On July 16, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that Ford will recall 694,271 vehicles in the United States due to fuel leakage problems in vehicles, which may increase the risk of fire. Previously, the regulator had launched a year-long investigation into it.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that in potentially affected vehicles, fuel injectors can rupture, causing fuel to leak into the engine compartment, which in turn can cause a fire in the engine compartment.
Image credit: Ford Motor
The latest recall involves some 2021-2024 Bronco Sport and 2020-2022 Escape models, and it is estimated that about 0.3% of all recalled vehicles have the defect.
An internal Ford committee first evaluated the issue in March 2024 and recommended that it be addressed by updating the engine control software and installing deflectors.
Ford said the affected vehicles were all equipped with 1.5-liter engines. The company’s internal committee did not recommend replacing the potentially defective fuel injectors at the time. At the time, the recall only involved about 42,000 vehicles.
A month later, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a recall investigation to assess the adequacy of the recall measures taken by Ford. After investigation, the agency pointed out that the solution proposed by Ford did not address the root cause of the problem.
Earlier this month, Ford re-evaluated the issue and found that eight vehicles had been repaired but still had engine compartment fires, and the fuel injectors of these vehicles had cracked. Six of the vehicles were not installed with the updated engine software previously recommended by the company.
Subsequently, Ford Motor Company expanded the scope of the safety recall, and in addition to the previously involved problem vehicles, other models with 1.5-liter engines and related engine control software were included in the recall. However, the company’s final solution to this security risk is still being developed.
Ford plans to mail initial recall notices to affected owners starting July 14, and will issue follow-up letters after the company’s engineering team develops appropriate remedial measures.
Ford said it expects the recall to cost about $570 million to remediate the recall, and the expenditure will be included in the “special items” in its upcoming second-quarter earnings report. However, the company emphasized: “This expenditure will not have an impact on the company’s core financial indicators such as adjusted total income, adjusted earnings per share and adjusted free cash flow.” ”
