Ford has announced a new voluntary recall that affects more than 500,000 SUVs from as recently as 2018. The cause of the recall is a faulty engine component that can catch fire.
188,436 Bronco Sport units and 333,342 Ford Escape units, for a total of 521,778 potentially affected vehicles, are included in the recall. The fuel injector is allegedly to blame for this recall because it may crack and cause fuel or fuel vapour to leak. This might result in a potential fire under the hood if it’s placed close to ignition sources.
A cracked fuel injector in the engine “allows for fuel to leak at a high rate (19L per hour) into the cylinder head, which can travel out via a drain hole and down onto hot surfaces on the exhaust/turbo system where it may combust,” according to the analysis listed on NHTSA recall 22V-859.
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The earliest production date for the 2020 Escape was November 19, 2018, and this flawed design was put into production until October 17, 2022.
The aforementioned voluntary recall applies to the Ford Escape and Bronco Sport models that were manufactured between those dates.
The solution, according to the document, will be upgraded engine control software that notices a decline in fuel rail pressure and alerts the driver via the instrument cluster. Additionally, a drain tube will be constructed to direct fuel from the cylinder head drain hole to the ground underneath the car, away from things that can spark combustion.
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The mentioned Escape and Bronco Sport vehicles have already been recalled. The same batch of SUVs was recalled in April of this year for a fire risk involving a different part: the engine oil separator housing, which might fracture and create an oil leak.
