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  • Ford Recalls Nearly 435,000 Cars And SUVs

    Ford Recalls Nearly 435,000 Cars And SUVs

    In two of the biggest recalls as of late, Mazda just had one which doesn’t come close in numbers, comes from the Ford Motor Company, who is recalling nearly 435,000 cars and SUVs on Monday.

    The bigger of the two recalls includes nearly 386,000 Ford Escapes from the 2001 through 2004 model years. Ford says the sub-frames can rust endangering the steering control, which is due to a possible control arm separation. Ford is aware of one crash but no injuries were linked to the problem.

    The recalled Ford Escapes were sold or registered, originally, in 20 states that include Washington, D.C., where salt is used on roads to clear ice and snow. Six Canadian provinces also are included due to this salt, which appears to be causing rust.

    When the vehicles are brought in for this massive recall repair, dealers will install a reinforcement brace to fix the problem.

    The Escapes in question were built and assembled from October 22, 1999 through December 19, 2003 in Kansas City at the Ford assembly plant and at the Ohio assembly plant for vehicles built from May 1, 2003 through January 23, 2004, Ford said in a statement issued Monday.

    They were originally sold or registered in Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, Delaware, Maine, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Indiana, Michigan, New York, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. Also covered are Escapes sold or registered in Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland & Labrador.

    “Customers located in other states who routinely operate their vehicles in one of these areas, or customers with vehicles showing evidence of this condition can request to be included through their dealer,” Kelli Felker, a Ford spokeswoman, wrote in an email to The Times.

    There was, however, a second recall, involving 49,000 vehicles that include the Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, Ford Escape and C-MAX vehicles from 2013 and 2014. Ford said the seat backs might have substandard welds joining the recliner mechanism to the seat back frame, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.

    And almost 43,000 of the 49,000 recalled vehicles were sold in the United States, with about 4,700 in Canada and almost 1,100 in Mexico.

    The total number of cars included in the recall includes about 26,500 Escapes, 17,000 Fusions, almost 4,000 C-Max crossovers and nearly 1,300 MKZs.

    People who own these vehicles should expect the dealer to replace seat back frames that weren’t welded properly.

    Image via NDN

  • Ford recall: North American models hit, stock price intact

    Ford recall: North American models hit, stock price intact

    Ford motor company is recalling approximately 400,000 of its large sedans ranging from model year 2005 to 2011. The brands and models affected include Ford Crown Victoria which is ubiquitously used as either a taxi cab or a police car across America, the Mercury Grand Marquis, and the plush, upscale and roomy Lincoln Town Car.

    The problem appears to be related to corrosion of the lower intermediate steering shaft of vehicles in “high corrosion states and provinces” that may result in the loss of steering, according to Ford’s press release.

    Well, the next question is, who are these “high corrosion” states and provinces?

    The states so far include – Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia. Canada will face recall of about 15,000 sedans.

    In other words, the Western half of the US is unaffected while most of the recall problem is concentrated on the East Coast and the Great Lakes region.

    Large sedans are going out of fashion as customers are flocking towards Ford’s fuel-sipping small and mid-size sedans due to rising prices, high unemployment and stagnant economy. Ford Focus and Ford Fusion have done relatively well in the small and medium car segment respectively, thanks to Henry Ford’s great-grandson Bill Ford’s and Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s leadership. Ford family scions

    With the retirement of the Mercury brand and the scaling down of Lincoln, Ford Motor has poured its resources and devotion exclusively on the Ford brand as it battles powerful, well-oiled manufacturing machines of its Japanese, Korean and increasingly Chinese rivals.

    So should we expect Ford’s stock price to steer downward this week following the recall news?

    Not likely. Stock owners should take heart since the recall numbers are miniscule relative to the overall annual sales volume of Ford vehicles. Mercury is defunct. Besides, the recall does not affect Ford’s bread and butter truck and SUV models including the best selling F-150, Ford Escape and Ford Explorer.

    That said, if the recall engulfs some of the more popular models in the next few days, things could change dramatically. So stay tuned.

    [images via plus Google, Ford Motor official twitter account]