Ford is humorously nicknamed found on road dead, fix or repair daily, and – my favorite and most relevant of the bunch – first on recall day. The Dearborn-based automaker finished 2022 with the most recalls in the U.S., issuing nearly 70 for over 8.6 million vehicles.
February 2023 isn’t even over yet, and the Ford Motor Company has already issued the sixth recall. BMW of North America and FCA US LLC are next with five to their names, whereas third place is a tie between General Motors, Subaru of America, and Jaguar Land Rover.
NHTSA campaign number 23V072000 concerns 2023 model year Ford F-150 pickup trucks manufactured in the period between November 29th, 2022 and January 11th, 2023. A grand total of 1,352 units are called back, with 20 percent of them estimated to feature a manufacturing defect concerning the instrument panel top cover on the passenger side of the half-ton pickup.
The second-largest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit became aware of this problem on December 10th after the topper supplier informed the Ford Motor Company of a failed weld between the right-hand topper substrate and passenger airbag chute. Auburn Hills-based Faurecia Interior Systems discovered the imperfect weld on December 7th during routine testing of said IP topper.
Only the Limited and Platinum series are affected, with the IP toppers produced in three flavors. The variants in question are Black Onyx Carmelo (part number ML3B-15042N54-EK319W), Black Onyx Ash (ML3B-15042N54-EK33N5), and Admiral Blue Leather (ML3B-15042N54-GJ31D7 as per the parts system).
As part of the Critical Concern Review Group’s investigation, the Ford Motor Company discovered that purge operations were not completed when the suspect parts were injection molded on November 14th. In layman’s terms, contaminants may have been introduced in the passenger-side instrument panel top cover, a condition that may result in substrate delamination.
Ford then discovered that the extrusion material didn’t meet the material specifications due to contamination with colorant from a different job at the supplier’s facility. The suspect toppers don’t meet federal motor vehicle safety standard 208 for occupant crash protection, which increases the risk of injury or death in the event of passenger airbag deployment in a crash.
The 1,352 F-150 Platinum and Limited vehicles were all manufactured at the Dearborn truck plant in Michigan. Affected owners will be notified by first-class mail between February 27th and March 3rd, with dealers already instructed to replace the topper. Of course, the replacement parts are sourced from a conforming lot.
The 2023 model year F-150 retails at $33,695 sans destination charge for the XL trim level. The Platinum and Limited included in this recall currently go for $64,695 and $84,910 at the very least. Both trims come exclusively with the SuperCrew cabin. The Platinum features the 5.0-liter third-generation Coyote V8 as the standard engine, whereas the Limited is exclusively offered with the 3.5-liter PowerBoost V6 hybrid setup.
NHTSA campaign number 23V072000 concerns 2023 model year Ford F-150 pickup trucks manufactured in the period between November 29th, 2022 and January 11th, 2023. A grand total of 1,352 units are called back, with 20 percent of them estimated to feature a manufacturing defect concerning the instrument panel top cover on the passenger side of the half-ton pickup.
The second-largest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit became aware of this problem on December 10th after the topper supplier informed the Ford Motor Company of a failed weld between the right-hand topper substrate and passenger airbag chute. Auburn Hills-based Faurecia Interior Systems discovered the imperfect weld on December 7th during routine testing of said IP topper.
Only the Limited and Platinum series are affected, with the IP toppers produced in three flavors. The variants in question are Black Onyx Carmelo (part number ML3B-15042N54-EK319W), Black Onyx Ash (ML3B-15042N54-EK33N5), and Admiral Blue Leather (ML3B-15042N54-GJ31D7 as per the parts system).
As part of the Critical Concern Review Group’s investigation, the Ford Motor Company discovered that purge operations were not completed when the suspect parts were injection molded on November 14th. In layman’s terms, contaminants may have been introduced in the passenger-side instrument panel top cover, a condition that may result in substrate delamination.
Ford then discovered that the extrusion material didn’t meet the material specifications due to contamination with colorant from a different job at the supplier’s facility. The suspect toppers don’t meet federal motor vehicle safety standard 208 for occupant crash protection, which increases the risk of injury or death in the event of passenger airbag deployment in a crash.
The 1,352 F-150 Platinum and Limited vehicles were all manufactured at the Dearborn truck plant in Michigan. Affected owners will be notified by first-class mail between February 27th and March 3rd, with dealers already instructed to replace the topper. Of course, the replacement parts are sourced from a conforming lot.
The 2023 model year F-150 retails at $33,695 sans destination charge for the XL trim level. The Platinum and Limited included in this recall currently go for $64,695 and $84,910 at the very least. Both trims come exclusively with the SuperCrew cabin. The Platinum features the 5.0-liter third-generation Coyote V8 as the standard engine, whereas the Limited is exclusively offered with the 3.5-liter PowerBoost V6 hybrid setup.