Another day, another vehicle recall.
Ford will soon be contacting owners of select Ford Focus vehicles, inviting them to head to their local dealer to fix an issue that could result in engine stalls.
The recall affects almost 1.5 million cars, specifically 2012-18 Ford Focus 2.0-liter GDI vehicles built at the Michigan Assembly Plant prior to April 13, 2017, and 2.0-liter GTDI vehicles built prior to February 2, 2018.
Almost all of them are located in the U.S., with the remaining 180,000 in Canada and Mexico.
The automaker explained in a release that the affected vehicles have a canister purge valve “that may become stuck in an open position.”
If this happens, “an excessive vacuum in the fuel system could cause deformation of the vehicle’s plastic fuel tank. As a result, the customer could observe a malfunction indicator light or a fuel gauge with fluctuating or inaccurate fuel levels.”
The main concern is that the issue could result in a stall while driving and/or an inability to restart the vehicle, which, the company said, “can increase the risk of a crash.”
As a safety precaution, customers who believe their vehicle may be part of the recall are being told to maintain “at least a half tank of fuel until the recall is completed,” although that may be tricky if the readings are inaccurate.
To resolve the problem, Ford said that dealers will reprogram the powertrain control module with new software designed to detect a malfunctioning canister purge valve and prevent a potential excessive fuel vapor system vacuum condition from occurring.
If necessary, they’ll also replace the canister purge valve, carbon canister, fuel tank, and fuel delivery module.
Ford plans to send out mail notifications to affected owners before the end of the year, instructing them to take their car in for repair. The reference number for the recall is 18S32, and, should you want to get in touch, the company’s contact details are here.
Thankfully, there have been no reports of accidents, injuries, or fires in connection with the issue, so the sooner it can be sorted out, the better.
A growing number of automakers have been forced to recall a range of models this year, with Ford already among them. In September, it was forced to recall 2 million of its popular F-150 trucks over a problem with the seat belt pretensioner, while back in March, the company called in 1.3 million Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ cars over a risk — and yes, this one did sound rather alarming — that the steering wheel could come off.
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