Ford Recalls 2 Million Vehicles Over Bum Door Latches
On Wednesday, Ford Motor Co. announced two safety recalls. One is a brake line issue involving 343,900 F-150 pickups equipped with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6. The other relates to door latches — an obnoxiously familiar headache for the company — and encompasses a whopping 2.15 million vehicles from the 2011-15 model years.
Ford says the affected vehicles may not have had all door latches correctly replaced or replaced at all when repaired by dealerships under safety recalls 15S16 or 16S30 — both of which were done fix faulty equipment that was susceptible to failure in direct sunlight.
Apparently, the thermal threshold of the parts wasn’t all that impressive,and a few doors popped open while vehicles were in motion. While the manufacturer said it was unaware of any injuries related to the incidents, having a door randomly pop open on the motorway is universally undesirable.
Ford is going to take another whack at it.
Ford no doubt hopes it turns out better this time, as the company has already issued similar, door-centric recalls on at least 5 million vehicles since 2015 — at no small expense to itself. Swapping out a door latch may not be the world’s most costly fix, but conducting millions of them will see the bill run up pretty quickly.
The recall covers select Ford Fiesta models, the Focus, Fusion, Mustang, C-Max, Escape, and Transit Connect manufactured between 2010 and 2015. Lincoln’s MKZ and MKC were also impacted.
From Ford:
Owners will be given the option to inspect the door latch date codes and child safety locks and submit latch date codes online to confirm if repairs done under safety recalls 15S16 or 16S30 were completed correctly. The online system will provide instant validation that the door latches are OK or the latches cannot be confirmed and require dealer service.
If a customer does not want to do the inspection, has difficulty completing the inspection, or receives an indication that the latches cannot be validated, dealers will inspect the latch date codes and replace latches as needed. The Ford reference number for this recall is 20S30.
Meanwhile, the EcoBoost recall affects F-Series pickups from MY 2014-17. The trucks may leak brake fluid into the booster, which we don’t need tell you is bad. Anybody suffering from drippy master cylinder should notice warning lights illuminating on the dashboard. Serious issues will be underpinned by worsening brake performance and a pedal that really needs a good mashing to do its job. The rear brakes should be unaffected, however.
Ford said it was aware of seven low-speed accident claims, with two injuries associated with the issue. So take extra care if you’ve recently seen the red brake warning indicator. Dealers will replace the brake master cylinder and, if it is leaking, the brake booster will also be replaced. The Ford reference number for this recall is 20S31.
[Image: Ford]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Ford is looking like an Italian car manufacturer in terms of reliability! Ford must choose the cheapest components now because the “drive” to increase profit margin boomerang on them and resulted in increasing costs over time! Stupid cost cost cutting move years ago that ends up with a nightmare in repairs afterwards.
Holy cow. Why do people still fork over their hard earned money for Fords at this point? I understand the truck market is limited and may justify a purchase, but in other vehicle classes it seems like a product from any other brand (even Hyundai/Kia) would be a smarter choice that one of these union built "quality is job 1" units.