The Ford Motor Company has bolstered its place as the king of automotive recalls in the United States with yet another mammoth recall. Comprising no fewer than 187,922 vehicles produced for the 2020 through 2023 model years, campaign 23V-727 concerns the body control module software of the previous-gen Mustang.
To put it simply, the brake fluid level sensor may not activate the visual warning indicator when the brake fluid is too low for comfort. In addition to being a noncompliance with the requirements of US federal motor vehicle safety standard 135 for light vehicle brake systems, this condition resulted in 123 warranty claims alleging a loss of brake fluid. Thankfully for everyone, there are no reports of accidents related to this concern.
The Critical Concern Review Group within FoMoCo was informed of the inoperative warning indicator on August 28 this year. As per documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it was the Ford Customer Service Division in South Korea that first reported the problem to the mothership in Dearborn.
In Mustangs produced for the 2018 through 2023 model years, the brake fluid sensor is hardwired to the body control module. CCRG determined that engineering changed the BCM design for the 2020 model year, and with said change, said module was incorrectly configured to look for a CAN message from the brake fluid sensor instead of the hardwired message. Further testing revealed that the 2024 model year Ford Mustang – which is closely related to the previous-gen Mustang – isn’t affected.
The 187,922 vehicles recalled under campaign 23V-727 were assembled in Flat Rock between February 2019 and April 2023. Dealers have already been instructed to reconfigure the body control module, whereas known owners will be informed about Ford’s blunder via mail in the period from December 4 through December 8.
Photo: Ford
Dubbed S550, the sixth-gen Mustang was a tremendous departure from the S197 before it. As for the biggest change over its predecessor, that would be the switch from a live rear axle to fully independent rear suspension. The IRS, however, was first introduced to the Mustang for the 1999 model year by the Ford Mustang SVT Cobra.
Another interesting development came in the form of the 5.2-liter Voodoo engine, a flat-plane crankshaft V8 exclusive to the Shelby GT350 series. To date, Ford hasn’t used this high-revving powerplant in any other production vehicle. By comparison, the Predator-engined Shelby GT500 rocks a cross-plane crankshaft and a blower.
Still the most powerful series-production Ford out there, the S550 Mustang Shelby GT500 develops a tremendous 760 horsepower and 625 pound-feet (847 Nm) of tire-shredding twist. To be assembled by Multimatic in Canada rather than Ford in Michigan, the S650 Mustang GTD uses an improved version of the Predator with 800 horsepower on deck. Closer to the corner-carving Porsche 911 GT2 RS than outright muscle cars, the GTD will be produced in limited numbers at $300,000 apiece.
In the meantime, prospective customers of the 2024 model year Mustang are presented with two powertrain choices: 2.3-liter EcoBoost (exclusively automatic, unfortunately) and 5.0-liter Coyote. Gifted with dual throttle bodies, the S650 Mustang GT develops 480 horsepower from the outset. The Mach 1-replacing Dark Horse is officially rated at 500 ponies and 418 pound-feet (567 Nm).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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