Ford recalls nearly 140,000 vehicles due to brake failure risk

Ford Focus

At the end of December 2023, Ford sent a recall notice to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US to recall two vehicle lines, EcoSport and Focus, due to the risk of brake failure.

Specifically, this recall affects approximately 26,041 Eco Sports manufactured from 2015 to 2018. In addition, 113,689 Ford Focus manufactured between 2018 and 2022 are also mentioned.

According to NHTSA, the drive belts in these vehicles are at risk of breaking after long-term use, causing the timing belt or timing belt to slip out of gear, causing a loss of pressure in the oil pump system. This will render the entire vehicle system unusable and cause loss of brake assist.

Ford said that since 2016, the automaker has recorded nearly 2,100 warranty claims related to the drive belt. In addition, at least one accident has resulted in two injuries due to the loss of brake assist, suspected to be caused by the drive belt.

Ford and Lincoln dealers will replace and repair the vehicles as soon as parts are available.

In the US market, Ford is the automaker that has always been the "leader" in vehicle recalls for 3 consecutive years. By the end of 2023, there had been 54 recall notices issued by Ford, directly affecting more than 5 million of the company's vehicle models across the US. This number is many times higher than that of other automakers such as Kia (20 cases, 3 million vehicles), BMW (29 cases, nearly 333,000 vehicles) or Nissan (22 cases, more than 1.8 million vehicles affected).

In Vietnam, Ford Fiesta and Focus used to be two prominent models in the small urban car and C-class sedan groups. Currently, both are no longer sold. Ford Ranger and Ford Everest are the two most prominent models of the American car company in Vietnam at this time.