Last Wednesday Ford Motor Co. issued two new recalls for more than 30,000 vehicles over potential electrical issues and fuel leaks. One recall was to reinspect certain vehicles recalled in late December over faulty software. Ford assures its consumers that there has not been a report of any fires or injuries caused the by the issues.
According to the NHTSA:
* The Ford Motor Co. is voluntarily recalling about 35,000 vehicles in the US and Canada over possible electrical shorts and fuel leaks that could cause fires
* The Ford Motor Co. is voluntarily recalling about 25,000 of its 2010 Ranger pickup trucks for possible fuel line leaks in the engine compartment
* The Ford Motor Co. is voluntarily recalling about 9,100 Edge cross over SUVs, Lincoln MKX and Super Duty pickup trucks are also being recalled due to body control modules that were not properly inspected during an earlier recall
* The Ford Motor Co. is voluntarily recalling about 23,688 2010 Ford Ranger trucks with 2.3L engines to inspect a fuel line for chafing
* The vehicles with the defective engine fuel line may contact another part and may chafe, resulting in a fuel odor, a potential fuel leak and fire hazard
According to Ford Motor Co, there have been no reports of any fires or injuries related to the issues of faulty software. Owners of the affected cars will be notified in mid-March and advise them to take their vehicles to dealers for repairs.
Ford Motor Co is also conducting a second recall of certain 2011 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550, Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles. These vehicles were inspected under a recall announced in late December by Ford Motor Co. Ford Motor Co. in December recalled 14,737 vehicles to inspect the body control module of the said vehicles. The vehicles could have developed an electrical short which in turn may result in a fire. According to Ford Motor Co, the vehicles that are being recalled for a second time used Fords Integrated Diagnostic System. This Integrated Diagnostic System had a custom software routine to read the suspect Body Control Module serial number (BCM).
What makes this Integrated Diagnostic System software faulty?
According to Ford Motor Co:
* Based on the serial number, the BCM was neither affected nor replaced
* The custom software routine was not reading the correct set of characters
* It was also not able to identify a BCM that required replacement
In late January, while monitoring the repair rate for Fords recall, the companys customer service division identified a lower than expected replacement rate for the BCM. According to a Ford spokesman, there have been no reports of fires related to both the recalls. The recall also includes 2,000 Ranger trucks in Canada, and 1,100 2011 models in Canada.
This is the third recall the auto maker has issued in the last one month. Ford recalled 280,000 F-150 pickup trucks to repair faulty door handles in early February followed by a second F-150 pickup recall for potential airbag problems. 144,000 of the pickups are affected by the airbag safety recall. According to the Ford Motor Co. the figure of 144,000 F-150 pickups in the US and Canada accounted only to a small fraction of the 1.3 million trucks the National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wanted to be recalled.
The National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is reviewing Fords plan and will decide whether the 144,000 F-150 pickups recall is adequate or it can actually get Ford to recall all the vehicles it wanted recalled. Ford has agreed to recall 135,000 vehicles so far, but NHTSA wants Ford to recall all 1.3 million F-150 pickup trucks. There were more than 260 airbags reported to have deployed without warning, in F-150 pickup trucks.
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