Ford Recall 435,000 Vehicles Which May Not ‘Escape’ Corrosion
Update – Breaking News 9th April
Toyota just announced the recall of 6.5 million cars because airbags may fail, seats could move and steering columns might break.
The models involved are the RAV4, Hilux, Yaris and the Urban Cruiser
Original story:
Ford Motor Company has announced the recall of 435,000 vehicles.
The major vehicle in the recall is the Escape SUV built from 2001 to 2004; some 386,000 of this model are being recalled for a suspected corrosion issue with the vehicles’ subframe. This could cause the lower control arm to separate, and possibly lead to diminished steering control.
Ford says that it is aware of only one crash connected to the corrosion problem, and no-one was hurt. Ford Dealers will need to install a reinforcement crossbrace to resolve the issue.
The majority of the cars being recalled are located in 20 states and the District of Columbia, all of which frequently use road salt in the winter.
The states affected are: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
A further 37,000 Escape SUV’s are in Canada.
The smaller recall relates to 48,960 Ford Fusions, Escapes and C-MAXs, and Lincoln MKZs. Ford says that the seat back frames in these vehicles do not meet safety standards; this could result in an increased risk of injury. However, there have been no recorded accidents or injuries related to this problem.
Ford is not alone in its need to recall so many vehicles. Its competitors have been also made some major recalls in recent weeks.
The most serious was the General Motors recall of more than 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts, and similar vehicles, for an ignition problem; in this case, there were fatalities involved. The defect is alleged to have been responsible for some 16 deaths.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra gave testimony about the problem before Senate and House committees last week.
But, the current recall numbers pale into insignificance when compared to the massive recalls of past years.
Pride of place goes – yet again – to the Ford Motor Company for its mind blowing recall in 2009 of 14 million Ford Explorer, Excursion, Ranger, Windstar, E-150 – 450 and F-150 – 450, and Mercury Mountaineer vehicles for a defect of the Cruise-control switch which sometimes resulted in cases of spontaneous combustion.
Prior to that, the record for the largest recall of cars was in 1996 from – as you may have guessed by now – the Ford Motor Company. The problem that time was with a faulty ignition switch, and affected 7.9 million vehicles.
To be fair, major vehicle recalls are not unique to Ford. Both GM and Toyota have recalled over 5 million cars in one year, and Volkswagen and Honda over 3 million.
But this time, there is just no “escape” from the Ford recall.
