Ford Motor Company recalls around 1.5 million of its vehicles to review after discovering problems with the rear suspension that could reduce steering control and increase the risk of a crash. Among the affected vehicles are more than 1.2 million Ford Explorer, 123,000 Ford F-150 along with a thousand more of other Ford models including school buses and ambulances.
The biggest call to review affects 1.2 million vehicles of the Ford Explorer, wherein the vast majority of them is in the United States. The problem affects the Ford Explorer model produced at the Assembly Plant in Chicago (USA) between May 2010 and January 2017.
According to the company, in the Ford Explorer SUV a link of the rear suspension could break if the piece, responsible for keeping the wheels in contact with the ground, receives much movement. The result could be the limitation of the steering control, which could cause an accident and increase the risk of a crash.
Fortunately, there are still no reports of accidents or people injured as a result of the Ford Explorer defect, so Ford wants to act fast to make it stay this way. A Ford representative said that they recognize the inconvenience that the calls to review cause to their clients, but believe that they will appreciate the actions they are taking to guarantee their safety. To solve the problem, the company's dealers will replace the affected components of the rear suspension.
The second call to review affects about 123,000 units of the Ford F-150 pickup truck equipped with a six-speed automatic transmission and equipped with engines of 5 and 6.2 liters of gasoline. Ford said it has no reports of accidents or injuries caused by this defect that affects the trucks produced at the Dearborn Assembly Plant (Michigan, USA) between May 2012 and October 2013 and at the Assembly Plant. Kansas (USA) from April 2012 to November 2013.
Ford said that in these Ford F-150 vehicles a bad calibration of the transmission was made due to a problem with the software update of the control module of this component. The problem can cause unintentional reduction of gears to the first gear, which can cause loss of control of the vehicle, and owners need to bring the Ford F-150 truck back to Ford to replace this part.
The third call to review affects about 5000 vehicles in North America of the Ford Econoline 2009-2016 van with 5.4-liter gasoline engines. In these vehicles, bad welding in the transmission can cause the loss of engine power. Ford said its dealers would replace the defective component.
The last call to review affects 12,000 vehicles in Canada of the Ford Taurus 2010-2017, Ford Flex 2009-2017, Lincoln MKS 2009-2015, and Lincoln MKT 2010-2017 models. In these vehicles, they can also suffer the fracture of a component of the rear suspension. Ford said the defect caused an accident that caused minor injuries to a person.
As part of Ford's commitment to its customers, the company said that they would be contacting their buyers in a personalized way to inform them about the steps to follow for the recall.
