Ford Camera Recall Encompasses 700,000 in North America

Ford is recalling over 700,0000 vehicles in North America over poor electrical connections that can put the rearview camera display on the fritz. The feed runs the risk of providing drivers a corrupted image or cutting out intermittently, raising crash risks, and violating present-day vehicle safety mandates. While the tried and true method of turning one’s head and using the mirrors should allow for drama-free parking, Ford is still under obligation to repair these systems.

Documents submitted to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) have indicated that affected models include Ford’s Edge, Escape, Expedition, Explorer, F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550, Mustang, Ranger, and Transit vehicles from the 2020 model year. Lincoln will also be recalling the 2020 Lincoln Corsair and Nautilus.

The automaker has said it’s unaware of any accidents relating to the issue and has indicated Magna Electronics as the supplier of the problem parts. It has also known about the issue for some time and decided something was definitely amiss by May of this year. The pandemic forced facilities to shut down right as it was testing for the defect. But Ford managed to shoot off its initial report to the NHTSA and swapped the old camera systems out for new ones once production resumed.

Owners will be notified starting November 7th with Ford and Lincoln dealerships providing fixes free of charge. Although they’d have to anyway since all of these cars should be under warranty. Documents state 620,246 vehicles were affected in the United States with another 76,566 occupying Canada and 4,302 in Mexico. Ford estimates about half will eventually suffer some form of camera failure, though that figure would eventually reach 100 percent on a long enough timeline. As handy as parking assistance systems may be, nothing trumps the mirror when it comes to reliability.

[Image: Ford Motor Co.]