Ford Motor Company has issued two recalls affecting 40,655 vehicles, including a “do not drive” order for nearly 16,000 Ford Transit vans for a faulty brake system.
Both recall notices were posted on Feb. 24 to X by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). According to the NHTSA, Ford is recalling 15,965 Transit vans because a cotter pin crucial to the braking system may not have been included during assembly at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in Clay County, Missouri, which produces the Transit van line and F-150 pickup truck.
Ford said its manufacturing team alerted an internal review group on Dec. 11 of last year that some Transit vehicles could have been assembled without a cotter pin, and a retainer clip could be missing. As a result, the brake booster pushrod may become loose.
“Under heavy brake pedal application, the pushrod could disconnect entirely from the brake pedal,” Ford said in an announcement on its website.
“If disconnection occurs, the operator will experience a loss of service brake function, significantly increasing the risk of a crash.”
Transit van drivers may notice that the brake pedal of their vehicle feels loose or wobbly, Ford added. Ford is aware of three warranty reports and an additional two field reports related to the missing cotter pin, the company said.
Since the potentially affected vehicles weren’t produced in sequential order by their vehicle identification number (VIN), Ford said that concerned Transit van owners should call the company’s customer service line at 866-436-7332 and reference recall number 26C07 to obtain additional information. Alternatively, Transit owners can input their VIN in NHTSA’s recall portal.
Ford said it would begin notifying Transit owners of the issue on March 2 and will fix the problem with a free inspection and proper assembly of the brake booster pushrod when necessary.
The second Ford recall involves 7,345 Lincoln Corsair and 17,345 Ford Escape plug-in hybrid vehicles. Ford said both vehicle brands have 2.5-liter engines powered by high voltage battery packs with defective internal cells that could short circuit, leading to a sudden loss of propulsion or a potential fire in the battery compartment.
If a short circuit does occur, Lincoln Corsair and Ford Escape owners will see a “Stop Safely Now” warning message on the vehicle instrument cluster. The vehicle will also lose propulsion, Ford noted.
The recall expands on a recall Ford issued for both brands in 2023. Affected cells in the high voltage battery pack were manufactured by Samsung SDI’s lithium-ion production facility in God, Hungary. Additional quality control measures were implemented in October of 2024 to eliminate the issue, Ford noted.
Ford has yet to come up with a remedy for affected vehicles. In the interim, the company said, Escape and Corsair owners are advised to charge their vehicles’ batteries to 80 percent, as well as to only use the default “Auto EV Mode.”
Ford will mail recall notices to affected vehicle owners beginning on March 2. Corsair and Escape owners also can input their VIN into the NHTSA’s vehicle recall portal.
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