Ford issues three safety recalls

A series of North America-wide safety recalls were issued by Ford last week. They target issues around steering control, weld issues in the rear wheel axle and battery cable wire harnesses.

The recalls affect 850,000 vehicles in North American, including 42,000 here in Canada.

The biggest notice affects 2013-2017 Ford Explorers — 33,000 in Canada and 775,000 vehicles in all. The vehicles may experience a seized cross-axis ball joint. This can significantly reduce steering control and lead to the increased risk of a crash.

Affected vehicles were found in high-corrosion states with cold winter weather, high humidity and high usage of road salt in the U.S. The company said it was aware of six allegations of injury related to the issue in North America.

A second recall notice was issued for 35,000 F-350 Super Duty vehicles, with 7,300 of them in Canada. These 2020-2021 models have a 6.7-litre engine. A single rear wheel axle could experience a weld issue. This could lead to a rear driveline disconnection in affected vehicles. This could lead to a disconnected driveshaft resulting in a loss of power or loss of the transmission park function if the parking brake isn’t applied.

Ford, however, said it’s not aware of any collisions or injuries as a result of this issue.

The third recall affects 2,600 Canadian 2020-2021 Lincoln Aviators (41,000 in North America) with 3.0-litre gas engines. For reported that an improperly secured battery cable wire harnesses could result in a short circuit and potential fire.