't pop during crashes.

Millions of Ford trucks and SUVs on the road today are now under scrutiny as to whether they meet the federal standard required for door latches.

The vehicles in question are the 1997 through 2000 model F-150, F-250, Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators.

That's 4.1 million vehicles.

The question was first raised eight years ago when Canadian safety officials were doing crash tests on the F-150. The Troubleshooters showed video of a passenger side door popping open, even though the door was locked.

Canada sent the information to Ford and an investigation was launched.

Internal Ford documents showed engineers discovered the springs that keep door handles from opening during crashes were built below Ford's own standards. It prompted the company to scrap its entire inventory of the latches, re-design the latches for future models and engineers recommended a safety recall.

Despite that recommendation from its own engineers, Ford officials canceled the recall, citing a test developed in 1967 that proves their door latches meet federal requirements and therefore are safe, Local 2 reported.

Steve Syson is an engineering expert. He argues that the 1967 test Ford used is not considered the industry standard.

"It fails the federal motor vehicle safety standard and, by definition, should be recalled," he said.

"Actions speak louder than words. When they scrap their inventory of these latches that tells you something about the quality of that product," attorney Rob Ammons said.

Ammons is an attorney suing Ford on behalf of Kelly Davenport's family.

Ammons argues that Ford never used the 1967 test to check its door latches until this issue came up.

"Ford never used this test to certify any of their products other than this particular product," he said.

Ford documents showed six instances of doors popping open during its own crash tests, but Ford officials argue that's not enough evidence to prove a defect.

A test simulated a Ford truck hitting a sign post at 20 mph. Video showed the door pop open. Another angle and in slow motion showed how the handle lifted up as if someone opened the door with his own hand.

The Troubleshooters tried to ask Ford about the tests and the findings of its own investigation.

Ford sent Local 2 the following statement:

"The outside door handles and latch assemblies on the F-150 are safe, and fully comply with all applicable government and industry standards. If the latches were not compliant, Ford would have issued a recall. At Ford Motor Company, the safety of our customers is a top priority. In the vast majority of serious injuries and fatalities, 81 percent involve unbelted occupants."

It will never be known if Kelly Davenport was wearing her seatbelt. Investigators at the scene said she was not wearing one, but others argued her backpack hit her seatbelt as the truck was rolling over and released it.

Because of this issue, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is deciding whether it needs to develop one door latch test for the entire auto industry. NHTSA is also deciding whether its own standard for door latches needs to be upgraded, citing the current standard has only been 15 percent effective in keeping people from being thrown out of their cars during crashes.