Ford announced plans to recall 1.5 million vehicles due to door latch problems that allow the doors to open while the vehicle is moving. The automaker has been dealing with door latch issues for the past 18 months.
Officials said one accident and three injuries have been reported. The effort is an expansion of an earlier recall of about 830,000 vehicles. The earlier effort included certain 2013-15 Ford C-Max and Ford Escape, 2012-15 Ford Focus, 2015 Ford Mustang and Lincoln MKC and 2014-16 Ford Transit Connect models.
The same vehicles are part of the current action. The company said the latest recall now affects nearly 2.4 million cars in the U.S. and Mexico. Ford said that about 2 million of those vehicles are in the U.S. with another 233,000 in Canada and more than 61,300 more in Mexico.
“In the affected vehicles, the pawl spring tab in the side door latch could break,” the company said in a statement.
“A door latch with a fractured pawl spring tab typically results in a ‘door-will-not-close’ condition. A door that opens while driving increases the risk of injury.”
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According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the new effort will cost $640 million. Ford will take a charge on its third-quarter earnings resulting in the company’s full-year pre-tax profit margin dropping to $10.2 billion from $10.8 billions.
Owners of the affected vehicles can take the cars to nearby dealers and the side-door latches will be replaced at no cost to the vehicle owner.
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Customers who want to know if their vehicle is included in this recall can visit www.ford.com, click on safety recalls at the bottom of the page and enter their vehicle identification number.
Ford should take the Chrysler approach…
“What door latch problem, our door latches are as good as anyone’s. If you insist, we’ll provide discounted bungee cords to keep the doors from swinging open if the driver forgets to close them.”